A very subjective review of Wilson Sabrina Speakers (as compared to B&W 803D3s)

[Slange00]

Hi all
I wanted to share my personal impressions of the Wilson Sabrina speakers that I auditioned at my local dealer. The fact that I auditioned these speakers was quite a (fateful) accident: I was on my way out of the store with a fabulous mint pair of B&W 804D2s in hand, when one of the employees asked whether I wanted to listen to some Wilson speakers. Well, why not?! So I eventually ended up in front of a pair of Sabrinas, which may frankly have ruined my expectations (and my bank account) of what compact floorstanders should deliver…

Setup
I believe the dealer used Classe amps and transparent cables (looked like the premium series) in a medium size listening room, with excellent room treatment (wall and corner sound dampening). Two pairs of speakers stood a couple feet from the back and side walls - on the outside a pair of new Bowers & Wilkins 803 D3s, next to the B&Ws stood a pair of Wilson Sabrina in Galaxy Grey. Both speakers were driven through the same cable, same amp and at similar (subjective) sound level to enable a reasonable comparison of the two

Listening Tracks
As a budding violinist and electronic music producer my chosen listening tracks unsurprisingly ranged from classical music (Martha Argerich playing Rachmaninov’s third, Andras Schiff playing Back keyboard concertos, Roby Lakatos playing Hungarian dances, Hilary Hahn and others) , some Jazz, to electronic music tracks (Trente Moeller, Solar Fields, my own tracks etc).

Impressions of the B&W 803 D3s
Let me start with my cursory impressions of the 803D3s - On paper the 803 D3s should eat the Wilson’s lunch: The 803 D3 sports a deeper bass extension (19Hz! Vs the Wilson’s 31Hz), a better general frequency response (19Hz-28kHz vs 31Hz-21kHz) and the 803D3s are the more efficient speaker of the two (90dB vs Wilson’s 87db). ..and the 803D3s certainly did sound impressive. They projected a clear and revealing neutrality with enveloping bass. They made it easy to surgically follow each of the constituent tracks of the song or piece I was listening to, revealing, if you will, the anatomy of the respective music with ease and power. Would I have only heard these speakers, I would left the store impressed but not inspired (again these are my subjective, personal experiences here – not meaning to denigrade anyone else’s choice of these good speakers). However, I did listen to the Sabrinas…

Impressions of the Wilson Sabrina Speakers – Or why I may have ruined my perspective on speakers (and my bank account as a result)
The Sabrina’s on the other hand provide a much different listening experience. These speakers are probably one of the most musical and engaging speakers under 25K I have ever listened to. The soundstage these speakers project is detailed, warm and forgiving – the Sabrinas permitted significantly more deviation from a dead central listening position before the sound stage and imaging fell apart compared to the 803D3s. Furthermore, music presented itself as an emotionally engaging, coherent experience – as opposed to the more revealing and anatomical experience of the 803D3s (for lack of better words). Yet, dynamics and harmonic rendering were incredibly impressive and precise. With the 803D3s I felt that, despite the impressive bass extension, the highs/trebble tended to dominate my (subjective) listening experience. The Sabrina’s high, mid band and bass frequency ranges on the other hand seemed so effortlessly and musically integrated that, even though I intended to audition the Sabrina’s, the speakers seemed to naturally get out of the way of the music, offering an intoxicatingly direct connection with the musical experience at time of the recording – if you will, eluding me in my attempt to audition them. The Sabrina’s handled being pushed hard, and did not distort or get unbalanced when pushed to extremely high volumes. While the Sabrinas don’t boast the same claimed bass extension of the 803D3s, the detail and fine texture, depth and concision of the rendered bass more than made up for this difference. For the more literary inclined amongst us: While the 803D3s would befit a Narcissus, the Sabrina’s would most definitely be a Goldmund’s speaker…

To make a long story short, the Sabrina were a revelation of the level musicality and intoxicating engagement a fine pair of speaker can bring to my personal listening experience. As for most of us on this forum, it seems hard to justify spending $16K on a pair of speakers…yet, the Sabrina’s have made such a profound impression on me that I am looking at ways to purchase a pair shortly….

[Mikado463]

nice write up, thanks. At the same price point, if you get the opportunity, give a listen to the Revel Studio 2's. I'd be curious as to your comparison of the two.

[audio bill]

An excellent and well written review, thanks for sharing your impressions!

[Dr Tone]

Slange00,

You pretty much described my demo impressions to a T. I had no intention of buying speakers this expensive. 1 week later I was ordering them as I could no longer enjoy music on my Focal Electra 1028BEs, the Sabrinas had ruined them forever.

[joey_v]

Similar thoughts to my own. I prefer the anatomic precision of the 803d3 but it lacks the overall realism of the 802d3. Sabrina's just sound good, but to me it is euphonic.

Hard to choose

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by joey_v

Similar thoughts to my own. I prefer the anatomic precision of the 803d3 but it lacks the overall realism of the 802d3. Sabrina's just sound good, but to me it is euphonic.

Hard to choose

You pay your money and you take your choice.

Joey, I have heard Wilsons called many things over the years since I heard the first WAMM, but euphonic was never one of them.

[bart]

Slange00, a well done review!
You were lucky you didn't hear them a week after purchasing the 804D2s...

[Volks]

Originally Posted by joey_v

Similar thoughts to my own. I prefer the anatomic precision of the 803d3 but it lacks the overall realism of the 802d3. Sabrina's just sound good, but to me it is euphonic.

Hard to choose

Hi Joey.......I am really trying to understand exactly what in your own words you mean by "Euphonic" and how it relates to the Sabrina's?

[bart]

Michael, I found this:

euphony |ˈyo͞ofənē|
noun (pl. euphonies)
the quality of being pleasing to the ear, especially through a harmonious combination of words.
• the tendency to make phonetic change for ease of pronunciation.

DERIVATIVES

euphonic |yo͞oˈfänik| adjective.
euphonize |-ˌnīz| verb

ORIGIN late Middle English: from French euphonie, via late Latin from Greek euphōnia, from euphōnos ‘well sounding’ (based on phōnē ‘sound’).

[Slange00]

Thanks all for the kind words regarding my impressions. Describing sound, given its inherently subjective manifestation, and especially when drawing a difference between two world class speakers , is tough.

I love the fact that some of us , myself included, had to turn to websters as part of this conversation in order to try and decode joeys remark... At some point these decisions are less about objective sound improvements and more about maximization of our personal listening preferences. the Sabrina's have made me fall in love with a speaker in a way I hadn't expected or experienced previously...

I will be back at the dealer this week to do another listening session, and will post some follow ups.

@bart , alas I already had paid for the 804d2s prior to my listening experience , but the dealer will honor full trade in value of the 804d2s toward a future Sabrina purchase...