Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy System 8

Amir,

You may be correct about the relative amount of play-time on the drivers being a factor in this comparison, although the pair of WP8s I listened to had many hundreds of hours on them. Interestingly, it didn't seem to me that any difference in liquidity or lushness were the factors that led me to favor the WP7s. In fact, I'd say that the WP8s were more liquid and no less lush than the WP7s.

Although my powers of description are probably not up to the task, I would like to say that the thing I was reacting to was more of the sense of being within the acoustic bubble with the singers and musicians with the WP7s. The picture drawn by the WP8s was more detailed but slightly more remote, as if the acoustic bubble extended right up to where I listened but stopped there. This was a sensation that I've also had with various Kharma speakers, which are fantastically detailed and lush, but just don't captivate me. I didn't perceive this as a deficiency in imaging or soundstaging, which were absolutely first rate through the WP8s. Perhaps it was some artifact of the dynamic envelope of the WP7s that I was reacting to, where the music seemed to project further into the room. Or, as you've suggested, it may just have been a lack of time on the drivers of the WP8s.

Anyhow, I fully understand your enthusiasm for the WP8s. They are marvelous speakers.

Enjoy,

Siliab

Siliab
I agree maybe your view be right and my guess be wrong but in my experience the satisfaction factor is vastly dependent to system ability in micro scale.

I think transparency and presence of the sound are parameters that will improve across time. both are system ability in micro scale. even internal wiring of loudspeakers affect on these parameters and in my experience cables need over 300 hours for full break-in.

e

I had an eye opening experience this week end with replacing my 6M Nordost Valhalla with a 6M Stealth Indra. Everything was more open, transparent, natural and made my W/P 8's sound incredibly more beautiful and more musical. I was shocked and can't explain it. I'll give more details later on with LP comparisons.

Gerrym5
Dynamic Driver Loudspeakers need good and transparent upstream in comparison with more transparent electrostatic loudspeakers.
I think WP8 is little less transparent and immediate than quad 2905 and in upstream we should choose immediate and transparent electronics.
choose smaller than 1m interconnect and smaller than 2m speaker cable. shorter Cable increase immediately , presence and deeper soundstage.

Enjoy

Excellent advice Amir57bs for almost all situations, but not for my situation with the speakers between our living room and dinning room. You present two thoughts. One, shorter ICs are better than long one. I agree generally, but I can't do it here and live with the results. Please look at my system photos. A short IC cable would mean that my audio equipment, with all the cabling (an unsightly mess IMHO), would be visible right in the middle of those two rooms. A choice had to made - the 6M IC between front end equipment and the mono amps/speakers works best for our life style in our home. You may have another situation where short ICs are possible.

BTW; Your Quads are one of the top word class speakers - I like them a lot. Many of us have owned Quads and really liked them.

I had Crosby Modified Quads in this exact area. They sounded world class on female vocals and generally small works. I couldn't play a lot of my record collection through the quads at appropriate music levels without short comings becoming enjoyment limiters. Even transparency suffered with bigger music selections in my room. Larger electrostatics and other bigger speaker where not a visual option. Your Quads may be better for you and other in various situations. For me in my situation the W/P 8's really out perform the Quads in my home.