Tempe Reference Room

Every showroom has a room where the compromises stop. In Tempe it is this one, and it holds three separate systems rather than one — because the point of a reference room is not to demonstrate a single answer but to let a listener hear how different philosophies of reproduction diverge when nothing is holding any of them back.

The room itself

Tempe’s reference room is the smaller of LMC’s two reference spaces, and that is part of what it demonstrates. A great deal of what gets written about reference systems assumes a room built for the purpose, with the volume and the treatment to let a large loudspeaker develop properly. Most people do not have that and are not going to build it.

This room is closer to the scale of a real listening space, which makes the three systems in it directly relevant rather than aspirational. The Alexx V is working here without the headroom a purpose-built room would give it, and hearing what that costs is more useful than hearing it in ideal conditions.

System 1 — Wilson Alexx V on D’Agostino Momentum

The full-scale statement. Wilson’s Alexx V driven by Dan D’Agostino Momentum monoblocks, with a Linn Sondek LP12 and Klimax DSM handling analogue and digital.

The Alexx V carries the twin 10.5-inch woofers developed for the WAMM program, which is what allows it to behave like a considerably larger loudspeaker without needing the room a WAMM needs. Momentum is the D’Agostino line built for exactly that kind of load — current on demand, and control that does not loosen when the music gets difficult.

System 2 — Wilson Sasha V, dCS and Burmester

Deliberately smaller in scale and no less serious. Sasha V with dCS Lina digital and Burmester amplification, built around resolution rather than scale.

That distinction is the useful one. A larger loudspeaker moves more air and fills a bigger room, but it does not automatically resolve more detail. This system exists to make that point audible: on the right material, in a room this size, the Sasha V gives up very little to the Alexx V beside it, and what it gives up is not the same thing as what most people assume they are buying.

System 3 — Wilson TuneTot on Progression

The argument that a reference system does not need a large loudspeaker at all. TuneTot with D’Agostino Progression electronics.

The TuneTot is a stand-mount small enough to sit on a desk or a credenza, engineered with the same cabinet and driver discipline Wilson applies at every scale. Progression is D’Agostino’s mid-tier line, which keeps the system proportionate rather than putting flagship amplification in front of a compact loudspeaker for effect.

Anyone who has concluded that serious listening requires a dedicated room and a floorstander should hear this one before committing to that view.

Three systems, one room

The reason to keep all three connected in the same space is that the differences between them only mean something under controlled conditions. Same room, same treatment, same mains, same seat. What changes is the loudspeaker and the chain in front of it.

The comparison people usually want — how much loudspeaker do I actually need — is almost impossible to run properly. The candidates are normally in different shops, heard weeks apart on different electronics, and memory is not reliable across that gap. Here it is three cables and a few minutes.

Sources across the three systems deliberately differ as well. Linn on the first, dCS on the second, and the Progression front end on the third, which means the digital comparison is available alongside the loudspeaker one for anyone who wants it.

The systems in this room

• Wilson Audio Alexx V loudspeakers
• Dan D’Agostino Momentum monoblock amplifiers
• Linn Sondek LP12 turntable and Klimax DSM
• Wilson Audio Sasha V loudspeakers
• dCS Lina digital front end
• Burmester amplification
• Wilson Audio TuneTot loudspeakers
• Dan D’Agostino Progression electronics

Hearing it

This is the room for anyone weighing scale against resolution, and for anyone who wants to establish where the point of diminishing return actually falls for their own space rather than accepting a general answer. It is also the closest Tempe equivalent to the Scottsdale Reference Room, and the two are worth hearing against each other if a visit can take in both showrooms.

The Tempe Reference Room is in the Tempe showroom. Walk in during business hours, or book ahead if you want more than one of these systems set up and the time to move between them properly.