Sophia IIIs are finally here at long last!

[soundslikemusic]

My pair of S3s in desert silver finally arrived after a good long 3 months wait. These were ordered June 18 and took almost 8 weeks to be delivered at my forwarder in Los Angeles.

Here they are in crates sitting at the forwarder's warehouse August 18-2010:



Fast forwarder few weeks later, they arrive at my doorsteps in similar condition except for some dirt on the top and sides of the well constructed crates:



Unpacking begins.... stay tune for more photos!

[soundslikemusic]

with more that 10 pcs of screws to unscrew, took a good 30-45 minutes to take all of them off:
Moment of truth-


With the help of my assistant, we finally pulled the S3s out of the crate. The smell of newness to the speakers is nice feeling.



After an hour of making it to the room, the S3s are finally up and running.
Using Luxman 505u as amp.

[Rilands]

Very exciting. I wish those toys were arriving at my home. You lucky dog. Have fun.

[Masterlu]

Very Nice!

Time to...

[howiebrou]

Wonderful! How does it sound??

howie

[soundslikemusic]

[QUOTE=howiebrou;108734]Wonderful! How does it sound??

howie[/QUOTE

Howie,

Thanks! i'm still running them in as I only have around 10 hours of music time with them.
So far they sound very promising. This is a well-rounded speakers.
However, I miss the magical midrange of my Harbeths.
Everything else, these Wilsons just have it in spades.
I'll share more listening notes as I change amps, cables, room around.

[Cellindo]

Hi,

My first impression when I see your room pic. is that the S3 are a bit too far away from the rear wall and there is a lack of toe-in towards the listening position. toe-in is very important for all WILSON speakers.

Just my two cents and feeling; obviously you know better your room ;-)

[soundslikemusic]

Originally Posted by Cellindo

Hi,

My first impression when I see your room pic. is that the S3 are a bit too far away from the rear wall and there is a lack of toe-in towards the listening position. toe-in is very important for all WILSON speakers.

Just my two cents and feeling; obviously you know better your room ;-)

Cellindo,

Thanks! I did toe them in already.. That helps on the focus.
I'll try inching them closer to the back wall.
Approx how far are your Wilsons from the back wall ?

Regards
SLM

[soundslikemusic]

I've tried a variety of amps with these speakers & all seem to sound from good to very excellent with these speakers.





Even the bel canto digital amps sounds pretty good with them:





The S3s seems easy to drive.

Does anyone know what is the magic number of hours for these speakers to run in ?

[Cellindo]

Originally Posted by soundslikemusic

Cellindo,

Thanks! I did toe them in already.. That helps on the focus.
I'll try inching them closer to the back wall.
Approx how far are your Wilsons from the back wall ?

Regards
SLM

Dear soundlikemusic,

At my different places, I've positioned my Sophia usually between 60cm to 80cm from the rear wall (I mean the bass port exit distance to the back wall).

When you look at pictures during shows, the Wilson speakers are typically quite far apart (with important toe-in) and not so much spaced from the rear wall. That's seems to be a rule of thumb...

Enjoy playing with positioning. ;-)