Wilson Sophia vs. Piega C10 LTD... Which To Buy?


My present system consists of Piega P10 loudspeakers, Classe CA-401 stereo amp, Krell HTS 7.1 and Mark Levinson No.39 CD player.

The upgrade bug is starting to itch and it's getting expensive to scratch. As I move up the audio chain, I would like to choose between the Wilson Sophia speakers and Piega C10 LTD speakers. I've heard the Sophia's a few years ago and loved them, however, I never heard the C10 LTD's.

My 20'x20'x20' room is difficult for audio and my speaker location requires a "near-wall" placement. That being said, the Sophia's are a rear ported design and the Piega's are not. The C10 LTD's are sort of front ported... with 2 passive front woofer radiators, and no rear port. My thought is that a front ported speaker will help with my near wall speaker placement problem.

I can spend up to about $10,000 or so on the used market for the speakers. Listen to a lot of jazz, vocals & occaisional classical. I like clarity, resolution and a decent soundstage. Does anyone have any comments, suggestions or recommendations. Thank you.
george3
I'd look at the pair of Wilson Benesch ACTs for sale as well
Really good speakers and have the qualities you are looking for.
I have no connections with the brand or person selling...just an admirer of the product.
Seems to me you may want to consider waiting until the new Sophia-2 model is released by Wilson Audio in a month or so. I don't know if the sound will be dramatically improved or not, but a new crossover and tweeter are incorporated into the new model. No doubt, this will result in a several thousand dollar price jump.
as an owner of c-10 ltds and as one who who has also heard the sophias'...although not in my home...imo the piegas' are better speakers. your thoughts on placement are probably correct also...i have a large room and have no difficulty with walls.i too had p-10s' previous to buying the c-10 ltds.if you like the p-10s you will love the upgrade.good luck
piegas are the more natural sounding loudspeaker of the two. i would agree with the comment above about the ACT(wilson benesch) above. the drivers in the ACT are in a whole different league than the sofias, which are of a diy calibar, though the cabinets are quite well made.
I heard the Wilson Sophia 2 with reference level front end gear and to me it did not sound as natural as the Piegas I heard (TC 70 and C8 LTD). The Sophia has an unnatural detail where as the Piega has an openness and detail that sounded much more real to me...
Dennis the menace: Can you tell me how the TC-70's compared to your C8 LTD's? Thanks.
It's hard to say, since I heard them in two different systems, but they are very very similar. From what I heard, I'd say they sound almost identical. The bass on the TC70 was maybe a hair tighter, faster, but I heard the TC70 w/ Linn Klimax amps and that could've been it. I also felt the TC70 imaged better. If I had a choice on the used market, I would've chosen the TC70. Would I spend the $8K for the pair now on the 'gon? Not sure, probably would. I was seriously considering coughin up the $12K my local dealer wanted. Although maybe the C8 is better in a larger room, which I have. I do love the C8LTDs a lot. They sound amazing as did the TC70s. I think the TC70 are smaller in size, and their cabinet are made from one piece of aluminum, which is pretty amazing. Pretty sure they use the same tweeter/midrange unit. I had one of the tweeter/midrange units replaced on my speaker (still not sure when/where it happened), and Piega sent it to me and I'm guessing this is the same driver they're using now in the TC70x and other speakers. If you do get them, I would drive if possible to pick them up to be safe, and check the drivers closely, box them up safely in the original packing if possible.