Ref75SE: Wilson Sasha 1 vs SF Amati Homage
 

I recently acquired a pair of Sasha 1s for an all Mac second system. I have been listening to the 2005 vintage SF Amati in my all ARC system for about six years. A friend who helped me set up Wilsons’ wondered if they wouldn’t sound better with the Ref 75SE than the Amati. I thought both speakers were about the same in terms of sensitivity (low 90s) and impedance variation/current demand. The room is a little odd: 13’ ceiling; speakers 8’ apart; listening 12’ away; speakers 5.5’ from rear wall; left speaker free, right speaker 3’ from wall; listening position with no wall in back. Which speaker do you think would give best results?

I don't know anything about the SF, but I had Sasha's with an all arc system including the ref75 non SE. Before that, I had an all Mac system powering those.

The arc system sounded much better to my ears and since then, I've doubled down on the wilson/arc combo. It's really fantastic, generally speaking, no matter what models we're talking about.

That being said, if I'm reading this right, you already own it all, so mix it up and try it!

Thanks! Yes I have them all in house but I wanted some thoughts such as yours before trying to move a collective 700lbs of speakers around!

ARC/Wilson
A match made in heaven.

Just an update. Have listened to the Sasha’s through my ARC set up for several weeks, and the experience has been revelatory for me! What terrific synergy among the components, something I had not expected. Detail, soundstage, and musicality are truly at a level I had not experienced with the SF Amati Homage. I came a little late to Wilson, but better late than never.

Great! This was my experience as well. These two pair VERY well. Transparent cables go really well with them also. Congrats on finding bliss.:banana:

Not too surprised by this, I would vote for the ARC/Wilson combo as well. The original Sonus Faber Amatis were excellent at the time, I believe they were Michael Fremer’s Reference for several years. The thing about the Amatis is that they were known for being very warm and pleasing but a little flabby and not as well defined in the lower bass. If I were putting together a (somewhat) vintage system around the Amatis, I would go for one of the great high current solid state amplifiers of the time like a Krell FPB 350 or one of the big Classe CA series. That would be a fun system to take you back to Sonus Faber’s glory days.

- Buck

I can speak from the Amati side, I have the Futura, and I use all ARC with great results. But Amati Futura likes power and cable matching is a must. You probably hear Valhalla and yes Nordost Valhalla 2 is great with the Amati, however Ansuz took it to another level that Nordost can touch. And yes ARC and Wilson together is magic but so are my Amati Futura.

Back in the day, I had Red Violin Amati Anniversario's and also first gen Wilson Audio Duette's. The Amati's are very forgiving and easy to listen to for extended periods of time with solid state amps; they are orders of magnitude less "analytical" than the same generation Wilsons.. thats for sure..

In my experience, the Wilsons are more demanding to drive and would use the biggest amp on those vs. the Amatis. I used McIntosh solid state amps on both setups, but I had to do lots of tweaks to get the Wilsons to sound the way I wanted to as they were just too harsh. My guess is this is due to the lack of silk dome tweeters on the Wilsons of that era, but careful use of tubes (on the pre-amp) and cabling can negate this.