Watt/Puppy 7 or Sophia?

Although I am not a fan of the breed the WP 7.0s are a step up from the Sophoias and the maxx is just more of the same relative to the 7's. Wheather or not they are worth the extra dollars is in the ears of the beholder. Either speaker will fill your room up nicely and the JC-1s should do just fine. Good Luck.

Chuck

I have had demo of WP7, sophia, and the original MAXX in the same room (an isolated treated listening room at the dealer) with the same equipment (meridian 861/800, transparent cabling, classe CAM-350 monoblocks). Prior to this audition, I had heard the sophias in a separate dedicated room with classe home theater amp with transparent cabling. This latter audition was my introduction to quality equipment and it sounded great. The sophias sounded great with the other audition also, but are definitely upstaged by the WP7s. The MAXX and WP7 I would agree did not sound much different from one another. The WP7 has MUCH more detail than the sophia making for a more intimate listening experience. The sophia is no slouch, though, and imaging is excellent on both. I had read reviews on the sophia before the audition in which it was compared to the WP6. The bottom line in it was that the WP6 was more detailed, but the sophia was more enjoyable to listen to. The WP7 seems to take the sophia a step further in that it is even more enjoyable to listen to in my opinion.

I too am curious to hear opinions on the sound with the jc-1's.

When I was shopping for speakers I also listened to B&W nautilus 801s and martin logan odysseys with musical fidelity gear, jm lab micro and alto utopia berylliums with g series meridian components and transparent cables, and revel salons with krell preamp/ levinson 436s/ denon cd player(I am sure this CDP impaired this audition greatly as I was unimpressed by this setup). The WP7s were my favorite and I hope to one day aquire some. Currently I use the micro utopia berylliums with a rel sub.

The real question isn't whether the Watt 7s are better than the Sophias, but which speaker will sound better in your listening room with your equipment? It actually could be the Sophias.

I think the JC-1 should make both speakers sing
I've never heard the amp.. (cough..) but
this guy (Fremmer?) at the Stereophile highly recommended the Pass X-160 to the WP7s and he recalled the closest competition to the X-160 was the JC-1.. (if I remember right)

either way, good luck and happy listening ~!

I would never buy Watt Puppies w/o a careful audition. They are an acquired taste & not everyone's cup of tea. I had the WP 6's for a year or two and could never get the highs to stop sounding buzzy, and vocals were terribly screwed up, like a tinny transistor radio. Remember that was the 6's, not the 7's, so I can't speak for those. The bass, however, was phenomenal on the WP 6's: unobtrusive, "just-there", extremely detailed, never overbearing even at close listening range. I still long for the Wilson bass.
I wish Dave would put a softer tweeter in the Watts, maybe a ribbon. Or maybe he should try the ribbon supertweeter approach like Albert Von Schweikert uses in the smooth-as-silk VR9s. Dave Wilson would have one heck of a speaker if he could just get those highs and upper mids on a par with the bass, IMHO. (Watt Puppy 8 someday?)