The description of design price changes are accurate...as I understand them. Recently I purchased the Sophia 2s...not the 7s, since I was aware...or suspicious that there was going to be an model change in the near future. If that wasn't the case I would have gotten the 7s....but will get the 8s instead. Against many other speaker models I felt that Wilson seems to handle all the real world tradeoffs that a speaker faces with the best balance of all the ones I listened to....They, for me in my room, provide the best reproduction of 1/2-15ips recordings I made with a stereo Neumann mike. While no speaker is perfect and no speaker can replace a live performance...Wilson's designs seem to provide smooth power response with correct time information...and thus do an excellent job....the list of other speakers with that capability is very short...IMHO. Given their performance and quality of construction and ruggedness I think Wilson prices are fair...remembering this is an elite product (part of my background includes managing the design and manufacture of loudspeakers)...it costs a great deal to take the last few steps towards Nth performance...which is what I sought....
