Sasha DWA vs SF Amati

[bigblue]

McIntosh is on the warm and rich side. The same goes for SF. The combo would be very "warm". Nothing wrong with that as long as you know what you "ask for".
Wilson on the other side is more neutral and clean (IMO).
I drive my SF Amati Futura with the Gryphon Diablo 300.

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by gadawg

I ran my Sasha 2's for quite a while with MC-601s and really loved the sound and compared B&W and Sasha with the MC-601's and actually like the Wilson McIntosh combo better! That said ... I will not say either is a better pairing ... Just that I liked the sound better ... both are equally valid setup's and both sound great!

George

With all of the world-wide accolades that Daryl's designs have received, I think one aspect of his designs has been overlooked. Or perhaps not overlooked, but not discussed as much as it should be.

While Daryl has been involved in over 40 Wilson designs, the ones post WAMM are the ones to which I refer. With the advent of the design of Charles' Alexx, Wilson's designs have become much more room and amp friendly in the bass. Instead of worrying whether or not the combination of room/amp, would work, it is now quite easy to choose the amp you love without concern that it will not match.

That said, I am biased. Having set up DAW's for events, reviews, and in dealer showrooms, I've seen just about every amp (including Macs) you can imagine. At one stop, a reviewer even chose a SET as the amp he wanted to use! And while not the last word in ultimate dynamics, DAW communicated beautifully the character of the amp. If you want to use an amp to "fix" a loudspeaker, DAW is not for you. If you want to hear your amp in all its glory, the DAW is the easy choice.

As I said, I am very biased. YMMV.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by metaphacts

With all of the world-wide accolades that Daryl's designs have received, I think one aspect of his designs has been overlooked. Or perhaps not overlooked, but not discussed as much as it should be.

While Daryl has been involved in over 40 Wilson designs, the ones post WAMM are the ones to which I refer. With the advent of the design of Charles' Alexx, Wilson's designs have become much more room and amp friendly in the bass. Instead of worrying whether or not the combination of room/amp, would work, it is now quite easy to choose the amp you love without concern that it will not match.

That said, I am biased. Having set up DAW's for events, reviews, and in dealer showrooms, I've seen just about every amp (including Macs) you can imagine. At one stop, a reviewer even chose a SET as the amp he wanted to use! And while not the last word in ultimate dynamics, DAW communicated beautifully the character of the amp. If you want to use an amp to "fix" a loudspeaker, DAW is not for you. If you want to hear your amp in all its glory, the DAW is the easy choice.

As I said, I am very biased. YMMV.

Of course you are biased but you should be for obvious reasons but that does not invalidate your wise opinion. The new Wilsons are chameleon-like because of their neutrality and their easy to drive property. This means they will work well with a wide variety of amps and the reason so many reviewers use them. A reviewer wants the sound signature of the reviewed component to manifest itself and the neutrality of Wilsons allow this.

With my Alexx and upcoming XVX, if my budget was truly unlimited I'd go with a Relentless, no question. If more limited but still huge, I'd go with a Momentum on the XVX and a Progression on the Thor. But I know I will be ecstatic with my 1.25KW's because of Bill's observation. The Relentless is 250,000 (pair) and Momentum is 65,000 (pair), a very significant difference from a 9,000 stereo amp or a 25,000 pair of mono amps. If I were purchasing a DAW, I would use a Momentum as my absolutely ideal preamp/mono-amp. I love and greatly admire Dags but from a distance because they are so expensive. If I'm going to spend, it will always be on the speaker, not the amplification. As with Bill, YMMV.

