what amp would maximize wilson sophias

Michael,
I have the Sophias which I am driving with 50W Nagra VPA's. Combined with a CAT Ultimate preamp and Purist Venustas cabling, my listening room has never sounded better. I think lowish powered, (50-100W) "push-pull" tube amps will deliver the best compromise between purity/musicality and dynamics/slam. I'm not sure what your budget is but you might consider offerings from BAT, VAC and Art Audio for eg.

I use a Krell 300R in a second system and I know what it sounds like on the Sophias. Tubes will offer a completely different presentation.

However, since you are mainly into rock, you probably would be happier tilting the balance towards the slam side...in that case, consider the larger VTL's. imho...

If you have your heart set on keeping the Sophias, my suggstion would be to look for a smooth-sounding amplifier to go with them; they can be rather unforgiving of any edginess.

I've heard other Wilsons sound great with large VTL amps; Kleech's suggestion of a beefy push-pull tube amp makes a lot of sense.

In solid state, you might consider older Jeff Rowland gear, Accuphase, or GamuT (disclaimer - I peddle the latter).

If I may venture an observation... if you find 200 watts to be insufficient with the Wilsons, then 300 watts isn't going to be a very significant improvement. Four hundred watts is only a 3 dB increase in dynamic headroom, and now you're edging into the territory of frightfully expensive amplification, assuming you go for high quality amps (and the Wilsons probably won't let you get away with anything less).

You might want to consider a speaker of higher sensitivity and perhaps even higher impedance. The Sophia has a sensitivity of 86 dB with a 2.83 volt input (according to Soundstage's measurements), and into its nominal 3-ohm load 2.83 volts translates into 2.7 watts - so in other words, the Sophia is a rather difficult and power-hungry little beast (I specialize in speakers that are even worse!).

One other thing - low-efficiency speakers generally suffer more from dynamic compression than do high-efficiency models, so with a more efficient loudspeaker you wouldn't have to turn it up quite as high to get the same level of excitement because you'd have greater dynamic contrast.

For example, if you switched to the Classic Audio Reproductions T-3 and drove 'em with a 50-watt tube amp, you'd get more headroom than driving the Sophias with 1,000 watts.

Best of luck to you whatever you decide on!

Duke

Good!!! Glad to hear that you're considering upgrading your amp, which was decidedly not maximized... Rowland would be a great choice for SS - try older used rowland gear, or look at the Classe Omega Stereo amp which has great power, amazing soundtaging and minimal fatigue factor for a SS amp. It sounds like budget is an issue, so I can't recommend Boulder in good conscience...

That having been said, you said "maximize" so I HAVE to say that tubes would make all the difference and could be chosen for a high-power, low maintenance system. You could go VTL (very high power) and wouldn't go wrong though I didn't feel even these amps were optimal in combination with this speaker system (I heard MB450s with the Sophias) - better yet, you could do the VAC 220 beam power amps (I have seen two recently advertised and paused over each ad myself just to have a spare high-powered tube amp) which have better soundstaging IMO and can be had for about $7K. Also, you could look at the plethora of medium power tube amps - many of which would suit the Sophia's own broad strengthys and build a wonderfully musical system. You really, really owe it to yourself to see what a truly world class tube amp could do for your sophias!

hope that helps somehow. Best of luck again,
Jacob