Watt Puppy Iterations

[PHC1]

I think it is important to differentiate between an open and effortless sounding speaker like Wilson to speakers that have an extended treble response but at the same time manage to cause listening fatigue due to less refinement of the tweeter. I've noticed with the Sophia 2 I am able to listen at much louder settings with just about anything and never getting tired of the effortless dynamic response, the clarity and openness without a trace of harshness. Highly addicting.

I'm pretty sensitive to tweeter quality and I have average hearing for my age and maybe even slightly better than average able to hear well into the 17Khz range.

There are simply too many speakers that irritate me and most titanium/metal dome tweeters just don't cut it for me. I was a bit apprehensive going into the Sophia 2 with its titanium tweeter but so far they have not disappointed me at all. I actually love their response that is both airy and detailed but never losing any composure, no trace of ringing, no harshness at all.

I actually find the Sophia 2 tweeter just as enjoyable and in some ways to be better than the SF GMs the Sophia 2 replaced. With the same recordings and the same level, the Sophia 2 sounds natural, open, detailed and airy, the GMs did sound a bit less refined in the upper reaches of the treble at higher volume. Go figure... For 3 years I thought that the SF tweeter was pretty much the pinnacle of soft domes.

I agree with Alberto that preference and gear selection will also play a big role in the outcome. The fact that I can clearly hear the difference between all the different cables I am playing with only underlines the fact that system synergy is very important as my own system is reacting to each cable differently.

I have yet to find fault with the Sophia 2 in my room, they could probably be just a bit better in terms of absolute depth of bass but I have intentionally positioned them to have the least amount of wall reinforcement. I have yet to deploy my F112s with the Sophia.

[JSCC]

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc jmajma

In the end, my little philosophy about that is listen to the music and enjoy it, rather than listen to the gear.

This IS the magical philosophy many fail to adopt but instead being moved by new marketed gears that comes along the way. Not that I am saying progress is not good, it is rather IF the progress is genuine or a marketing ploy to wring the last ounce of profit.

I suppose this is an inherent human weakness as all of us likes and want new and newer stuff along the way in our life. For sure, I do and I speak for myself and many times, it is a vanity chase rather than a serious upgrade.

I woke up and I hope I could stay sober ... but knowing my weakness, I may succumb when something DO comes along and bring me to my knees with its superb performance and I know they do exists!

[PHC1]

Jerry, I admire your sober outlook on reality!

[Jean-Marc jmajma]

Serge and Jerry, always a pleasure to read your posts.

You won' believe me, but after building my system during these 3 last years, with sometimes great choices (MDa etc...) or bad (MS300), I don't search anything more, I simply enjoy the music .

WP8 are to me the ice on the cake. How about MAXX3?: I would love to have them, but I wonder if they could match with my room (which is the living room btw!) as well as the WP8s do (I mean sonically and aesthetically). The same for the ultimate MC2KWs/XRT2KWs, I enjoy that much the couple 1.2KWs/WP8s. I don't want to upgrade MR85, he does a fantastic job coupled with the ST2 Magnum Dynalab antenna. Series 1000 preamps and MCD/MDA are pure heaven. At last, the Clearaudio combo is exactly what I wanted for my vinyl LPs.

I'm no more in the upgrade bug. I don't want to downgrade either like many people actually do .

That doesn't mean I'm no more interested in this hobby;I'll still enjoy reading AA or assist demoes and shows off: but my search is over for a long time I guess.

[Alberto]

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc jmajma

Serge and Jerry, always a pleasure to read your posts.

You won' believe me, but after building my system during these 3 last years, with sometimes great choices (MDa etc...) or bad (MS300), I don't search anything more, I simply enjoy the music .

...

I'm no more in the upgrade bug. I don't want to downgrade either like many people actually do .

That doesn't mean I'm no more interested in this hobby;I'll still enjoy reading AA or assist demoes and shows off: but my search is over for a long time I guess.

Hi Jean-Marc,

Your "condition" and mine are almost exactly the same. Even though we have different systems, and mine is a bit more modest than yours, I have reached the point where I am still very interested in this hobby, but I am not suffering from the upgrade, or downgrade, bug.

It took me several years, and $10Ks, of trying several components to get to this point. But I always had a very specific sound in mind - The Delicious Sound , and now I have it.

These days, instead of auditioning components, I listen to music. Not that the former is not fun (you can see from my VeeViews that I enjoy it a lot), but for me it was a mean to an end, and the end is the latter: i.e., listening to music.

However, when you have a hobby where the "journey" can be as much fun as the "destination", who can complain .

