Upgrading from Wilson Sophia 2's?

I would look at room treatments if you haven't already done so. I was having a similar problem with my Mini Utopias, too bright and aggressive on so- so recordings and some panels from Ready Acoustics helped quite a bit. But there seems to be a tendency with Focal, Wilson, and some of the other high end speakers to go for the last bit of detail. I spend most of my time with my Spendor SP-1/2e's, which give a more relaxed presentation. I have also read good things about S-F but no dealers near. I would check out the room before I did anything else. Mine is 13x 35 and I found I was getting good response at 32Hz, way down at 50 and 62 and back up at 100. [I use 2 REL Stadium Subs]. This made the sound more aggressive than it is after I put up the panels. Response is now flatter and sound fuller. Hope this is some help.

HIFICRITIC used Transparent XL Ref and Yter as loudspeaker cables and Cardas Golden Reference and VDH The First Ultimate ICs. The speakers were +/-3dB 26 to 23kHz. That is with the grills removed, which was essential for best performance.

Also used MSB Platinum 200, C-J 350SA, AR Ref. 3 amps and XTC preamp.

It would be better to get exactly what you want from the beginning but it is not easy and often the better the speaker the more trouble you have to go through. In his review of the Sofia 2 in HIFICRITIC Martin Colloms said "We were initially misled during the listening tests because the Sophia 2 constantly revealed the sound of every other component we used it with. Before we had learned to trust it , we had thought these' other' sounds were the responsibility of these speakers; as we learned to balance the system, it was clear that the speaker sat above these issues- a rare occurrence,especially at this relative moderate price level. --- It is the mark of a great speaker that it helps one assess the components elsewhere in the system, Sophia 2 can do this, which can make system building exacting but very rewarding. When we thought it was a bit bright, it turned out that this was due to a relative high cable impedance. Soft bass was due to 'soft' sounding cables and electronics. Midrange coloration was almost always the fault of a component other than the speaker, and the same was true of focus and transparency issues.Nothing could be taken for granted, but once all was in order , the overall sound quality seemed to fall in place."
This is the Sept/Oct 2008 issue, you might want to order it as it gives considerable info on the speaker. I have gone through similar efforts with my Apogee Duetta Sigs. , they will sound hideous if not set up optimally. In my opinion you have a pair of speakers that is very revealing and you are hearing room and equipment interactions. If you want the level of sound possible from these speakers it will be a long process but changing speakers means starting over. Less revealing speakers are easier but you give up something. I have struggled with this myself as I mentioned in my first post but if I had speakers of this quality I would exhaust every avenue before changing. I would consider having the room analyzed if there is someone competent to do this or perhaps one of the computer programs. But advice about rooms is often inconsistent and sometimes contradictory. I was told by the factory that my Apogees should have a bare back wall, I was just talking to the authorized repair station for the current manufacture of replacement parts and he told me the opposite. DON"T GIVE UP. Stan