Since the Sasha is a development of the WP8 I am going to extrapolate from my experience with a friends pair. I would say the Sophia's are likely to be much easier to drive and have a wider choice of amps they will work with. I used Quad speakers for 30 years and was a dealer from 74-94 so I am very familiar with the sound of the 57s and 63s. I think it boils down to the kind of sound you want. The virtues of the Wilson's are exactly the ones you stated. The defects of these virtues is that they will not be kind to less than perfect records. I have found that there are very few CDs with massed strings that I am comfortable with even with my own speakers, which are considerably "sweeter" than the Sasha. LPs sound more natural to me in most cases. If your first priority is accuracy and transparency then I would go with Wilson, they are some of the best speakers. I myself am willing to trade off a little of these virtues for a more relaxed, "sweeter" presentation. Think Bruno Walter instead of George Szell. This is completely a personal choice and depends on the virtues you care more about. If string tone is your prime concern I would listen to speakers that have a soft dome tweeter: I use Spendor S 100s myself and the Harbeth are similar. Sonus Faber would be another possibility. I would listen to something like these if possible to see if the combination of virtues they have would suit me better than the Wilson's; if they do not then I would look closely at the Sophia 2; with the 3 coming out there should be several on the market.
What Wilson to Buy?
I owned a pair of WP5.1's for many years. While there were many things I liked about them, ultimately I felt their upper midrange was simply to hot. Over the years I've moved more toward classical music. Massed strings were edgy on too many recordings. While perhaps the Wilson was simply revealing flaws that were embedded in the recording, I decided I needed something that didn't emphasize the flaws quite so much. In short, strings sounded much better on my old ESL-63's.
Now that I've sold the Wilson's I miss their dynamics, bass slam, soundstage and resolution. While I don't expect the newer Wilson's to make strings sound as sweet as my Quads did years ago, I was hoping they've improved enough where they aren't as ruthless as the 5.1's. Most of the reviews I've been reading of their newer models would indicate that Wilson has moved in this direction.
The two models I've been considering, used of course, are the WP8 and the Sophia 2. I might be able to swing the Sophia 3, but beyond that is out of my price range. I'd appreciate comments from Wilson owners. Particularly those that at one point owned 5.1's. Has the move from clinical to more musical been material? Can you listen to massed strings on the newer models at higher SPL's without ear bleed? I'd rather have sweeter string tone than a stronger low end, would the Sophia be a better fit for me than the WP8?
Now that I've sold the Wilson's I miss their dynamics, bass slam, soundstage and resolution. While I don't expect the newer Wilson's to make strings sound as sweet as my Quads did years ago, I was hoping they've improved enough where they aren't as ruthless as the 5.1's. Most of the reviews I've been reading of their newer models would indicate that Wilson has moved in this direction.
The two models I've been considering, used of course, are the WP8 and the Sophia 2. I might be able to swing the Sophia 3, but beyond that is out of my price range. I'd appreciate comments from Wilson owners. Particularly those that at one point owned 5.1's. Has the move from clinical to more musical been material? Can you listen to massed strings on the newer models at higher SPL's without ear bleed? I'd rather have sweeter string tone than a stronger low end, would the Sophia be a better fit for me than the WP8?
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- 12 posts total
- 12 posts total