#11
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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. Last edited by PHC1; 05-03-2009 at 07:44 PM. |
#12
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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!
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Turntable: SME Synergy All-In-One Thorens TD147 Jubilee + Plixir LPS + Ortofon A-Mono DS Audio ION 1 SACD/DAC: Luxman D-10x Server: Roon Nucleus+ 8TB SSD + Plixir Elite LPS Bluray: ModWright Oppo UDP205 Amps: Air Tight ATC-5/ATM300R/ATH-3 Speakers: Avantgarde Uno XD Piano Black/Stealth Grey Cables & Interconnects: Audience Au24 SX Series Power Conditioner: Audience aR6 OX Rack & Amp Stands: Audio-Philar |
#13
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Jerry, I admire your sober outlook on reality!
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#14
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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. |
#15
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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 |
#16
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#17
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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!
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Pass XP-20, Oppo BDP-103, PS Audio DSD DAC, PS Audio P5 Powerplant, ATC SCM 19A speakers, Aurender N100H, ACI Force XL sub, Transparent, Wireworld |
#18
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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. |
#19
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#20
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Pass XP-20, Oppo BDP-103, PS Audio DSD DAC, PS Audio P5 Powerplant, ATC SCM 19A speakers, Aurender N100H, ACI Force XL sub, Transparent, Wireworld |
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