Wilson Sophia vs Aerial 7/9

Joncourage,

I have heard the Sophia 3's and the new Aerial 7T's, though not in the same store, nor did I hear them on the same day. I loved the sophia's, but was not favorably impressed with the Aerials. The Aerials so underperformed my expectations, that I asked the dealer to move them to a different room and drive them with a reference BAT/Esoteric system. We are talking a 100K + front end here. The Aerials still underperformed my expectations, and significantly underperformed the Magnepan 3.7'Rs, which I heard in the same system in the same room on the same day.
It is possible, that the Aerials were not broken in yet, but the dealer made no apologies for the Aerials. I walked into the store that day expecting to place an order for the Aerials, but I did not feel like these speakers were for me. I bought the maggies, but I certainly could have loved the Sophias. Something might have been wrong with the demos I heard. My point is not to discount Teajay's opinion, which I certainly respect, but just to point out that people hear things differently. Go listen, listen carefully with carefully selected music, and buy what your ears tell you is to your liking. Neither the sophias nor the Aerials are especially difficult to drive to my knowledge.

Hi Brownsfan,

Thanks for sharing what you heard in a demo of the 7T's. It not only proves that personal taste and system synergy is so important, but always take another person's opinion in consideration and then go listen for yourself.

In the context of my system the Aerial 7T was the first box enclosure speaker that out preformed my bi-amped, Mystand mounted MG-20's to my surprize. The rest of my system is reference level and other very highly regarded box enclosure speakers had not come close to this level of performance in my room. So go figure, I wonder what got in the way of thier performance when you heard them?

Thanks for the thoughtful responses; excellent, measured advice from obviously seasoned audiophiles.

To be more specific my initial inquiry was regarding the Sophia 1 or 2, and the Aerial 7b or 9. When I originally wrote I wasn't even aware of the 7t!

Very interesting learning though, and thanks again.

I suspect you're talking very different costs from a pair of Aerial 7bs at under $2K, a pair of Sophia 1s or 2s in the $5-6K range, to a pair of 7Ts in the $10K range.

db

Yes, was not including the 7t in requests for comparison. Too new, too expensive. Interesting info though, but for (far) future consideration.