watt puppy 7 / sophia?

The Usher uses far superior drivers to the WP, Kharma, or Marten. Usher is one of the largest speaker builders in the world they just have been concentrating on the Asian market for years.

The new Be series uses pure Beryillium midrange and tweeter drivers which offer unmatched speed, detail and clarity.

The Eton woofers are also superior to the Wilson drivers.

Please don't take this the wrong way, in my day I sold a boat load of WP, but Wilson has allways used good but not the most expensive or the best drivers in really good, inert cabinets. The fact is if you use MDF in the right way you can accheive an inert cabinet for much less money.

Also isn't it a bit suspecious that they changed one expensive tweeter for another and then raised the price of the speakers by over 20%!

Usher builds some of the worlds greatest loudspeakers as do several other not as well known brands as Wilson. Wilson is a terrific product but the industry and customers should be aware that you don't and shouldn't just be looking a the big names that you know. There are many here that love the Zu speakers, I am not one of them, but would scream from the hilltops that affordable and excellent speakers are here.

I started my business to find the best sounding and reasonably priced audio and video products out there. I beleive in serving the client and not the client serving the dealer. So I will allways champion products like the Usher's and try to convince people that great products come from all over the world and not just the US or Europe

If this is about getting the most bang for your buck, turn the page. Wilson doesn't offer that.
Tvad is right, as you seem to know, about buying used. Thankfully, there are still people who buy new so that the rest of us can buy used.
Try another thread asking for cost effective alternatives to Wilson WP-7. You will get a lot of responses and many of them will be valid. I'm going to recommend Zu Definitions because I own and sell them. However, my first bit of advice won't work there because nobody ever sells them used.

Tvad - I think you are probably right and I just did so.This is rather a different situation however. I am not a dealer per se but I do stand to receive a commission if anyone who listens to the speakers in my home buys a pair from the factory. I have no inventory other than my own pair of speakers and no investment to protect. I do not negotiate price and I live in a fairly remote location. All in all, I'm not likely to benefit directly from my comments.
But just as the matter of whether or not Zu uses a crossover evolved into a vast controversy, I fear that this one could as well. So I'll take your advice.