Pre/power or Int Amp for Wilson Sophias?

A good friend of mine has Sophia's and he has tried everything with them. These speakers are both fantastic and forgiving and as such nearly eveything coupled with them produces good results - JC-1's, ARC, BAT, C-J, etc. However, having said that, the very best combination I heard (which he ultimately ended up with) was with Blue Circle equipment. The sound was incredibly musical and intoxicating. You can truly listen for hours without getting fatigued - except maybe your cheeks from grinning so much! Anyhow, I am sure you could get a BC26, Despina and cables to fit your budget - you would be very happy indeed.

I have a pair of Sophias and have tried a bunch of solid-state and tubed amps. My preamp has always been a CAT Signature Mark III. Since these speakers are a relatively easy load you can use either tubed or SS amps with good effect. I had an Audio Research VT100 Mark III and got a huge soundstage with great bass, same with a Conrad-Johnson Premier 140--you could also go with a MV60 amp which shows up here on Audiogon for less than $2K. If you wanted solid-state you could probably get good results with any good amp. I ran mine with BAT VK-500 and VK-600 amps and had good bass, immediacy, smoothness. The only drawback is a relatively small soundstage compared to the tube amps I tried. Right now I am driving them with Essence amps--if you ever see any of these on Audiogon I would highly recommend them--best sounding amps I have ever heard.

I use Ayre on my Sophia 2s...they are a wonderful match...

John

I've had great success with the BAT integrated, as well as BAT separates on my Sophias. Nuforce also works great with them.

I did not like Bryston on them. I owned the Concentra II, but didn't have my Sophias then---its a great unit, but definitely not tubes. Wilsons tend to go well with tubes....that said, i would like to try out the Ayre integrated with them.

Musical Fidelity KW 500 intergrated 500wpc.

On the solid state side you should give Rowland and Pass a listen. I've heard the Sophias with both and they are a good combination. If you do tubes ARC is always a good choice (lots of punch, great bass but never edgy or bright). You might even consider a nice BAT integrated and put a little more money in cables instead.

Good luck, you have the beginnings of a great system on your hands.

I recommend the Bel Canto evo2 amp.