Alberto

[Uberbrown]

Originally Posted by PHC1

...I agree with Alberto that preference and gear selection will also play a big role in the outcome. The fact that I can clearly hear the difference between all the different cables I am playing with only underlines the fact that system synergy is very important as my own system is reacting to each cable differently.

Will you aim for cables with neutrality and transparency when you pair with the Wilsons, or will you try to "voice" them with a warmer cable?

[salmtpa]

Let me muddy the waters a bit. I've listened a lot to the Wilson Duettes, Sophias, WP8, Alexandria and MAXX2, I have a really good dealer here in Tampa who let's me listen at will. Have listened to these speakers with a variety of electronics ranging from Mac, Levinson, Krell, Ayre, Audio Research. Cabling is always Transparent. To my ears the lower level models (Duette and Sophia) have a more coherent presentation from low to high freqs, with a much more natural presentation of bass. The big boys, in particular the MAXX and Alexandria seem to have a bit of a disconnected presentation where the different segments of the freq band are all good, but not put together well as a whole. In particular, the bass just isn't right. I'd kill for the head unit of the MAXX and Alexandria and the purity of the mids and highs. But then that woofer module comes into play and messes it all up for me. Oddly enough, while the Sophia doesn't go as low or as loud, it actually has more natural sounding bass.

OK, flame on!:rant:
PS-Took me longer to decide which smilie to use than to write the rant up. What a selection we have!

[Uberbrown]

Originally Posted by salmtpa

...To my ears the lower level models (Duette and Sophia) have a more coherent presentation from low to high freqs, with a much more natural presentation of bass. The big boys, in particular the MAXX and Alexandria seem to have a bit of a disconnected presentation where the different segments of the freq band are all good, but not put together well as a whole. In particular, the bass just isn't right.

The Review of the Max 3 posted by PHC1 seems to indicate the opposite.
SoundStage! - The Audio Authority - www.SoundStage.com - Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX Series 3 Loudspeakers

I know that audio sometimes comes down to preference, but it seems that this issue should be more cut and dry. EIther the big boys integrate well or not.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by salmtpa

Let me muddy the waters a bit. I've listened a lot to the Wilson Duettes, Sophias, WP8, Alexandria and MAXX2, I have a really good dealer here in Tampa who let's me listen at will. Have listened to these speakers with a variety of electronics ranging from Mac, Levinson, Krell, Ayre, Audio Research. Cabling is always Transparent. To my ears the lower level models (Duette and Sophia) have a more coherent presentation from low to high freqs, with a much more natural presentation of bass. The big boys, in particular the MAXX and Alexandria seem to have a bit of a disconnected presentation where the different segments of the freq band are all good, but not put together well as a whole. In particular, the bass just isn't right. I'd kill for the head unit of the MAXX and Alexandria and the purity of the mids and highs. But then that woofer module comes into play and messes it all up for me. Oddly enough, while the Sophia doesn't go as low or as loud, it actually has more natural sounding bass.

OK, flame on!:rant:
PS-Took me longer to decide which smilie to use than to write the rant up. What a selection we have!

The Sophia 2 bass is very good indeed but I have a feeling it is not so much the different Wilson speakers as it is careful placement and voicing the speaker to the room. I did not have that impression when I listened to the Alexandria 2, in fact it was one of the most impressive sounding speakers I have ever heard if not the exactly the most "musical" combo with the Krell Evo 900s. There is also the Maxx 3 which is quite an improvement from the Maxx 2 and we'll see what the new Sasha brings.

[salmtpa]

Originally Posted by Uberbrown

The Review of the Max 3 posted by PHC1 seems to indicate the opposite.
SoundStage! - The Audio Authority - www.SoundStage.com - Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX Series 3 Loudspeakers

I know that audio sometimes comes down to preference, but it seems that this issue should be more cut and dry. EIther the big boys integrate well or not.

Well, what's interesting about this whole thing is I wanted to believe the big Wislon's were perfect in every way, I guess given their price I was hoping that somehow perfection was possible. So at a demo event at our dealer my old boss, who is also an audiophile, was in attendance but showed up late. He asked me how the Alexandrias sounded and I told I would withhold comment until after he heard them. When he came out of the demo room he had the same exact impressions I had. Now I can't speak to what the reviewer may or may not have heard since I have yet to hear the Series 3 MAXX, just the series 2. But I do know what I heard with both the MAXX2 and Alexandria2, and on more than one occasion. To me the best performance/value ratio in the Wilson line is definitely the Sophia.