Wilson Audio Sabrina X Reviewed ! WOW

Calvinsndhobbes,

those monitor audios measure pretty good but I have never heard them. Anyway the differences I hear between good affordable speakers and good expensive speakers can be subtle if both are well engineered (this is the key). 
The monitor audio has a pretty noisy box compared to the Sabrina X. But at moderate listening volumes honestly you might not notice. My guess is if you really cranked both these speakers the wilsons would start to pull away. Assuming the room and gear were up to the task. 

@james633 I appreciate hearing your thoughts on the sound quality of good affordable speakers and good expensive speakers. As with any product, the marginal improvements with audio must also get smaller and smaller as you go up in price. My comments are really only based on my own listening preferences which are at pretty moderate listening volumes. Another possible factor is that my current room (300 sq. ft in a hexagonal shape) seems to sound pretty good with only minimal acoustic tuning and perhaps better than some listening rooms at audio stores.

I did listen to 11 pairs of speakers including a set of last-gen Monitor Audio Gold 200 speakers that I missed out on before getting the Silver 300s so I do know that they must fit my listening preferences pretty well. I was just personally a bit surprised that the SabrinaXs were not clearly better sounding given the large price difference. I will say that I heard Wilson Watt/Puppies a long time ago and those sounded somewhat sterile to me in sound. Perhaps the Wilson sound is just not my cup of tea.

I am a big fan of wilson but think they are way over priced. 
Their used prices are more inline with their sound quality imo. 
I really enjoy the coloration of wilson. A little heavy on the bass, forward mids etc but state of the art it is not imo. They sound more tuned by ear and a tuning I like pretty well. 

I am familiar with original Sabrina where highs were rolled off at least compared to Sasha. Are the X better now?

My take on Wilson's after owning several models over 30 years, as well as owning at present a set of Magico's as well as a pair of Joseph Audio's:

Wilson excels at cabinet design resulting in high output capability.  They excel in dynamics, as well as imaging.  Powered correctly they can play any genre of music well.

What they don't have is state of the art drivers.  IMO that limits their ultimate resolution versus the best speakers using the best drivers.  

Wilson attempts to circumvent this with crossover and cabinet design, which works to a point.

Also, the Wilson house sound has evolved over the last 4 decades.  Starting with a very analytical and "clinical" sound in the 80's to a warm, soft sound in the current line up.  Both, ultimately, colored.

My favorite Wilson's are those from about 8 - 10 years ago, towards the end of Dave's control and while they were still sourcing Focal drivers.  The current models are all too expensive for what they offer, and better sound at lower prices is available.

Just IMO of course.