[Chris838]

Originally Posted by Charles

I'm not sure how you arrive at this conclusion. The Sasha DAW has been recently reviewed in Stereophile (January 2020 issue) using Mac 2300 pre and 462 stereo amp. To say it received a rave review would be an understatement. The review was as much about the outstanding sound quality of the Mac amplification as it was about the outstanding sound quality of the DAW. There has been a lot of discussion about the synergy between Mac and Wilson over the years. In my system the blend/synergy between my 1.25KW's and my Alexx is very good. This review of the DAW corroborates what I have felt all along: Mac and Wilson are very compatible and synergistic regarding their respective sound signatures. There is nothing I have ever heard from Wilson suggesting anything to the contrary. It's very worthwhile to read this review because you have a 9,000 stereo power amp (the Mac 462) getting the best out of a Wilson Sasha DAW. The DAW is a true thoroughbred, a racecar, if you will at a price of 38,000. I believe a 2700/611 combo would be a fantastic and very cost effective match.

In addition, the DAW is probably the best value in the Wilson line and has the absolutely newest Wilson drivers, cabinet, and crossover technology. Being a tribute to Dave Wilson by son Daryl Wilson, it is Wislon's very best effort. The Amantis is a discontinued speaker. There is value in having a current model, especially when it is a Wilson and sounds as good as a Sasha DAW. The review of the Amantis can be found on line (March 8, 2012 Stereophile).

Thanks for the feedback,

One thing upfront before I go in detail later.
I was talking about the current Hommage Amati.
Sorry for the confusion.
Hence they are in same budget ballpark they are both on my radar.
Sorry again

[W9TR]

Chris - part of the enjoyment is the journey, so take your time and listen to both ‘contestants’ as much as you can with as wide a variety of source material as is possible. Then you can start to answer these questions:

Which one gives me an emotional response?

Which one do I think I will listen to more frequently?

Which one will make the music I have sound better to me?

Which one is the most aesthetically pleasing and will blend in with my room decor?

Imaging both ‘contestants’ in your listening space - which one will give you the most joy to own?

These are all subjective and every person will respond differently to each speaker.

Good news, you really can’t lose either way.

[Chris838]

Originally Posted by W9TR

Chris - part of the enjoyment is the journey, so take your time and listen to both ‘contestants’ as much as you can with as wide a variety of source material as is possible. Then you can start to answer these questions:

Which one gives me an emotional response?

Which one do I think I will listen to more frequently?

Which one will make the music I have sound better to me?

Which one is the most aesthetically pleasing and will blend in with my room decor?

Imaging both ‘contestants’ in your listening space - which one will give you the most joy to own?

These are all subjective and every person will respond differently to each speaker.

Good news, you really can’t lose either way.

I understand...the pity is, im NOT listening at all at the moment. The dealer has my MCI banks and I have no speakers.
I was already considering to get some bookshelf for starters (Dynaudio, BW805s or entry SF) and postpone the big purchase.

[Azbiker]

As suggested above, spend more time listening to both. I listened and compared speakers for over a year and was ready to purchase a pair of SF Lilium speakers, then the Wilson Alexia Series 2 came out and totally floored me. You might have made a different decision as we all have different preferences. Enjoy your search.

[djcxxx]

I started auditioning Wilson for a second system. I had ARC driving SF Amati Homage (2005 vintage) with what I had considered very good results. I listened to the Sabrina, Yvette, and DAWs. The DAWs were far and away my favorite. Since this was a second system I decided to purchase a pair of Sasha 1s from an authorized dealer for half the cost of the Yvette. After a week of listening I (and several others stronger than myself) swapped the Sasha 1s into my primary system and the SFs into my secondary. The Wilson’s do everything better than my Amati Homage, but they do not suffer inadequacy in the reproductive chain of equipment. These are the first speakers I’ve owned where cable differences are easily perceived. The longer I listen and observe the complexity of design details, the more it becomes clear that great effort has been given to these speakers over many years. In my view the DAWs are a major evolution of the Sasha series with greater detail of orchestral inner voicing, even during crescendo of massed instrumentals, a major accomplishment for a relatively small speaker.

[Chris838]

Long story short, I ordered some daws. ��

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by Chris838

Long story short, I ordered some daws. ��

Thank you.