Wilson Sophia 2 in my system.

[Alberto]

Originally Posted by 80B

So Alberto, are you suggesting Serge should listen with his eyes closed?

Since you come from the land of Sophia Loren (no pun intended), I understand where you're coming from!

I would reserve the name Sophia for a speaker with more curves .

All joking aside, I have no trouble believing that Serge's new system sounds great and, as I said, he must be having the time of his audiophile life with all this new gear.

Alberto

[Alberto]

Originally Posted by PHC1

In the next house, my wife will have the living room back and I will have my dedicated room down in the basement that I can again do with what I want.

That's perfect. In the right room, those speakers (and even the Lamms) could be mated with racks and decor of similar "high-tech" style and they would look great - whereas the SF might look out of place.

I guess there's aesthetic synergy as well as sonic synergy.

Alberto

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Alberto

I would reserve the name Sophia for a speaker with more curves .

All joking aside, I have no trouble believing that Serge's new system sounds great and, as I said, he must be having the time of his audiophile life with all this new gear.

Alberto

I don't know, I find quite a bit of resemblance between the Wilson and the real Sophia.



Of course one of these other speakers could have been named Sophia and then you'd say they are a little too bottom heavy to be called Sophia.

[80B]

Serge,
I believe you still have the 501s - are you going to run the Sophia's through those amps? Lots of us would be very interested in your impression, both on a stand alone basis and compared to the Lamms. Apologies to Jim, I initially missed your comparison of WP's vs. Sophias.

Agree with you guys 100% on the aesthetics of the SF/B&W vs. the Wilsons. There's some rooms/homes in which the Wilsons look incredible, although IMHO SF's & B&W are aesthetically more versatile overall. I get the impression Wilson is relatively popular in Scandinavia, where that look fits in more than a typical US non-dedicated listening room.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by PHC1

I don't know, I find quite a bit of resemblance between the Wilson and the real Sophia.

Serge.......I think there's a bit of a resemblance, too. Now a days, they're both gray.

Wilson seems to be taking some design ques from Hansen, they just haven't rounded off the edges yet.

The Sophia's would be a show stopper in rosewood.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Serge.......I think there's a bit of a resemblance, too. Now a days, they're both gray.

Wilson seems to be taking some design ques from Hansen, they just haven't rounded off the edges yet.

The Sophia's would be a show stopper in rosewood.

You can have just about any automotive paint including custom but you can't have wood. Actually I am really starting to understand the design philosophy of Wilson. Their X and M proprietary material is incredibly stiff and non-resonant. There is no smearing of transients at all, no matter how loud you listen. I haven't even spiked the speakers yet and they already have incredible taught and articulate bass which underlines the fact how stiff and non-resonant the cabinet is.

This stiffness also must truly help the speaker overall as the micro-details it reproduces as the gear is pulling up out of the recording is rather impressive to say the least. The Sonus Fabers were braced very well and the cabinets had minimal amounts of resonance but the Sophia's truly take it to another level. Wood/MDF obviously has it's limitations. It can be done when taken to extreme like the Magico guys do it but the resin compounds of speakers like Wilson, Hansen, upper Rockports, etc.. have an obvious benefit.

I played around with the toe in some more and was able to get them to focus better. Wow... I am sitting here and trying to find a fault with these speakers but so far I am only impressed more and more....

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by 80B

Serge,
I believe you still have the 501s - are you going to run the Sophia's through those amps? Lots of us would be very interested in your impression, both on a stand alone basis and compared to the Lamms. Apologies to Jim, I initially missed your comparison of WP's vs. Sophias.

Agree with you guys 100% on the aesthetics of the SF/B&W vs. the Wilsons. There's some rooms/homes in which the Wilsons look incredible, although IMHO SF's & B&W are aesthetically more versatile overall. I get the impression Wilson is relatively popular in Scandinavia, where that look fits in more than a typical US non-dedicated listening room.

I'll give the 501s a try driving the Sophia's. I don't see why they also wouldn't sound great with the 501s but I'll try just to be sure. Actually more often I see the Sophia being driven by much lower class gear as if the dealer want's to prove that anything can drive them. I think that is a mistake because they truly deserve some serious gear behind them. They don't seem like they would hold the rest of the gear back. Actually they let me hear even more of what the rest of my gear is like at this point.

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by PHC1

I'll give the 501s a try driving the Sophia's. I don't see why they also wouldn't sound great with the 501s but I'll try just to be sure. Actually more often I see the Sophia being driven by much lower class gear as if the dealer want's to prove that anything can drive them. I think that is a mistake because they truly deserve some serious gear behind them. They don't seem like they would hold the rest of the gear back. Actually they let me hear even more of what the rest of my gear is like at this point.

I have heard them powered by just about everything. They sure liked the Krell 600 Mono blocks.
I am not sure how much of the improvement from the Sophia to the Sopia 2 can be attributed to the new M3 material, but I think the new tweeter really improved the sound.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Stillone

I have heard them powered by just about everything. They sure liked the Krell 600 Mono blocks.
I am not sure how much of the improvement from the Sophia to the Sopia 2 can be attributed to the new M3 material, but I think the new tweeter really improved the sound.

Having heard the Alexandria X2 by the Krell 900 mono's a few times now, I'd say that was probably the most impressive demo in terms of dynamics, slam, resolution and scale but it wouldn't be my first choice of a paring in terms of sheer musicality. It there is one thing I've learned about the Wilson speakers so far is don't jump to conclusions based on what you hear somewhere. Being fairly close to neutral and very open and airy, the gear will play a major role in the outcome. Much more so than the Sonus Faber for example. I think I understand why the Maxx3 with Lamm tubes was voted as one of the best sounds at the CES and why so many Wilson owners have Lamm gear driving them. Hypnotic is the right choice of words....

[-E-]

They had the Sophia's at CES this year in a small booth with some tube gear that I cannot remember.

It sounded wonderful compared to the surrounding rooms - even with that metal dome the highs were not obtrusive or bright at all. If something sounded like garbage we tended to "calm" our ears by going back to those speakers or the XR200 room...