Humanhuman,
---I like the way the Sophia's look...---
I liked the way the Sophia's sound.
I heard them at the last hifi show I went, two years ago. For me, with the Davis Cesar's, they were the best speakers of this show with a good stereophony and freedom of the listening place. It must be said that the listening rooms were quite large. There was also a demonstration of an other Wilson pair of speakers, I did not like it at all.
---I like the way the Sophia's look...---
I liked the way the Sophia's sound.
I heard them at the last hifi show I went, two years ago. For me, with the Davis Cesar's, they were the best speakers of this show with a good stereophony and freedom of the listening place. It must be said that the listening rooms were quite large. There was also a demonstration of an other Wilson pair of speakers, I did not like it at all.
I've heard the complete line with the exception of the Watt Puppy 8. They are all great speakers from a fantastic and successfull company. Their success is no fluke, they have good products. I have had the opportunity to hear the Focal/JMLabs Utopia BE speakers and the Focal tweeters that Wilson Audio uses sound broken to me in comparison to the Focal BEs not to mention the Diamond tweeters from Accuton. Much of this, as with all things audio, is due to my personal preference and taste.
Great speakers, just not for me!
Nate
Great speakers, just not for me!
Nate
Landroval said:
I was lucky enough to hear and compare two among those brands who are cited by those critics who like to use the expression "best in the world". One was the Wilson Audio Maxx and the other was the Verity Audio Lohengrin. They were demonstrated at a trade show and both were powered with the same electronics, the appropriately esoteric Moon Evolution line by Simaudio. The demo was actually run by Simaudio, not the speaker manufacturers, but I suppose these were somehow involved, be it just by providing the goods to Simaudio. I'm not an expert but I am told that these pricey and well appreciated electronics are quite transparent so the sound we hear is close to that intended by the speaker's designer.
Hooked to these massive looking amplifiers and CD players I felt, and that is the right word, that both set of speakers sounded exceptionally fine, wrapping one completely in high-grade musical reproduction from massive bass to the most subtle highs, all seemingly perfectly blended with a seamless frequency "spread" that is rarely heard except in very high end products. I can't describe this sonic signature, it has to be heard, but those of you who have had similar experiences will know what I mean. It's solid without being overly tight, lush without being mushy, best of both worlds: airy with high definition.
The presence is amazing, it is very obvious that these speakers are built with the absolute goal of perfection without any of the usual commercial considerations of manufacturing costs. The results are two cost-no-object products that look quite different from one another but sound strangely alike, perhaps an indication that there aren't that many ways to build what experts consider the best possible speaker.
This being said, those products are only available to very few people, yours truly definitely not among them, and perhaps it's better that way because otherwise a lot of money could get needlessly throwned out the window.
Why? Because even though those speakers sound great they don't sound superior to some of the the best designed very high end DIY projects that I have heard. They simply sound just as good, and for 10 times the investment it's not worth it. After all there is only one part that very high end commercial speaker manufacturers use that is never used by DIY'ers, it's the plate with the name of the company that built the speaker. For some reason that's always the costliest part.
Willitwork said:
Those are very "basic" implementations of dynamic drivers; cones, domes and a ribbon for the Lohengrin.
When looking at and listening to speakers like Acapella Sphäron Excalibur, German Physics The Gaudi, Martin Logan Statement, Avantgarde Trio /w Basshorn and Marten Design Coltrane Supreme, you really understand that there is no one right way for outstanding audio reproduction.
Not to mention that someone spending that kind of money on a set of speakers is going to convince himself that they ARE the best around, no matter what he hears.
That said, several years ago I heard a set of big Wilsons (can't remember exactly which ones) driven by Krell and Wadia and megabuck cables in a large room that had been acoustically treated. I wasn't familiar with the music playing, but ho hum. Nice, accurate sounding but BORING! Down the hall there was a set of Dynaudio 2.5 ways that really grabbed me (for less than the price of the speaker cables in the Wilson room).
