Watt/Puppy 7 or Sophia?

Thanks for your responses guys.
As I have stated, I will listen to the 7's in the next week or so. I will do an A/B comparison with the Sophia's.
The issue I'm having is listening to these speakers with the system I have put together.
Onhwy61, I agree with your point, so that's why I'm trucking the jc-1's and the Capitole to a fellow audiophile's place to voice my system on his Sophia's. I won't be able to do this with the 7's. The dealer I have been using for Wilson is in the States and I'm in Canada. I think it will be a real hassle for him or for me to get the amps or speakers over the border to listen to this system. Yes I could go to Toronto, but I would rather not drive 4 hours with this equipment to do so in that traffic.
That's why I'm trying to use the collective knowledge of the 'Gon to come up with some idea of the synergy of this possible system.
Jeffjarvis,
I have to listen to the 6's (which may be impossible for me) so that's why I haven't considered them.
Bigsam2 and Hifimaniac,
Interesting point about the MAXX's. I listened to the MAXX2's the same day I listened to the Sophia's (at the insistence of my brother!) Clearly an amazing speaker- I could go that route, but I have to put a stop to this spending $ somewhere. I wonder how the 7's will compare to them- I guess I'll find out soon.
Jungsan,
Thank you for the reference to the Stereophile article- it would seem the Pass XA 160 has some sonic similarities to the jc-1's, at least according to MF. Perhaps by extrapolation this means the jc-1's will synergize as well with 7's as well as the Pass amp does. If I go this route in someways it will be somewhat of an educated guess to see whether this all works. An expensive guess too.
I am hopeful because currently my amps are getting broken in on Nautilus 802's at my in town dealer. I first heard these speakers using his Rotel monoblocks- the system sounded absolutely crappy- loud but no music. Well, I heard those speakers yesterday voiced through my system. It was like night and day. I thought B&W had sold out(I have 805 matrix) but they can still make a good speaker. I still feel the Sophia's outperform them and looking forward to hearing the 7's.

Hi Guys

I've been busy...listening to a lot of speakers!

Where to begin? Let's see- about 2 weeks ago, I listened to the Sophia's and W/P 7's back to back. This was with SS equipment (the Krell stuff I told you about before). I think the W/P goes higher and deeper than the Sophia, but isn't necessarily more musical. It may also be that the W/P was not optimized for that room, as I understand they are harder to set up than Sophia's.
Last week I went to visit an audiophile in London ON, and listened to his Sophia's with my JC-1's and AA Cap Reference. It sounded pretty good till Gilbert Yeung of Blue Circle arrived with one of his hybrid amps in tow, the BC 204. It was then that I heard real music- the combo of the Sophia's and this hybrid amp made the sound that I have been looking for so long. There was so much ease and liquid in the midrange, yet there was very little loss of slam and bass extension. I can see now why Wilson's sound so good with Lamm equipment.
Next up was listening to the Dynaudio Confidence C4 and the Revel Studio, again using my own equipment. The C4 I didn't really care for- it's bass extension was all wrong in the particular room we were listening to them in. They would probably sound good in the right room.
The Studio's were a different story- this is a synergistic combo with the JC-1's. The presentation is more airy and detailed than Sophia, particularly with symphonic pieces. This speaker is now on my short list.
Then I did something I shouldn't have done- I listened to the MAXX 2's for an extended period of time. This is by far the best speaker I have ever heard. Excellent midrange clarity, fantastic bass extension, very detailed and airy at the top, but all of it cohesive. I can only imagine how it would sound with one of those Blue Circle hybrids. Because of this, the MAXX2 is now at the top of my list and the only thing preventing me from going for it is how it will look and sound in my rather small room. My dealer has contacted Rives Audio for consultation in this regard.
Because I am looking at speakers in this price range, I am going to audition the Evidence Temptation next week. I am also going to listen to a new speaker, the Eben X-3. I'll report back when I have listened to them.
Ciao

Donbellphd,

I appreciate your concern. Believe me, I never thought it would go as far as this. I still have not decided to go as far as the MAXX2 for that room, but it is a consideration and I have seen others use rooms as small as mine or smaller with speakers as large as these. Whether they would work properly is a whole other question and why I am getting Rives involved.
About whether I can pay for this stuff or afford it, I am/or:

a. Work a s--t load
b. Single with no dependents
c. Specialist physician
d. Work a s--t load

I have bought a new house that doesn't have a finished basement. I don't want to do any work to it yet as I don't know what my domestic situation will be in the next few years. So I decided to use my living room as my listening room for now. Perhaps I'll build a dedicated listening room one day, perhaps not. I know that I don't want to go through upgradeitis, so that's why I am considering this equipment. My decision will be based on replies from Rives, those on this site and the aesthetics of such large speakers in my living room (which by the way is not completed and why I have not pulled any triggers on speakers yet).

Hello all,

Thank you for your advice, Oneobgyn and Cytocycle. I will give the 7's a second audition. It will be difficult to hear the type of sound I'm looking for as both dealers who are the closest to me (Ann Arbor and Toronto) run SS systems with their 7's. I may hold off on purchasing till I am able to go to one of the upcoming shows in the new year. I have a feeling my room won't be ready anyways once Rives audio gives me blueprints, I'll probably have to make make some major changes to the room.
If anyone is interested, I listened to the Eben X-3 a couple of days ago. I wasn't expecting much, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It is very musically coherent and very fast in terms of bass speed. The tweeter is also probably the nicest I have listened to yet. It does play down to 30 Hz, but you don't get the subjective weight of the bass that the Wilson speakers provide. It has a different presentation than the Wilson speakers, but I feel it was no less enjoyable than the Sophia. Of course my listening memory is short, and it is hard to compare these speakers with the Wilson's as it was a completely different set up in terms of the room. I am going to try to see if I can somehow convince the dealer to let me A/B them with my friend's Sophia and BC 204.
Unfortunately I spent so much time with the Eben's, I was unable to audition the Temptations, so it'll have to wait for another day.