To Doug Schneider,

How do you think the Vivid Audio Giya G2 you rave about would hold up against Wilson's new Alexia since they're about the same price? Are there any other speakers that you think can beat the G2?

Justin K.

One speaker that would likely beat the Giya G2 is the Giya G1, but that would also depend on the size of the room it would be used in -- the G1 might be too big for some rooms. Jeff Fritz and I have wondered how the new Magico S5 would do against it, but we've never had them as part of the same system to know.

The Giya G2 sells for $50,000 per pair in the United States, while the Alexia sells for $48,000 per pair, so they're in the same ballpark. I've never reviewed Wilson's Alexia, but I did hear it at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and wasn't impressed with it -- the sound was reasonably uniform overall, and the highs weren't as grainy as most of their other speakers (Sophia-, WP-, and MAXX-series speakers, which all use an inverted titanium-dome tweeter in contrast to the Alexia's silk-dome model), but the drivers didn't sound cohesive at all. I sat and listened intently; and it was painfully obvious to me which frequencies each drive unit was playing. If you get a chance to listen to the Alexia, focus on that aspect and see what you find. In contrast, Ayre Acoustics was using a pair of Giya G3s and the drive units blended as well as they did with the G2s that I had here -- the sound congealed in near-perfect point-source fashion. As a result, I think the G2 would clobber the Alexia, as it does when you put it against most speakers. . . . Doug Schneider