AudiogoN Forums: Wilson Sophia2, Watt/Puupy 8, differences?

Wilson Sophia2, Watt/Puupy 8, differences?

Ok, so I've auditioned both of these speaker systems (twice no less) and yes, the W/P 8's go deeper in the bass. Yes, the W/P 8's are a little bit more exciting because of their larger dynamic range. I was surprised by how well the Sophia2's did though considering they're half the price of the W/P 8 system. The midrange on both of these guys was very similar. Vocals sounded good on both. I'd love to hear from others out there the pros/cons of these two speakers. The Sophia2 is definitely better bang for the buck. On a Cd that i'm intimately familiar with, the bass on the W/P 8's shook the walls of the room, the Sophia's didn't. The upper end as far as I can remember sounded pretty unmemorable. That is it sounded about right. I would still give the edge in the upper end to the Focals I demoed a couple of weeks ago, their Berilyum tweeter implementation was top notch. Any advice???

Baraeryo (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-21-08

Responses (1-19 of 19)

Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

07-21-08 You really want some validation to buy the wp8 that you pref ... Tvad

07-21-08 Lol, i think so... Baraeryo

07-21-08 It wasn't a big difference, so, while my ears would prefer t ... Baraeryo

07-21-08 Go for what you like. you will forget the price difference i ... Tvad

07-21-08 Advice? y. you've heard them twice, so don't let anyone on ... Rhyno

07-21-08 I'm going to run the speakers temporarily with an old b&k tx ... Baraeryo

07-21-08 Hi on any good speaker, and especially the wilsons, your sou ... Jfrech

07-21-08 In a smallish room, you would be able to drive the wp8 with ... Tvad

07-21-08 Have you heard the spectron tvad? Baraeryo

07-21-08 nope. i've heard belcanto ref1000, nuforce ref9se v2, chann ... Tvad

07-21-08 Pairing a class d amp with the titanium focal tweeter that w ... Raquel

07-21-08 Raquel, is john atkinson off base with his measurements of ... Tvad

07-21-08 Wow, those measurements are some of the worst i've seen. an ... Baraeryo

07-22-08: Raquel
Tvad:

Atkinson's measurements: yes and no. My initial set of measurements reflected the general frequency response shape seen in his anechoic measurements, but the aberrations were less severe. I measured with the speakers set up on sliding glass doors (not a good idea, but listening positions in my listening room are very limited). The speakers were also powered by my VAC 70/70, which is a triode tube amp that I run with zero feedback and which can thus be expected to measure bizarrely due to impedance interactions. I reported my measurements in the following thread:

forum.audiogon#Raquel

For aesthetic reasons, the final position for my Fremonts is on a solid wall and they measure quite differently there. I run them with either a VAC 70/70 or a darTZeel. With the darTZeel, the midrange measures flat within 2-3 db. from approximately 200 Hz. to 6,000 Hz., with only one exception: Atkinson measured a bizarre suckout of 25 db. centered at 4,000 Hz. With the darTZeel, I measured a suckout of approximately 5 db. near the same point. Atkinson also measured a dip of approximately 10 db. at 200 Hz. With the darTZeel, the response was down approximately 5 db. from 160-200 Hz. Atkinson measured a roll off above 4,000 Hz. of approximately 5 db., both anechoically and in Larry Greenhill's listening room. With the darTZeel, my response is down 3.5 db. at 3.15 kHz., but otherwise basically flat to 8,000 Hz., with a gentle rolloff from 12,000 Hz. to 20,000 Hz. My measurements with the VAC 70/70 and the speakers on the solid wall are pretty similar to the darTZeel-powered measurements, but ultimately a bit less linear.

While the frequency response measurements are what they are, many argue that other measurements are far more important than frequency response, and I subjectively prefer the Escalantes to the Salons, Dynaudios, V.A. Mahlers, Dunlavys and Ultimate Monitors that I owned previously. The Fremont is a complex design and I leave it to "Audio Oracle", who worked at Singer and Innovative in Manhattan for many years and who as a result has probably heard, sold and installed as much gear as anyone, to describe their strengths and weaknesses in the above referenced thread.

My sincere apologies for the diversion, but I recommend the Fremonts in good faith - I cannot hear their foibles, while I can hear (as can many others) the problems with the titanium tweeter in the WattPuppy and Sophia.
Raquel (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-22-08 Thank you, raquel. have the fremonts replaced the zu audio d ... Tvad

07-22-08 Tvad: i have never owned zu's. the fremonts replaced audioma ... Raquel

07-22-08 right. i had you confused with another member. sorry. Tvad

07-22-08 ...i ownd a w/p 8 for a almost a year. the sophia2's will g ... Tomer_tsin

07-28-08 I auditioned at length both the sophia2 and w/p8. i would a ... Soundisntmusic