Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy System 8

Amir57bs, clearly I was being too defensive about people that might just "bash" on Wilson Audio speakers. Negative opinions are fine. I generally like more detailed discussion, positive or negative, not just the bashing. That's all. And, look how wrong I was - no negative or bashing postings so far.

In this month's Stereophile, Wes Phillips review on Hansen Audio's Prince V2 speakers has a good discussion on comparative strong and weak points between the Prince V2's and W/P 8's. Its the best explanation by example why many people don't care for Wilson Audio tweeters. That's Wes's (others) taste - their right. BTW, I really like the Hansen's too, but I'm very happy with my W/P 8's with Lamm 2.1's.

Gerrym5, I agree you and i like the logical space that all share their view with no bash.
I just like Wilson 8 and i will be happy if any body tell me about weak and strong points of WP8.
Enjoy

I sold my Sophia 2s to guy....who just to make sure also bought a pair of WP8s....he ended up keeping the Sophias...for approximately the same reason the I deleted them off my list...and if I was doing Wilson I would have kept the Sophia 2s...or the Maxx 2s...which in all listening seemed to be an upgrade over the 8s...an excellent speaker...just too much intrusion for my space....I think the 8s are a sideways retune from the 7s....and if you look at the one guy who measured them both...Atkinson of Stereophile...from what I saw the 7s were significantly better....but perhaps I wasn't interpreting the data correctly..

Hikejohn, I believe the most important rule is side by side comparison and i never compared sophia 2 with system 8 in A/B/A state.
i never listened to sophia 2 (i listened to sophia 1) and in my opinion W8 mid/high is more natural , more open, more relax and w8 was in another class.
I recently heard w7 with mark levinson setup.
w7 is good but in my idea w8 is more organic with better macro dynamic and more neutral mid. w8 in my opinion has very very good high in comparison with w7. extended , open and easy to my ears. w8 had better integration in mid and high with more accurate transition from mid to high.
again i say i never compared these units side by side and i agree my opinion can be change with comparing them side by side.
enjoy

Amir,
Your sonic comparison between the WP7s and WP8s is difficult to dispute. I recently listened to both, side-by-side, on the same system, with the same program material, in one of the great listening rooms in the country. I acknowledge all of the differences that you described. However, like Hikejohn, I feel that the WP8s are not the most emotionally engaging musical transducers. In fact, despite the undeniable superiority of the WP8s over the WP7s in smoothness, extension and resolution, I consistently found myself more involved with the music when listening to the WP7s. I found this to be particularly true with vocal material, and female vocals most consistently. The spine tingling rush elicited by listening to certain Anna Netrebkho, k. d. Lang and Sarah Vaughan recordings that seem so inevitable when listening to the WP7s did not happen with the WP8s. I find this very difficult to understand at an intellectual level but its as clear as can be for me at the emotional level.

Perhaps, I should mention that none of the other people that have listened with me during these sessions seemed to share my responses. Everybody else felt the better sound of the WP8s connected them at least as well with the music. So, what does this mean? Certainly it suggests that the enjoyment of recorded music is a pretty complicated process. It also suggests that better sound may not always yield more musical enjoyment. It most emphatically suggests that everyone has their own aesthetic sense and that this, in the end, is the most important factor governing our enjoyment of recorded music.