That said, several years ago I heard a set of big Wilsons (can't remember exactly which ones) driven by Krell and Wadia and megabuck cables in a large room that had been acoustically treated. I wasn't familiar with the music playing, but ho hum. Nice, accurate sounding but BORING! Down the hall there was a set of Dynaudio 2.5 ways that really grabbed me (for less than the price of the speaker cables in the Wilson room).
I live not far from da Wilson plant. They have an open house once in a while but they need a financial statement from you before they will give you an invite. This is a true thing that actually happened to a friend of mine when he heard of the open house and called them to inquire. Do you think they would allow a measley DIY'er..... What schmucks!
Mark
Mark
Mark A. Gulbrandsen said:
That's interesting, I heard that Verity imposes similar criteria to would-be visitors: be rich, be corporate, be writing for a high-end audiophile publication, otherwise be gone. The only way for us mere peasants to hear these procucts is to have wealthy/connected friends or attend trade shows.
I've already heard the Maxx 2 and Watt/Puppy 7.
Both were although nice sounding, inacurate. Lack of real bass extension, excess of high bass (around 80Hz region), and in the case of Maxx 2 had a too big image (a cello sounded bigger than a double bass).
Both were powered by several thousand dollars electronics, and expensive cables.
On the other side, I've heard the Linkwitz Orions, from a guy that built them here in Brazil. Due to the excessive weight, he is using 3 ATI power amplifiers with 60w per channel (he put the subwoofers in parallel) instead the recommended 12 channel ATI amplifier.
The Orions had a better bass extension, lack of room ressonances on bass region (what gives a much tighter bass), a much better sized image and a more realistic timbre.
Although it has a much more flat frequency response curve than Wilson Audio speakers, it has warmth and very very transparent midrange.
And the Orions were using just "OFC standard cables". No audiophile voodos, and a simple Denon DJ cd-player (Charles had an audiophile grade cd player, but it stopped working).
I have not yet heard other DIY products (going to hear the Dave Ellis 1801b soon), but the Orions proved to me that there are excellent speakers not so high priced, that can match even some several thousand dollars speakers.
Both were although nice sounding, inacurate. Lack of real bass extension, excess of high bass (around 80Hz region), and in the case of Maxx 2 had a too big image (a cello sounded bigger than a double bass).
Both were powered by several thousand dollars electronics, and expensive cables.
On the other side, I've heard the Linkwitz Orions, from a guy that built them here in Brazil. Due to the excessive weight, he is using 3 ATI power amplifiers with 60w per channel (he put the subwoofers in parallel) instead the recommended 12 channel ATI amplifier.
The Orions had a better bass extension, lack of room ressonances on bass region (what gives a much tighter bass), a much better sized image and a more realistic timbre.
Although it has a much more flat frequency response curve than Wilson Audio speakers, it has warmth and very very transparent midrange.
And the Orions were using just "OFC standard cables". No audiophile voodos, and a simple Denon DJ cd-player (Charles had an audiophile grade cd player, but it stopped working).
I have not yet heard other DIY products (going to hear the Dave Ellis 1801b soon), but the Orions proved to me that there are excellent speakers not so high priced, that can match even some several thousand dollars speakers.
I have listened to Cub, Witt, Sophia, and 3 Watt Puppy versions.
I liked most the Witt, it sounded balanced and open to my ears. The Sophia and the W&P are overblown, boring, and the Cub is aggressive.
Always the electronics and cables were top notch and the setup as recommended by Wilson.
Nothing to write home about that it cant be beaten by serious DIY in my view.
The speaker I liked in a rather recent show was the Horning Agathon driven by high grade SE tubes, replaying vinyl.
I liked most the Witt, it sounded balanced and open to my ears. The Sophia and the W&P are overblown, boring, and the Cub is aggressive.
Always the electronics and cables were top notch and the setup as recommended by Wilson.
Nothing to write home about that it cant be beaten by serious DIY in my view.
The speaker I liked in a rather recent show was the Horning Agathon driven by high grade SE tubes, replaying vinyl.
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