Wilson Sophia 2 in my system.

[PHC1]

Well, here they are in my room. So the "Wilson" experiment begins. If I can live with these Sophia 2s for a year, I may be looking into the Maxx3 as my next speaker. If not, the Sonus Faber Strads will be a strong contender as will a few others like Rockport, Hansen, Eggleston, Kharma.

Took a bit of sliding them around the room, not that I have that much leeway in my room but at least I remembered to tape off the position of my Sonus Fabers on the floor where they sounded best and avoided exciting too many room modes. The Sophia 2s wound up being about 3 inches away from that spot and a tiny bit forward. Some rooms just have certain spots where every speaker will do the least room mode excitation and this is the case in my room.

My dealer took his time setting them up according to Wilson method of training, that worked but wasn't perfect and I had to step in and show him where I thought the speakers would sound their best and we finally nailed pretty close. Of course some more tweaking will need to be done but the great news is that the bass integrates rather smoothly, I was a bit nervous it would not in my room. So far so good. I will play around a little more circling around that spot and then spike them.


So right off the bat, the household was split, my wife and younger son didn't like their looks as much as SF and I with my oldest actually like the Sophia looks. Of course they are quite a bit different from Sonus Faber and I admit they have turned my room from a "room with some high end gear" into more of a "high end audio room with some furniture".

Too early to talk about the real sound difference as they will breaking in for quite some time but the initial impression straight out of the box is they are more neutral and quite a bit more dynamic. Great bass slam, very open sounding, surprisingly not boxy sounding at all, although they are pretty big in my room. Imaging so far is not quite as good as SF but then again the monitors excel at that and it took me about a month of tweaking to get the Sonus Fabers to lock into incredible focus.

One other thing that kept bothering me was the titanium tweeter, I am a silk dome type of a guy and the titanium tweeter was a bit of a gamble on my part. I did not hear anything too out of line in the store and so far I am impressed with the smoothness of the tweeter at home as well. Very airy, very detailed but not at all annoying or harsh. As it breaks in further I could be very impressed and could certainly live with it even the way it is straight out of the box.

Actually the Sophia 2 doesn't seem to possess any real flaws so far, it integrated into my room rather well and has a very nice controlled bottom end, the midrange has just enough of weight to it, the highs are nicely extended with a great amount of detail and air. Definitely more neutral overall as compared to SF but certainly enjoyable at the same time. I'd say it is a good pairing with the Lamm's. The Lamm's seem to be happy driving these slightly more efficient speakers with ease. The combination of Lamm rich tonality and neutrality of the Sophia 2's makes for some great synergy so far. At times I was a bit bored with the SF warmer/mellower/weightier presentation with the Lamm's. The Sophia has seemed to awaken the Lamm's and allow them to flex their muscle a bit more.

So not everyone liked the looks but everyone was impressed with the sound. I will share my findings once I get some time on them. The Sophia 2s are in Mercedes Silver and still have the protective film on them and still need to be spiked.

[JSCC]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Well, here they are in my room. So the "Wilson" experiment begins. If I can live with these Sophia 2s for a year, I may be looking into the Maxx3 as my next speaker. If not, the Sonus Faber Strads will be a strong contender as will a few others like Rockport, Hansen, Egglestone, Kharma.

Took a bit of sliding them around the room, not that I have that much leeway in my room but at least I remembered to tape off the position of my Sonus Fabers on the floor where they sounded best and avoided exciting too many room modes. The Sophia 2s wound up being about 3 inches away from that spot and a tiny bit forward. Some rooms just have certain spots where every speaker will do the least room mode excitation and this is the case in my room.

My dealer took his time setting them up according to Wilson method of training, that worked but wasn't perfect and I had to step in and show him where I thought the speakers would sound their best and we finally nailed pretty close. Of course some more tweaking will need to be done but the great news is that the bass integrates rather smoothly, I was a bit nervous it would not in my room. So far so good. I will play around a little more circling around that spot and then spike them.


So right off the bat, the household was split, my wife and younger son didn't like their looks as much as SF and I with my oldest actually like the Sophia looks. Of course they are quite a bit different from Sonus Faber and I admit they have turned my room from a "room with some high end gear" into more of a "high end audio room with some furniture".

