Wilson Audio Sophia III Question/Help
Dear friends,
I
have recently found the chance to upgrade my speakers to a pair of
Wilson Audio Sophia 3's. They are driven by a McIntosh MA8000 (300w p/ch
SS amp). Although the details in music, huge dynamics and being able to
hear more layers into music have been a stunning experience for me with
the Sophias, I am a little troubled in a very basic area of stereo image
reproduction.
First, some information on the setup: The
speakers are 7 feet apart and the listening position is approx 9 feet.
However, due to limited space the speakers have to sit less than a foot
to the back and side walls (I have installed Vicoustic Flexi wall
treatments on back and side of the speakers) The speakers are on spikes
and currently toed in 15 degrees. (I have experimented with 0-25 degrees
toeing in). I listen to mostly Rock and Jazz music.
I
feel like the center image/presence/focus/impact is not strong enough
in some recordings. It feels like the vocals are too laid back when
there comes a loud orchestral/dynamic passage. It just feels like I need
to pay more attention to understand/decode what the vocalist is
saying... In vocal-oriented music, Jazz audiophile recordings, etc,
there is no such problem, yet sometimes I still feel like the vocal is
not pinpoint center but a little dispersed in between the speakers. The
traditional solution would be to toe in the speakers more, but then
Sophias on direct axis tend to draw attention to themselves, which make
the sound coming from left and right more apparent, contradicting with
my purpose of strengthening the center image. It just feels like the
sound is diffused - perhaps too wide soundstage than I'm accustomed
to... I don't think I have trouble with boomy bass which curtain the
mids by the way. I am sure the room acoustics are in play here, yet I
did not have a similar experience with the B&W 804 speakers I have
used in the same place before, they have had strong center fill,
pinpoint phantom image in the center with a decent soundstage. I feel
like the Sophias are rendering much more information from music, they
offer higher resolution and transparency yet I cannot get them to sing
as they are supposed to - missing some of the very basic attributes in
stereo. I knew that Wilsons are picky in room setup but I have been
experimenting for days and don't have an alternative space to move my
hi-fi.
I'll appreciate any comments and suggestions.
Thank you.