Sophia 3 v. Wilson 802D

[kfr01]

Sophia 3 v. Wilson 802D.

They're around the same price.

What say you? Which one should I be saving for?

Has anyone heard both? Which has tighter and faster bass? Deeper?

[chessman]

Karl ... I compared Bowers and Wilkins 802D's to the Wilson Audio Sophia 2's that I ended up buying, not exactly your question, but close. It was not an A/B test, so you have to seriously discount my opinion because of the number of variables at play.

I heard the 802D's driven by Classe gear, set up for HT with a 132 inch screen. Consequently they were set up for a wide sweet spot, with a center channel carrying the heavy weight. When played in stereo mode, they did not sound very musical to me. For movies, with the center channel and surrounds, it was awesome.

I heard the Sophia's being driven by ARC tube gear and my jaw dropped. Then I heard the same music on vinyl through the ARC gear and was even more floored. BUT, this set-up was strictly two channel and the listening chair was centered in the sweet spot.

Maybe not a fair test at all, but I was in love and bought the Sophia's. My own rig is both two channel listening and HT. I find the Sophia's to be outstanding in this role, BUT by experimentation I have determined that my center channel is carrying most of the load in HT.

I started as a 802D wannabe lover, bought Wilson Sophia 2's instead, and have never looked back. IMHO, YMMV, and all the other disclaimers.

[chessman]

Oops, missed a couple of questions. The Sophia's bass, when driven by enough power, sounds much tighter and impactful to me than the 802D's did.

[kfr01]

Randy: thanks for weighing in. I've heard the 802Ds and have been favorably impressed, but I am drawn to some of Wilson's ideas about driver technology and cabinet construction. I've never heard a Wilson speaker (no dealers in my city), but there are dealers within a couple hour drive.

I notice that you run the JL subs. Did you find these necessary for two channel listening, was this something you did primarily for HT, or otherwise?

Thanks again & cheers!

[chessman]

Karl ... I bought the Fathoms when I was using a lesser (albeit custom modded) speaker as mains. I ran them as small, using the Fathoms to both provide the bottom end and to free up the top end (sounded much cleaner when not trying to provide below 80H information). In that rig, the Fathoms were easily more musical than the mains.

When I got the Wilson Sophia 2's, I had assumed I would run them the same way. I quickly ditched that idea because the Fathom's could not keep up with the speed of the Sophias. So now I run the Sophias full range for music.

I still use, and love the Fathom 113's for HT. Here is how I have it both ways. As I said I send a full range signal from my preamp to my amp for two channel. For HT, I use the Oppo for bass management, crossed at 80H, feeding the surround processor with analog cables, which in turn feeds my preamp on a "unity gain" input (often called HT bypass), which causes my preamp to act like a straight wire with respect to the mains when in HT mode. When in HT mode then, the mains are crossed at 80H, and the subs get the "redirected bass" plus the LFE from the Oppo. "Big Badda Boom"

The Sophia/BAT combo is so good, and the Fathoms sitting next to the mains are so imposing, that others often comment on how good the Fathoms sound when listening to music. I LOVE making them press their ear to the Fathoms to prove that the subs are not on when listening to music.

Hope that helps.

[kfr01]

Randy:

That actually helps a lot. It says something truly great about the Sophia's bass capability when you can fake people out into thinking a pair of Fathoms are enabled. I also like that you mentioned it was the speed that separated the Sophia bass from that of the Fathom. I've never been into booming bass.

[kfr01]

Anyone have a vote for the B&W. If so, why?

[Puma Cat]

If you're open to it, I would also consider Dynaudio Confidence C2s or C4s.

[BlueChiaro]

Originally Posted by kfr01

Anyone have a vote for the B&W. If so, why?

I was going to consider the 802Diamond as I was coming from N802 speakers. I'd surely try to get to listen to them...I couldn't come up with a local demo, but I didn't really try that hard. I had wanted Wilson speakers for a long time, so it was the direction I really wanted to go. I still own my N802, and truly enjoyed my years of listening to them, but they're in theater duty now.

Enjoying AA on my DROIDX

[kfr01]

Funny how that works. The problem is that I've lusted for Wilson/B&W's somewhat equally! :-)