My apologies_Upgrade path from Wilson WattPuppy 7's?


Folks-

I am the naive person who posted about which speaker to buy next, my system is all McIntosh, except for the downloaded high-resolution music content. Since I have price limitations, I have been attempting to audition loudspeakers under $15K, preferably used or demos. In various stores, I have heard the following:
  • Vandersteen Quarto CT's: Great bass, but an active system that does not seem to resolve high mid-range strings like a Wilson;
  • Triton GoldenEar Reference;
  • Sonus Faber Venere S and Olympica's, great sound in the store.
Currently, I am auditioning (in-house) Wilson Yvette speakers (it cost $400 for an in-house demo), and they sound great to me, but they are too expensive, even at a reduced demo price.  I started comparing frequency and impedance curves where I could obtain them (mostly Hi-Fi news from the U.K.), but I am becoming too obsessive about this.

So, I guess I could buy the Wilson Sabrina or Wilson Sasha WP (discontinued Series 1), since I seem to like the Wilson sound. Any advice?

Thanks again - Gerry
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xgerryah930
my only reservation about this amp would be its low input impedance
(spec’d at 10K/20K unbalanced/balanced
  • Power:
  • 333.3W @ 8 ohms,
  • 499.4W @ 4 ohms


As Al posted, this H30 input impedance will make for a hard impedance match with tube, TVC or passive preamps. Solid state preamps should be fine.

Also the independent wattage figures (which relate to current ability), that Al found, are not so good either, as an indication of great current ability so tread carefully.

BTW: I’m sure Al or I could come up with some amp (with good current ability) recommendations, and a higher more usable input impedance, if you want that from us?  

Cheers George
Give the Focal Sopra 2 a try - hard to beat for the price.
However, with the run of used SF on AG you'll find a nice pair of Olympica 3's that will sound just sumptuous with your MAC gear.
Gerryah, 

A change in digital won't hurt but compared to modern speaker designs your WP 7 will still show their age. 

I would look at all the possible choices in your price range when you are ready. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
Gerryah:
I hope you've learned, like many here, to ignore Audiotroy. Once again, he leads the thread in words produced. Apparently, he is not a Wilson dealer but used to work for one. So unlike most class dealers who choose not to denigrate your tastes, he damns Wilson with faint praise and goes on to suggest that the speakers he sells are better because they utilize more expensive drivers.
Nevertheless a number of audiophiles do not like the sound of beryllium  drivers. I, for one, have yet to hear a beryllium tweeter that I like.
 Your decision to hold off is a good one. I had the WP7s for years. Contrary to what Audiotroy says, if those speakers were produced by Wilson Audio today and cost 20k, they'd be better than most speakers in that price range IMHO.
Sorry Grgr4blu, as usual just plan wrong. The WP 7 is hardly by today's standards a world class loudspeaker, the Tioxid tweeter can be spiky and the fantastic paper and graphite Scanspeak midrange driver is many generations old compared to what Scanspeak is producing today.

Also if you look at the measurements you can see the famous Wilson lower mid bass hump. 

I owned the WP 5 the sevens were not much better, and as you forget in our last go around I have two clients with WP 7 so I do know what they sound like.

I am sure you will regale me with why the genius of Wilson can in a loudspeaker from 2003 out class all the modern contenders?

Sure the WP 7 would be $25k in today's money, I can make the same arugment when I purchased  a set of Quad ESL 63 in 1986 which were $3k and now the same speaker is $12k. 

Gerry should be looking at all the contenders that would make him happy, and as noted before the many had numerous issues with Wilson including the value for dollar proposition. 

As I have mentioned previously compare a set of Legacy Aeris at $25k to a pair of Wilson Maxx or Alexias, and see what you get for your money as well as technology, oh I forget moving a driver a few inches to physically time align a driver is so much more precise then using the world of dsp and room correction to time align every frequency. 

Gerry should open his mind to all the major loudspeakers and as you are a Beryilium basher read all the people who are listening to the Personas and are being blown away such as Brownsf on another post. 

The word is setup. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