Wilson Audio Sabrina . . . I'm smitten. Should I consider others?

I spent Friday and Saturday auditioning speakers. Finally after 14 years of being happy with my Avalons, I hear that it is time for a change. I was a Spectral owner for 20 years. The Spectral gear was great with my Avalons. Now, I sold the Spectral gear. I just got tired of Rick Fryer saying that the new stand alone phonostage was coming and coming and coming. Enough !  I had the Spectral 30SV preamp (magical preamp BTW) but something went wrong and it would not play well with my Manley Steelhead or my Pass XOno. Time to move on. So Pass it is.

Since I have changed almost my entire system, Pass electronics, Two new TTs, brought my DAT tape deck out of storage, having a Teac R2R rebuilt. Looking to replace my 28 year old CDP. My dedicated room is Fully treated with ASC tube traps, Vicoustic, Acoustic and GIK diffussors. Sounds better then ever. Thought that, I should at least listen and consider new speakers. What an eye/ear opener the last 2 days were.

I had wanted to listen to Rockports for the last 2 years and saw my chance at a dealer that I did not know in Chicago. By Appointment Only.
Saw his Ad. Well Rockports have great tone, Zero imaging. Rockports are off the list. Paradigm, beryllium Tweet and Mids, and alloy woofs, just too bright and forward for me. Focal, Sopras 2 and 3, Very Good, Maybe the best. My wife and I came away, being most impressed by Wilson, Sabrinas. The word that kept coming out of us was; LIVE !  After, Axpona this coming weekend, we should know or be very close to a home audition and final decision.

Wilson Sabrina - Live is the word stuck in our minds.

The other thing, that came up with the auditions, Streaming Only ! No CDPs, no TTs. Streaming Only. Yes, It does sound good but when the dealer says you can listen to anything you want and then cannot produce it. How disappointing, especially when you brought your music on CDs and vinyl, and they could not play those either. We were so impressed with the new world order. Lots of apologies that they could not produce the music but also that the music that they could call up, was not the HI Res or whatever they thought they could. I am Sorry, is getting to be meaningless everywhere. The grocery store, Audio Auditions, ADT security, Xfinity home cable and internet, the hospital. You name it. I am sorry seems to be a good excuse everywhere these days. Does not mean that you will get a break on your bill, Just that they said that they were sorry. And pay your bill on time or you'll be sorry. 

Wilson Sabrina - Live.

another Vandersteen fan....you should listen to the 5ACarbon

@nkonor - Go see Mick and Dave at Quintessence Audio. They’ll bend over backwards to play your music. While their primary way to demo is streaming, they are definitely analogue guys and have great tables.  This is where I fell in love with Wilson Sabrinas. And I love your one word description . . . “Live”


@stringreen - Have heard well broken in Quattro CTs. Maybe I can hear them at Axpona this weekend. I’d love to hear them. 

kcpellethead,

I know Mick since 1993. I bought my Spectral and Avalons from him. I the last 2 years, Mick has been to my house to mount cartridge, pickup gear and other things. He has been a good friend since my health issues started. Yes, I listened to a record played on his 'baby' AMG TT, with the optical cartridge he has mounted on it. Even with his HRS racks, the woofers on the Sabrina's were pumping. Must be a mismatch between arm and cartridge. I have heard the optical cartridge on his full size AMG with no problems.

Yes, Mick is a good dealer and Dave has been great, since he came on board.

"Live" is the word that still sticks in our heads for the Sabrina's

There are other dealers and New dealers in the Chicago area. Mick at Quintessence Audio is still one of the best. Audio Consultants lost another store. I think, Evanston is the only one left. I hear Pro Musica lost Mark and moved their location. Have not confirmed this myself yet.

We will see who is at Axpona this year. Ralph (Atmasphere, will not be there because they broke their contract with him.) I have not visited the new dealers in Chicago, due to my health issues and the fact that Mick has been there to help me through these terrible years 

KCpellethead, you said "smitten", I said "crush". I'm spoiled though in that I work for a HiFi store in Kc called devAAudio. We have the SabrinaX, the Tune Tots, and Sasha DAW's. Soon we will have the Wilson AlexV's on display. Feel free to stop by, we have showroom hours now Tuesday-Friday 1-6, and Saturday 10-3. Hope you can make it,  and if you need help working backwards, maybe we can help there too. 
www.devaaudio.com 
Bri West, devAAudio.