Quick Review after a short time with the Wilson Sasha's...

[dcvibe]

Time to give back what I have experienced by moving into the Wilson Sasha’s….

As some of you are aware from my earlier thread I moved up from Sophia II to the Sasha a few weeks ago and wanted to share my initial impressions:

-The Sasha’s are more sensitive than the Sophia II’s. Therefore they play louder at a lower volume. With the Sophia II’s I always felt the need to increase the volume to get better sound. Not so with the Sasha’s. The musical reproduction at low listening volumes is very pleasant. Granted to get the most dynamic range out of the speaker moderate volumes are better.

-Bass response is very good. I have a watchdog and to be honest I don’t hear much difference with the sub on. Granted with theater and bass rich music I definitely feel more with the sub on. But to me the Sophia II was definitely missing the lowest bass register and that is definitely not the case with the Sasha.

-Speed and Musicality. During my initial listening I kept feeling like I was missing something with the Sasha that I was getting with the Sophia II… at first I thought this was less midrange. It actually took me a while to figure out that it wasn’t what I was missing but rather the Sasha’s were reproducing the music differently. By that I mean there was less distortion, high’s and lows were cleaner and therefore I was hearing more of the music. In addition, I perceived an overall increase in the pace of the music. It wasn’t that it was bright and sharp but rather it was just more pure and more real sounding. These speakers seem to really pull information from the source. I was hearing new things in recordings that I had never heard or appreciated before. I think this was mostly related to better separation of sounds.

-Imaging and Soundstage. From the beginning it was quite easy to appreciate the improved soundstage and improved imaging. In fact my room is not that large and I would say that the “sweet spot” was larger with the Sasha’s than with the Sophia II’s. From a seated position I was more or less locked in with the Sophia II’s but with the Sasha’s the imaging was more forgiving. Being a little more off center or a little more forward/backward had less influence on the presentation than with the Sophia II. However, as we all know a sweet spot is a still a sweet spot! Regarding soundstage I perceive greater depth. The presentation feels closer to a live performance. Everyone likes to talk about “not hearing the speaker enclosure”. To be honest I didn’t think I was hearing the Sophia II enclosures. Only after some time with the Sasha did I realize what it really meant for the enclosure to disappear. Eyes open or shut, lights on or off, I really struggled to hear the enclosures or that sense of sound emanating from the Sasha enclosures. This is a good thing. I can’t say I have really felt this from any other box speaker. This disappearing act reminded me of how the original Martin Logan Odyssey’s electrostatics sounded that I grew up with at my parent’s place.

-Deficiencies? I can tell right away that the Sasha’s are less forgiving of electronics but at the same time sound much better with better electronics. It is easier to hear differences like removing the vibrapods from under my Source through the Sasha’s than similar comparisons to the Sophia II’s. It is easier to hear differences when changing interconnects or powercords for example. So in terms of “deficiencies?” they make me want to keep upgrading everything else in my system…

That’s all for now… maybe more later when I’ve had more serious listening time!

Again, thanks to all the Audioaficionado members for their help with this speaker selection. So far I am very pleased.

[cmalak]

Congrats dcvibe

[Lildebs888]

Congrats, dcvibe!! Thank you for taking the time to put together such a great review

[BillK]

Originally Posted by dcvibe

Only after some time with the Sasha did I realize what it really meant for the enclosure to disappear. Eyes open or shut, lights on or off, I really struggled to hear the enclosures or that sense of sound emanating from the Sasha enclosures. This is a good thing. I can’t say I have really felt this from any other box speaker.

Funny that you should use those precise words.

I've owned Apogees for 20+ years now, so I can instantly hear what I call "cones in a box" with most every conventional dynamic speaker I've heard, including past Wilson products and, for that matter, the Sophia 3 for whatever reason.

I've mentioned this before, but the Sasha is one of the very few I've heard sound so absent of cabinet coloration that its sound was competitive with my Apogees, the others being the offerings from Vivid Audio, and the first generation Revel Ultimas.

I'd be curious to hear of your further observations as you spend more time with them.

[Cellindo]

With more break-in time on the counter, you'll notice that the low level listening experience will further improve in a significant way. This was the most noticeable change for me as well as the tweeter improvement.

Happy listening to these "8th wonder of the world"

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by BillK

Funny that you should use those precise words.

I've owned Apogees for 20+ years now,

which apogees? they're not at all alike.

[Rilands]

Thanks for the review. Congratulations on owning some of the best.

[BlueChiaro]

Congratulations...thanks for your thoughts, and may they continue to help you thoroughly enjoy music!

Enjoying AA on my DROIDX

[BillK]

Originally Posted by metaphacts

which apogees? they're not at all alike.

They all sound alike in terms of not having any boxiness whatsoever unless you're talking about their hybrid models.

Mine are Caliper Signatures.

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by BillK

They all sound alike in terms of not having any boxiness whatsoever unless you're talking about their hybrid models.

Mine are Caliper Signatures.

they may no have boxiness but they do have color (as does any transducer).

there is no apogee that sounds like the original