Guys, I hate to leave you hanging here. It's just hard to talk about these speakers without resorting to stupid cliches. You just have to hear them. Come on over! They're certainly the best I've had the pleasure to hear in my own home. They put my late Revel Salon Ultima 2s to shame in so many areas. Not to mention the ProAc D2s and REL R-505 they're replacing in this setup.
Track 4 on Madeline Peyroux's
Careless Love is
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go. It's a pretty mellow song. But there is one constantly reoccurring bass drum note that starts about 40 seconds into the song. It may be one of the deepest recorded bass notes I've ever heard. I didn't even know of its existence until I tried my first REL. The note is a very solid but airy fhwoomph. It's become my bass reference "note."
Through the Soph3s one hears this (25 HZ?) bass drum in all it's fullness and depth. From the very first fiber of the felt mallet hitting the drum head to the last bit of escaping air, the Soph3s present this note in its entirety. There is a balance and purity of sound in the bass that I've never been able to achieve with various speaker/sub combos. But look ma', no sub! It's hard to imagine what the MAXX3s will do in our game room. The only down side is that even from 200 gram "silent" recordings one can hear a very low level rumble. Well, here they are. Only around for a few hours and the Soph3s are already telling me my P5 and Exact might have limitations.
The midrange is everything Wilson claims it to be: accurate, musical, beguiling. Again, purity comes to mind. Voices are precise and smooth, not the least bit edgy. Soundstaging is beyond good. These are speakers that disappear. There is a band in front of you and you know where everyone is. Though voices and instruments don't exist as points in space as they do with some "good soundstage" speakers. They have depth and width. They are full and alive. Not so much in your face as sitting in the room with you. This mid is very intimate and inviting. The feeling of "being there" is...
The tweeter? More purity. Zero grain. No harshness. Total smoothness. Great dispersion. Very accurate, vivid and intuitive soundstaging.
These speakers are truly so far ahead of anything else I've owned. I'm really kind of flabbergasted. I've experienced my fair share of upgrades and audible improvements ("I never heard that in that song before!"). But the Wilson sound, for me, is a quantum leap towards the microphone.
What's probably the most impressive thing is how nice they sound BEFORE being optimised by my dealer and spiked in place. They're still on metal casters!
In HS I worked summers as an usher for the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Music Center in Fairmount Park, Philly. I know how those instruments should sound from just about anywhere in the hall. To date, I've yet to hear another speaker that's come as close as the Soph3.
One final note for my buddy Cyril: the DSi200 is a serious hoss.
PS. Macro photos to come tomorrow.