Too early to talk about the real sound difference as they will breaking in for quite some time but the initial impression straight out of the box is they are more neutral and quite a bit more dynamic. Great bass slam, very open sounding, surprisingly not boxy sounding at all, although they are pretty big in my room. Imaging so far is not quite as good as SF but then again the monitors excel at that and it took me about a month of tweaking to get the Sonus Fabers to lock into incredible focus.

One other thing that kept bothering me was the titanium tweeter, I am a silk dome type of a guy and the titanium tweeter was a bit of a gamble on my part. I did not hear anything too out of line in the store and so far I am impressed with the smoothness of the tweeter at home as well. Very airy, very detailed but not at all annoying or harsh. As it breaks in further I could be very impressed and could certainly live with it even the way it is straight out of the box.

Actually the Sophia 2 doesn't seem to possess any real flaws so far, it integrated into my room rather well and has a very nice controlled bottom end, the midrange has just enough of weight to it, the highs are nicely extended with a great amount of detail and air. Definitely more neutral overall as compared to SF but certainly enjoyable at the same time. I'd say it is a good pairing with the Lamm's. The Lamm's seem to be happy driving these slightly more efficient speakers with ease. The combination of Lamm rich tonality and neutrality of the Sophia 2's makes for some great synergy so far. At times I was a bit bored with the SF warmer/mellower/weightier presentation with the Lamm's. The Sophia has seemed to awaken the Lamm's and allow them to flex their muscle a bit more.

So not everyone liked the looks but everyone was impressed with the sound. I will share my findings once I get some time on them. The Sophia 2s are in Mercedes Silver and still have the protective film on them and still need to be spiked.

Clearly a very beautiful MODERN setup as compared to the more traditional looks of the Sonus Fabers. Either one a winner.

Personally, out of the few brands of speakers you have listed, Wilson Maxx 3, SF Stradivaris, Rockport Altair and the Magico 5 (you left this out ... hmmmm) would be the ones I would surely looked at a very tough job to decide and choose from. I would now recommend the Acapellas as one more to add to your list!

Meanwhile, enjoy and congratulations! Look forward to your review.

Cheers!

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by JSCC

Clearly a very beautiful MODERN setup as compared to the more traditional looks of the Sonus Fabers. Either one a winner.

Personally, out of the few brands of speakers you have listed, Wilson Maxx 3, SF Stradivaris, Rockport Altair and the Magico 5 (you left this out ... hmmmm) would be the ones I would surely looked at a very tough job to decide and choose from. I would now recommend the Acapellas as one more to add to your list!

Meanwhile, enjoy and congratulations! Look forward to your review.

Cheers!

Jerry, indeed the Magico which I forgot to list. Not sure if I'd spend that kind of money on Magico M5 unless I get a nice discount... Acapella would be interesting choice as well but I would have to go to tubes as in my mind that is the best way to go with Acapella. Maybe Lamm, maybe Wavac. Of course I'd like to live with my solid state system with only 1 tube per channel for a bit longer.

[Still-One]

Serge
I have always liked the sound of the Sophia 2's better than the WP 7 & 8. I think you will like the change from monitors to a full size speaker. At one time I had JM Lab Micro Utopia's in my system and they were great, and would still consider the latest iteration for a secondary system, but you just lose something compared to a larger unit.
Keep us posted.
Jim

[Alberto]

I admit they have turned my room from a "room with some high end gear" into more of a "high end audio room with some furniture".

Serge,

I have to agree , but you made your priorities (i.e. sound over aesthetics) very clear from the beginning and I respect a man who knows what he wants and goes after it.

Based on the pics, in terms of speakers and amps you have gone from "a thing of beauty" (SF Guarneri and MC501) to ... well ... a thing - as my wife used to call some of my audio equipment (before McIntosh and Sonus Faber).

Please don't take this the wrong way, but one of your older pictures with one of the Guarneri in the forefront and that beautiful piece of furniture behind it was so amazing - and you got a ton of compliments from several people - that the contrast with the current equipment is really emphasized.

On the other hand, I am sure you are having a ball with all these new components - and we are getting the benefit of your world class reviews.

