Upgrade path from Wilson WattPuppy 7s? - seeking advice

To both CT and Mr M, what you are talking about in terms of laughing at a client never actually happened! I was not speaking literally, as a professional salesman you have to put up with a lot of charachters, some people you can understand, and work with, and others you just can’t.

We did discuss the know it all customers, who were not open to coaching and keept on making the same mistakes over and over again, purchasing and repurchasing components, always chasing their tails because they didn’t know what they were doing, or thought they knew more then the sales staff did.

Gndrbp does nothing but attack me and my and my staff, over and over again, which makes me have to resort to long winded explanations and ancedotal evidence to prove him wrong and back up my postions.

The entire sales staff at my store, SBS or Innovative, never sat around and cackled at annoying, or know it all clients. I mentioned this to prove a point.

Ctstooner, you have mentioned your high ranking position with the Navy, do you think I would know 1/100th about the Navy as you do? If we were talking about technology, Navel strategy or deployment I would defer to your superior experience in both deference and respect for your position.

I may have watched specials on Navel history, Ctstooner but I would never even begin to challenge a Navy man with my knoweldge about that subject, instead I would sit and listen to you about all things about Navel operations.

I might quite Robert Mcnammara, but I would never pretend to be as knowledgable as you, I could reference the British Navy under Trafalgar, but again, book knowlege and TV knowledge isn’t the same thing as real world experience.

Do you see my point? There is a difference between having a personal preference which I can respect, and being an unrelenting jerk who attacks another person out of spite.

To state that the Personas are not world class speakers when Jeff Dougay of Tone Audio who has reviewed quite a number of speakers said that the "Personas are world class and competitive with six figure loudspeakers, " and Anthony Cordesman, said the Personas are among the best speakers he has heard, states catagorically that the product is that good.

Now personal taste is personal taste, but Ctstooner, I have invited you into my shop to see for yourself if you might actually prefer the Personas over the Vandersteens and for whatever reason you seem not to be interested.

You have said you have heard the Personas before and not liked them, that maybe true, but as I commented you didn’t hear my setup, as I have also told you I didn’t like the Personas, when I first heard them at another dealers shop as well.

Setup is key, John Rutan is a very good setup guy, and so am I, many others who sell this kind of gear are not.

When I mentioned that one couple drove four hours to hear our setup after not liking the Personas where they heard them, and subsequently purchased a set of the Persona 9H and a T+A amplifier says a lot about setup quality.

Mr. M. you have also not read the majority of our posts.

The Persona line starts at $7,000.00 for a bookshelf speaker with a 7 inch pure Beryilium midrange, which is a driver usually seen in $15-20k reference monitors not ones that someone can actually afford.

They also have a $10k floor stander the 3F which are also remarkable.

I talk about ATC speakers $2,500.00 a pair and $4,000.00 a pair.

I talk about Legacy Focus Signatures $7,000.00 a pair which can compete with many $15k loudspeakers.

I have talked about Nuprime’s outstanding IDA 8 which is $995.00 and it is amazing.

The point I am making is I design and setup systems from all price ranges.

If you care to watch our 2 year old store video you will see tons of affordable gear, from $500.00 pairs of Kef, $800.00 PSB and tons of other great and affordable gear.

(this video was shot before we got the Paradigm Personas and the T+A gear)

My store sells streaming speakers from Paradigm and NAD for $500 and we go all the way up to our two reference rigs with the Kef Blades and the Personas which are both really expensive systems.

As per value, yes $35k is a lot of money for a set of loudspeakers, but if that $35k pair of loudspeakers can compete with ones that sell for $58k or $70k or $120k a pair then believe it or not that speaker even at $35k is a bargain!

High end audio can be very expensive it can also be remarkably affordable, we sell tons of affordable stuff from NAD, Micromega, KEF, PSB, Dali, April Music and Naim to name a few.

Check out our store video and see what is there we have four sound rooms chock full of gear.

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

Look at our posts on Facebook you can see four different integrated amplifiers from Anthem, Naim, Micromega, and Nad, you can see ATC speakers and Legacy models.https://www.facebook.com/Audio-Doctor-High-End-Audio-Boutique-122499304489958/

Believe it or not Mr M our mission is to seek outstanding products at great values at all levels and price ranges now compare our store to some of the storried NY City stores such as Ears Nova, Audio Arts or Rhapsody check out Rhapsody’s store video and see if you can find a system in their store for $1,000.00 I doubt you will, however, you can find several setups in our shop for $1,000.00 for a complete system!

Dave owner
Audio Doctor NJ

     "the sales people would all laugh at them once they left as their lack         of knowledge was staggering"

Audiotroy. I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty "literal" to me. No, I haven't read thru the thread completely as I find some of the endless bantering somewhat fatiguing. I'm glad you at least acknowledge the importance of real world affordable systems. It's just hard for many audiophiles to consider a $35k pair of speakers a bargain just because it's compared to a pair at $60k. I think some dealers (and reviewers) get insensitive to that fact.

What started out as a nice thread turned into a disaster.  Good Luck to the Op in his speaker hunt.  If you can't decide I still have my Wilson Audio Duette 2's for sale.  

Troy
You finally convinced me. You have the most knowledge. You are not a shill blowhard. You have the best ear, the best taste and are a reliable source of audio information. You are a great salesman. Personas are scientifically and indisputably great speakers and all self respecting audiophiles who have speakers under $100,000 are about to throw them out and run to your little Jersey City hovel to purchase Personas (unless they prefer Golden Ear speakers which are almost as good for a fraction of the price). I can’t believe you found 2 great reviews for the Personas from reviewers who I do respect (and I mean that) but who have provided many excellent reviews to many speakers including Anthony Cordesman’s review of Alexias which was so strong that he used them as one of his references for a time (but not the Personas after he reviewed them).
When my friends and I have encountered you live, you never shut up about how great you and your products are. And then you talked some more. And that is why no one I know (7 NY Audiophiles in my listening group and other friends including a two well known manufacturers of gear) will purchase anything from you or place their products with Audio Doctor.
By the way--congrats, you once again produced more words than even the famous Bo---only he has something to say compared to your ceaseless blather.
P.S. I will not forget to ask Andy Singer and Elliot Fishkin about you to see if they have a recollection of you as a superstar salesperson. I suspect that Andy was not lying to me back in the day when I asked him to make sure you were not my salesperson because you were too hyperbolic and you never shut up. He said he understood and that the complaint was not uncommon. We'll see.