Auditioned Wilson Sabrina X vs B&W 803D4 and Shocked

Dear @jeffreyw ;  I think that the Wilson ( I listened and listened the D3 not D4 B&W ) is not clinical and anemic it's that the B&W goes deeper in the bass and gives a little more " body " to the overall MUSIC presentation.

The other issue could be that the Sabrina just does not likes the Mackintosh auto-formers , me neither.

Both speakers designs are very good and each one needs to be mated with the " rigth " electronics and in a good treated room. The other issue is that each one of us have different MUSIC home targets in MUSIC reproduction.

TRegards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

The MAC needs to be on the 2 ohm tap for the wilson’s to be optimal but really should not matter.

I had the older 802D3 and the Sophia 3 in the same room/system for a direct comparison. On that day I liked the 802D3 better for similar reasons you mnetioned. But B&W can be hard to live with due to the peak in the mids and treble. They get fatiguing and harsh with some lesser music. I think I would enjoy the Wilson more longterm.

I have also heard the 803d2 and Sabrina, I think both needs subs and have some issues in their price range. There are better speakers out there for less money.

Wilson raising the price in 2025 lol… no thanks… I was once a wilson fan too but their prices are down right silly now for what is kind of average sound quality in their price range.

I suspect that the amp is the problem. Mac's "house sound" isn't a good match with the highly resolving Willies. 

It could also be speaker placement. Wilsons seem to come alive it the perfect placement- more so than others I've auditioned. 

Hi OP,

First, really happy that you found what you were looking for. If you put Mc + B&W together and you like that sound I doubt anything else would make you happy.

However, to me, this is a very colorful combination which I would not be happy with at all.

My experience with late model Wilsons is they have plenty of bass with the right amp in the right room when the resistors and jumpers are configured correctly. I doubt the Mc’s would be the right amp for them.

Not saying you should have bought Wilsons and Luxmans instead, but that your personal preferences kind of made your purchase inevitable.

I had the exact same experience! I was basically there to make the comparison and leave with the Wilson's, but ruled them out and moved on to compare the 803d4 to other speakers before getting them. I listened through Ayre equipment and tried a Mac source before switching to all Ayre. We changed speaker cables and interconnects, moved the listening chair, etc. All of these changes modified the wilson sound a bit more than the 803d4s, but in all variations my ears found the 803d4 to be much more realistic and true to the music. I think the Wilsons were great at what they did, but it was not the sound (in that room with that equipment) that I look for. Bands I have seen regularly sounded very precise but the singer sounded like someone with a slightly higher, drier voice doing an impression of them. Acoustic guitars sounded slightly tuned up and lost their earthiness, as if the air got taken out of the guitar body- but once again very precise and dynamic. Cymbals had a marvelous shimmer but the strike of the cymbal was presented as another instrument further back in the soundstage... i spent much of the time with the Wilsons following every instrument and sound throughout the room, but being distracted by guessing why each of them did not sound quite "right" to me. Perhaps a sub would have helped, but not in my room or budget. Until I saw your post I was thinking that it might have all been in my head, or a hearing issue. Regardless, I have been thrilled with my ultimate purchase, even in my non-ideal listening  room.

I am lucky to live in a city with several brick and mortar hifi stores so am able to audition speakers in person. When I was shopping for new speakers a few years ago, I found that the disconnect between what many reviewers liked and what I thought sounded musical was considerable. I had a list of what I wanted to hear in hand up to, a certain price level ($!0,000)

I found many speakers played well above their price level and many below. I suggest you keep an open mind and audition all you can .

Feel free to disagree, but you should be able to get good bass with a budget of $25,000 to spend on your primary speakers unless you have a huge room and/or you are looking for big bass effects for a home theatre. I have owned many speakers with multiple 5-7 inch drivers in a tower configuration as has been so popular over the last several decades. They do a good job of getting bass out of a small footprint, they integrate well into a room and usually have good WAF but they won’t give you the same experience as speakers with a bigger diameter woofers

Trust your ears!  Wilson makes great speakers and I don't many of their models to other brands (I do think the new Watt Puppys are incredible but they are also almost $40k).

The amplification does have an impact on the sound - if you don't own Mc I wouldn't use Mc amplification as a proxy.  I've owned Mcs and they were very enjoyable to me - there is a house sound and I think that house sound matches B&W very well.  

I agree that the amps probably helped, however, I listened to a pair of B&W bookshelf's this weekend and was impressed.  Still voiced a bit higher than I prefer, but nothing annoying or wrong.  Clear with an engaging mid-range.  

If you want British done well, you could do worse than hop across the county border from Sussex to Kent, to the old Kent Engineering and Foundry where KEF speakers are designed.  If you are technical, read the 40-page White Paper on the Reference Series.  This is science in practice.

B&W are great at finishing cabinets, but personally I have never heard B&W speakers I really like, though I have yet to hear the Nautilus!

I got to compare the B&W 805 D3 to the original Joseph Audio Pulsars, and to my ears the Pulsars were superior across the board.  Better imaging and more 3D soundstage, tonality, bass, treble, and overall just more musical without sacrificing air/detail along with a better disappearing act.  The 805s just sounded less accomplished and clinical by comparison — but again that’s my ears.  All this to say if you can hear the JA Perspective 2s somewhere it’d be well worth your while.  FWIW, and best of luck. 

I have tried both B&W 805 D3 and Wilson Sabrina X. Ended up with Revel Ultima Salon 2 and cannot be more happy listening to jazz, art rock, ang large scale classical music. My amps are McIntosh MC452 and Parasound JC 1+.

I have always been impressed with the combination of the B&W 803 line with Mac amplification. Together, they present a very smooth and musical experience. The Mac sound can be on the warm side and the B&Ws can be a bit forward in the midrange and lower treble. Together, their strengths are reinforced and their weaknesses obscured. If you are a Mac fan, the B&Ws are hard to beat.