Are Wilson Sophia 2's lean in the midbass?

Madfloyd,

Don't bother changing your excellent amps, I used Citadels on my WP7's and Maxx2, and they are not lean, I did however find my older MIT cables output more low bass and sacrificed some of the upper mid bass (but that was 8 years ago and I'm sure MIT has resolved that), and now I run transparent. Switching to Pass amps is not the answer, as this really is a setup issue.

Sophia's are not mid bass lean and it sounds like your speakers are puttting your listening position into a bass null zone. Look at your wilson manual or google "Wilson WASP" setup and use painters tape to mark where your dealer setup your speakers so you can return it there if you don't like it and then start voicing within the zone (which will be closer to the wall).

If you are having imaging and soundstaging issues then you have exceed the equation for setup of 1.1~1.2 times the distance between the tweeters is where your listening position is. When you are sitting in the correct location you should be able to barely see the inside rear corner of the Sophia's as they should be toed pretty directly at the listening position. This minimizes the 1st order reflection points.

Your Realtraps will tighten up the bass so you can try removing them but they will get rid of the boom.

Have you spiked your Wilsons yet? If you haven't the soundstage/detail will be soft as will the bass.

If that position doesn't work, try moving the speakers in the zone you marked out during the process so that you can move your listening seat either forward or back and hopefully out of the bass Null.

Bottom line is you need to play around with them and put some time in evaluating the response until your happy! The Wilsons should be about 10 to 12 ft apart and need not be aimed completely at your head. As you rotate them out you will open up the soundstage and increase dynamics...do so until you maximize these aspects and still have solid imaging and centerfill. Overall your soundstage will expand in all dimensions and low level dynamics will bloom more easily. Soffit mounting IS used for the Pro market ala engineers, musicians, studios etc... Pro sound is vastly different from the typical listening experience us audiophiles require or expect. Pro sound is more direct and in your face for purposes of evaluating a mix hwile free standing speakers maximize dimensionality, ambient and spatial cues along with proper scale and imaging. Two dimensional vs 3 dimensional really.

I have found the Sophia's to be quite cable dependant
and critical of room placement , I experimented with several cables and found the Harmonic Tech Pro 11's to be the best synergistic match , rich and detailed without being at all coloured or exaggerating any part of the spectrum , you also need to devote hours with set up and positioning as per the manual , but your Dealer should have done most of this . I have found that there is a good reason that some of my source material sounds crap through the Sophias , because it is crap and these speakers don't lie or hide warts ....

Try the series 3....it's even better!!

agree about them leaner in the midbass than british speakers of the likes of harbeths.
Not so sure if that leaness can be compensated with warmer sounding cables or something tubes in the chain.
i wonder if the sophia 3 version would have the same fate.
Other than the leaness in the midbass, which is a minor quibble, its a great speaker overall. I love the bass and dynamics!