Alberto

[80B]

Serge,
Great post, and congrats on the Sophias! I really enjoyed reading your impressions, and look forward to your impressions. When we built our system last year, my wife preferred the Sophias to the B&W 802Ds, and on some tracks we listened to I agreed, and by no means disliked the Wilsons. Aesthetics had a bit to do with it (yes, a pair of bowling ball mids is not everyone's cup of tea) as well since our listening room is also the family room.

The Sophias are very fine, and compared - given the price - favorably to the Maxx pair I heard demoed. I'd be very curious to as to anyone's impressions of the Sophia's vs WP8s.

When my wife reads your writeup, I'm going to get it from her - kind of a WAF-in-reverse!

Enjoy!

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Stillone

Serge
I have always liked the sound of the Sophia 2's better than the WP 7 & 8. I think you will like the change from monitors to a full size speaker. At one time I had JM Lab Micro Utopia's in my system and they were great, and would still consider the latest iteration for a secondary system, but you just lose something compared to a larger unit.
Keep us posted.
Jim

Jim, of course the monitors had 2 subs and actually kicked some serious ass in my room more so than any full range speaker that would work in my 14x17 room. In terms of scale and impact, the SF/JL Fathoms had it covered. The Sophia is quite a bit more dynamic in the range above were the subs crossed over and that brings a new level of listening thrill.

I am happy that these Sophia's integrated well so far as far as the bass is concerned, they don't come close to what the 2 Fathoms can unleash in the 20-30Hz range but then again my Fathoms will have to be completely re-tweaked as the Sophia is quite potent down low in my room. The Fathoms will now yawn most of the time.

I don't recall the WP7s but I did get to hear the WP8s. There is something a little more musical about the Sophia to my ears and the WP8s were not a real contender for my room although their "now discontinued" status offered some incredible savings.... Of course opinions will vary, the WP8 is an impressive speaker as well. I figured the Sophia will probably integrate a little better in my room and so far it has.

[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!

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by 80B

Serge,
Great post, and congrats on the Sophias! I really enjoyed reading your impressions, and look forward to your impressions. When we built our system last year, my wife preferred the Sophias to the B&W 802Ds, and on some tracks we listened to I agreed, and by no means disliked the Wilsons. Aesthetics had a bit to do with it (yes, a pair of bowling ball mids is not everyone's cup of tea) as well since our listening room is also the family room.

The Sophias are very fine, and compared - given the price - favorably to the Maxx pair I heard demoed. I'd be very curious to as to anyone's impressions of the Sophia's vs WP8s.

When my wife reads your writeup, I'm going to get it from her - kind of a WAF-in-reverse!

Enjoy!

Well, one has to have a very tolerant wife to accept the looks of most speakers out there in a family/living room. The B&W and SF have probably the most success in the WAF department. I like the looks of B&W 802/800 but there is just no way the 802 would work in my room. They can be a real struggle to integrate into most rooms when it comes to bass. Wilsons have a very controlled bottom end that doesn't require nearly as much current from the amps as the 802/800 B&Ws.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Alberto

Serge,

I have to agree , but you made your priorities (i.e. sound over aesthetics) very clear from the beginning and I respect a man who knows what he wants and goes after it.

Based on the pics, in terms of speakers and amps you have gone from "a thing of beauty" (SF Guarneri and MC501) to ... well ... a thing - as my wife used to call some of my audio equipment (before McIntosh and Sonus Faber).

Please don't take this the wrong way, but one of your older pictures with one of the Guarneri in the forefront and that beautiful piece of furniture behind it was so amazing - and you got a ton of compliments from several people - that the contrast with the current equipment is really emphasized.

On the other hand, I am sure you are having a ball with all these new components - and we are getting the benefit of your world class reviews.

Alberto

Alberto, you will get no argument from me on this one. I loved the looks of the Sonus Fabers and while I rather like the modern/futuristic look and build quality of these Wilson's, I am not blind to the fact that they made my room look like shit. What can I say? I have a very tolerant wife, she just smiled and said, "enjoy". :sorry:

I am however sitting here covered in goosebumps with these Wilsons playing in my room and that is all that really matters right now. 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. You're right, aesthetics take a back seat to performance when it comes to my listening rooms.