Upgrade path from Wilson WattPuppy 7s? - seeking advice

It makes sense to approach things the way you are doing it: limiting the comparisons to just a few models/brands.  I would note that Audio Research tube amps are quite the opposite of the 275 in terms of sound and are quite lean for tube amps.  If they are in the ballpark, but, you want to hear something slightly different, VTL should be relatively easy to find.  If you are looking for something harmonically richer and full sounding, VAC and Jadis might fit the bill.

If none of the speakers you audition are quite right, I would suggest, given the description of what you are looking for, that you try to hear Acapella or YG Acoustic speakers.

Classic Stereo in Grand Rapids has Paradigms. Little bit of a drive for you. 

I would like to say that the Wilson Audio Alexia Series 1 is an amazing deal now. With the new Wilson Alexia Series 2 which is much improved, I feel that the Alexias dialed in for your listening pleasure will be appropriate. Optimizing your system by a skilled dealer who has some setup skills will help you greatly. You can toe in toe out, rake in rake back and about 40 other minuscule adjustments to make a speaker dial in for your personal benefit. T+A, Audio Research and other Electronic mfg companies make great gear. We are dealers for Wilson Audio and I do install a lot of Wilson speakers. You can ask me any question you have www.sunnyaudiovideo.com

@gerrysh930

Good plan. Keep checking things out and listening. Since you like Wilson then try to also audition any of the larger ATC. You just might discover Joshua Bell and NY Phil in your room.

Some listeners are sensitive to timbre and some are not. The quality of the timbre in Wilson is extremely good in the mid range - this may be why you are drawn to Wilson even if they are highly priced compared to competition. Despite all the advantages of the fancy modern ceramic and metal drivers, these cones do NOT have the same high level of internal damping inherent in a pulp paper or doped fabric cone. I can hear much more of the musical timbre from a cone that imparts the least of its own characteristic resonances on the music. It is easy to understand - a cymbal is a hard metallic disc and so is a ceramic dinner plate or a cup - obviously they impart their own sound to any vibration impinging them. Tap a book and you get very little except the tap itself. This is the difference between inherent damping and materials that ring! Just imagine stacking plates in cupboards or books on shelves - which activity is going to create a lot of noise that drowns out very soft sounds like a small bird chirping outsude at the end of your yard....

Gerry, the best advice we can give you is to come to New York for a weekend.

New York City is one place in the country with an abundence of brick and morter audio dealers and over a weekend you can hear properly setup systems with alot of choices in terms of electronics and digital options which is something you will not get a a regional audio show, you will also hopefully get a chance to hear systems which have been dialed in properly.

Only in NY City can you visit so many good dealers and sample

Wilson audio at Innovative Audio, along with Dynadio and Spendor
Personas at Audio Doctor, along with KEF Blades, KEF Reference, Legacy, Dali, ATC, PSB, Polymer and many others
There are B&W on display at Lyric also with Nola and Focals and theyare also Wilson dealers.
Singer sells Rhaido and a few other lines of speakers.
Vandersteen is on display at Audio Connection along with Proac and B&W in NJ which is where we are.
Ears Nova sells Kharma
Rhasody sells Magico and others

Just the tax savings alone will make the trip worthwille and I am sure you can find demos products that many dealers will be willing to deal on as floor demos usually get rotated once a year due to small scratches, and dings which occur whenever you have to move around your displays.

New York City is one of the few places in the world of audiophilia that you can quickly sample 4-5 major dealers and when you add in NJ you can listen to almost all of the major brands which unfortunately something that is not possible in many parts of the country.

As per hearing the Personas in Grand Rapids I checked out that dealers website and they are a large custom installer rather then being a more dedicated home audio dealer, their cable listed were Tributaries and Clarius, didn’t see any Dacs on their website either other than Mcintosh, so I would doubt even if they had the Personas you would get a good demo.

We have the Personas with T+A electronics which are among the best sounding high end electornics on the market and they range from a $11k integrated to $50k plus seperates.

We sell most of the best digital front ends from Lumin, Aurender, Emm Labs, T+A, Naim, Mytek, Rega and a few others.

We sell cables from Enklein, Wireworld, and are going to demoing a few others.

We sell power conditioning from Audience, Isotek, Audio Magic and we sell a wide range of electronics aside from the T+A, Naim, Electrocompaniet, CJ, Synethis of Italy, Manley, Micromega, Anthem, Nuprime, Parasound and others.

So you can see our focus is on high end two channel although we are also known as a great home theater store, music is our passion.

The rest of the stores I listed are also dedicated music stores as well with fantastic ranges of products.

So again take a nice trip see the big city take in a show, have a great diner, and just go to audio nirvanah. You can sample the wares of many of the best area dealers and if you then decide to get a system I am sure any of these dealers us included could get you what you want.

By the way we are not saying that local dealerships shouldn’t be your first stop it is just

Hotels in Jersey City are plentiful and less expensive than ones in the city and Newark airport is 15 mins from our shop. So if you wanted to vist wether or not you purchase anything from us is fine, we would arrange for you to be picked up, taken to a good hotel, and have the audio weekend of your life.

We would make the same offer for anyone here. What this thread has brought to the forefront is the difficulty that many music lovers face in this great country, which is the difficulty to actually demo a range of components properly.

If you ever want to reach us directly

Audio Doctor NJ
our out of date old website www.audiodoctor.com new one coming

here is a link to our actual store this was short 1.5 years ago before the Personas, Light Harmonic Davinci and T+A electronics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NPIn3pEmI4

https://www.facebook.com/122499304489958/photos/a.122500301156525.22643.122499304489958/138072913200...