Thiel Owners

@jcatral14 I hope you can audition the Sophia before committing. I’ve not heard the Sophia but I have heard W/P 7, W/P 8, Sasha, and Maxx. I’ve also not heard the 3.6 but have owned the 1.6 and 2.4 plus heard 3.7 and 7.2. IMO, Wilsons are good but not worth the price. They do have heroic cabinets, probably their biggest strength and one reason for the price. They also seem to have quality passive parts but I’m not a fan of their driver choices. One thing I’ve heard on Wilsons that I’ve not heard on anything else is a profound sense of the hall space on live recordings. That’s a really cool trick . . . but probably an artifact of the midbass bump. 

For about the same price, I would rather have killer electronics mated to Thiels than modest electronics mated to Wilsons. But you won’t know until you can hear the Sophias.

jcatral14,

It was a longtime ago but I made notes that day and still have them (sometimes it helps to be a dork). I demoed the Sophia 3 and Thiel 3.7 in the same room, same system, moving each speaker out of the way for each demo. I switched back and forth for roughly 3 hours. The next day I went back and did the same with the Sophia 3 and 802D2.  I have also owned the Thiel 2.4 for 10+ years and it sits in one of my secondary systems now (Revel 228be with JL subs in my main system).



So these comments are from notes made the day of.  The Thiels were setup with 10-15 degrees of toe in and wilson had heavy toe in to cross just behind the listening seat. Again same room roughly the same spot on the floor. Also used multiple amps. musical fidelity and ARC front ends, tried both on both speakers. The room was large (20x30x15ish) and the speakers were in the middle of the room with the seats on the back 3rd. I sat 10-12’ away.



- tonal balance: the Sophia’s have hard hitting slamming bass compared to the Thiels. Shook the room with what seems like much deeper notes. The 3.7 seemed a little light in the bass in direct comparison. The week before (yes 3 days total) the Thiels in isolation had great bass. The mids and highs seemed to have comparable tonal balance to me. Nothing stood out on either other than the bass on the Sophia 3



-sound stage: The 3.7 has noticeably wider soundstage but less center focus. The singer was a hair more collapsed to the speakers on the 3.7. The center focus on the Sophia was somewhere between the 3.7 and 802D but the singer stood center stage better than the 3.7. The 3.7 sound stage was wider and much more stable. Moving my head did not change it much. The Sophia 3 on the other hand changed and collapsed with my movement. If I sat up or leaned to one side I could heard a clear shift in sound. The mids and tweeter blended well but on a much smaller window and I had to be in the pocket for the drivers to blend well. The Sophia will be harder to setup for sure. But I like the center focus of them. In the sweet spot they were great. As a side note I feel like sometimes deep male voices would collapse to the bass driver on the 3.7.


-details: this was a tie for me.


-enjoyment: that day I came away liking the Sophia 3 a lot more. I put a very high priority on bass and the Sophia was great and at the time the best bass I had heard. Now in a smaller room would it be problematic? Maybe. The Thiel would also gets some room gain… so hard to say.


-my general thoughts. The Thiel is a near perfect speaker imo. Really no flaw but sometimes extra bass is what I want. The Wilsons are clearly voiced to make vocals pop and bass slam and deviate from perfection but they were more enjoyable as I am not an objectivist. After the demo I bought a pair of JL subs (use a high-pass) and was happy for a long time. Being able to tune the bass in my room both for nodes and taste really stopped be from upgrading for a longtime.


  
Since then I have heard most of the Wilsons under $70k and since owning subs  I have not been as impressed with them. Still one of my favorite speaker brands but their prices are silly and a pair of Thiels or Revels with subs still challenge anything on the market imo. Where I think the Thiels are showing their age is in the highs. Some of the new tweeter are simply fantastic. 

Happy Friday! All

james633

Good to see you here, as always. Thank You for sharing your impressions and thoughts on Wilson Audio. I can attest to your findings on the Sasha. I have also spent time with Sophia prior to purchasing my Thiel loudspeakers. 

At this level (Thiel, Vandersteen, Wilson), proper audition time is paramount. Each loudspeaker is excellent in its own way. We all hear and interpret differently. Overall, it is a matter of taste, musically speaking.

Happy Listening!

jcatral14

Good to see you again. Do you have an opportunity to audition the Sophia3 before purchase ? If so, spend as much time as possible with that loudspeaker. James633 laid out insightful notes that are direct and informative regarding Wilson Audio.  Much like a Thiel, these are beautiful speakers that deserve the best gear to make them sing (no pun).

Above all, no Wilson Audio model is complete without Transparent Audio cabling. Another proposition to keep in mind. An important one.
Keep us posted as you demo the Sasha3. I would like to read your impressions and thoughts. Have fun on your Audio journey.

Happy Listening!