Wilson owners Call of Duty

Today I have spoken with A.J. Vandenhul via telephone. He told me to change order of cables, between cd and pre ''second'', between pre and power ''Mc Silver mk3 balanced'', and finally Supernova speaker cable. Since I have ''Second'' XLR I couldn't employ it between dac and pre since Musical Fidelity kwdm25 dac has only rca output. I put my reserve VDH Jubilee silver hybrid between dac and pre and Kept ''second'' between pre and power. To be honest, when I heard first my setup after cable change, I felt like midbasses improved, detail, clarity improved, but most importantly I had a feeling that sophia's tweeters are upgraded to Focal Be tweeters.(I wish David Wilson will see ''Be'' tweeters on his designs before he passes away)

Rhyno, I ended up with a combination Ref MM phono cables, Ref XL V or XL SS ICs depending on the components connected and Ref XL SS SC. These are all TA's latest "MM" technology as XL has now simply become a model designation in the Reference series. Kind of confusing.

I listened to the whole new Reference line hierarchy including basic Ref, Ref XL, Ref MM and even Opus MM (big mistake!).

I have nothing but praise for the other cables I auditioned but there was clearly a special synergy between the TAs and my Wilsons.

I own Wilson Audio Sophia Series 2 and began an audition of Purist Audio speaker cable and interconnects this evening, courtesy of a wonderful audiogon member and Purist Audio dealer, Albert Porter (a personal friend of mine...for over 30 years). Since it is very early in the demo, all I will say at this point is that the early results are very promising. (WOW!!!!! she really means).

Mcrheist

Mcrheist, hatchet hopefully buried and genuine interest in your experience appreciated, which PADs are you auditioning with your Wilsons?

I found the Aqueous Anniversary to be a fine value and the Dominus Ferox nearly incomparable with most speakers except Wilsons.

Transparent Audio Cables are allegedly voiced with Wilsons and do seem to have a special synergy with them, IMHO.

But I understand my credibility with you may have been compromised.

With no disrespect meant to your friend/ PAD dealer, I humbly suggest you try some TAs with your Wilsons.

Or don't bother as you can hardly go wrong with the right PADs.

Hi all,

I have a pair of Wilson Sophias (not 2s unfortunately) driven by Lamm M1.2 hybrid mono blocks. Preamp is Ayre K-1xe. Sources are Ayre C-5xe and SME 20/2 / Graham Phantom / Dyanvector XV-1S / Aesthetix Io Signature.

I started with 100% Transparent cables: PowerIsolator MM PCs, Balanced Reference (MM technology) ICs & Ultra (MM technology) speaker cables. The base was totally awesome and the tonal balance was fine. But they did not provide the deep and high soundstage I was looking for and they did not have the 3-dimensional imaging within the soundstage I was looking for. After a year of living with them in my system, I tried Virtual Dynamics Revelations PCs (not 2.0 then), Masters balanced ICs and Purist Audio Aqueous Anniverary speaker cables. The PCs were in a dead heat with the PowerIsolators so brought nothing different. The Masters balanced ICs improved both soundstage width and depth and imaging, were just as dynamic with excellent tonal balance and gave up only a little base. The Aqueous Anniversary speaker cables supported a wider, deeper soundstage, had more air and better imaging, the highs were to die for, but they sacrificed a good bit of base.

Next I substituted a pair of VD Revelation speaker cables. These brought back 90% of the base and gave the music a fuller, richer sound, more like real instruments and voices without seeming to sacrifice anything.

Then I tried one Purist Audio 20th Anniversary power cord on my preamp. It immediately improved everything, putting the musicians with their instruments and voices in the room with us. So I replaced all of my Transparent PowerIsolators with 20th Anniverary PCs (except I still have the Revelations powering the Io Signature), which made a big difference.

Next, I replaced the VD Masters between the C-5xe and the K-1xe with a VD Revelation 2.0. Huge step up in everything. Much less digital, much more like analog. Made CDs, especially SACDs much more like LPs.

Then I replaced the VD Masters between the Io Signature and the K-1xe with a PAD Dominus. Again a big step up. Vinyl leaped way ahead of digital once again.

My experimentation with cables continues.

Just one man's opinion and one man's ears with different cables in his particular system and room.

Best to all,

Ed