Avalon Acoustics vs Wilson Audio

Kazmann,

I have heard all these speakers over the last year and you are right on in targeting the Sashas. I used to *hate* Wilsons, but not anymore. It is remarkable to me that they have done such a remarkable makeover on the house sound of their "entry level" speakers (Sophia and Sahsa). Coherence, realistic midrange, you are there soundstaging. The Avalons are very nice, but the Sashas are better. The new B&W 802D's are also good, but not in the same class as the Wilsons IMO.

As for the Arcam reciever - it is a remarkably good sounding AVR. I auditioned it carefully recvently and was surprised how good it sounded with decent 2ch. gear surrounding it and speakers from Vandrsteen and Dynaudio. No, it won't extract the last bit from any of the speakers listed above, but it will drive them all well enough to really enjoy music or movies. It might do a better job with the Sophia than the Sasha as already suggested, but the Sasha's are to die for in my book, and would justify much better electronics in the future - I recommend front end and amplification from Audio Research as a splendid match if you eventually upgrade from the Arcam.

James63, what electronics did you hear with the 802's? I heard them with Classe gear and thought they were nice, but not transformative. Right afterwards I listened to the Sophia 2's and then the Sasha's both with ARC gear and thought the Sophias were also "nice". But thought the Sasha's driven by fairly high end ARC stuff were some of the best speakers I have heard to date. Given your comment and recent review I read of the 802D makes me think front end is critical factor in this discussion. I just didn't hear what others are talking about but would like to give them another try at some point.

PS - Apparently the B&W 802D also justifies much better electronics as well, as per my earlier post on the Sasha.

I am sorry, I was refering to the new B&W 802 Diamond above, not the previous 802D model.

I do not own or live with the Wilson's but the recent crop of their "entry level" speakers, at least as I heard set up by Peter McGrath, did not sound fatiguing at all. Funny I thought voices were particularly convincing. Having heard previous generations, this was a surprise to me because I had dismissed Wilsons as somewhere between sterile to accurate to overly aggressive sounding depending on the material and system they were matched with. Musical was not a term I would have used, while this is a term I would have use to describe the larger B&W 800 series and Avalon speakers I have listened to. My opinion about the newer Wilsons is not unique, but Madfloyd listens to these speakers a lot more than me, and it is certainly easier to develop a valid opinion over months and years than in a short audition.