Wilson Speakers & Reviewers

I was never that taken with the WP systems, certainly never enough to be tempted to buy a pair, and remained happy with my large Vandersteens for many years despite the complexities of separate bass crossover, multiamping and wiring.  Then I heard a pair of Grand Slamms well set up and had an 'aha' moment that I kept in mind for some years before buying a pair of Maxx 2s like handymann.

Unlike him, although I have lots of beefy power amps on hand (Classe, Roland etc.) I have been powering mine with tubes (CJ Premier 11a) and find it to be an excellent match (although I do switch in the Roland for AV use).

I also agree that given that a significant part of the purchase price ow Wilsons is, like Montblancs and Rolex, attributable to advertising bling, buying used is the best way to go.

keithahughes: Ken Kessler, writer for HiFi News, had the same for many years. And now uses stacked LS3/5A’s and it was a "revolutionary" advance for him.

It’s not just reviewers -go to any speaker thread (on the web) and you’ll see very little support for Wilson. Even on this (pro) Wilson thread, the brand is struggling.

There is better sound, if you simply seek and find out....

I love my Sabrina’s as well.  Proper set-up is key.   I’m using Levinson amps, and I’m happy with the combination.

@wspohn - Agreed.  I picked up my Sophias as store demos (~61% of new price) when the model 3's came out. $17K just wasn't in the cards, and is just too much IMO for speakers.  That said, Wilson is hardly the industry leader in ridiculously priced audio jewelry.  There are people who spend as much on speaker *cables* as my Sophias cost...

@johnnie22 - you miss the point entirely. I'm not pushing Wilson speakers (as I said, their W/P line prior to the Sasha don't appeal to me at all), or making any claims about the "quality" of their sound, or their value against any other brand, merely giving *my* own preferences.  What you or Ken Kessler prefer has no relevance to, or affect on, my preferences, nor should mine affect yours.  Frankly, if one needs "support" from some "authority" for one's audio choices, as you seem to, then sound is not the primary basis of those choices.  I was simply sharing my experience with Wilsons in response to the OP, not foraging for audiophile approbation.

And you're apparently operating under the false assumption that I haven't listened to other speakers, and so am ignorant of the choices available. Sorry to disabuse you of that rash assumption, but I spent a number of years listening to many, many speakers before buying the Sophias, and sound and $$$ were the only deciding points.  I listened to my B&W 802s for 20 years before making the move, and have been auditioning "high end" speakers for well over 40 years.

@gpkid - I've yet to hear the Sabrinas - glad you enjoy them.  Nice to see Wilson design something a bit more accessible to more folks (i.e. sub $30K!!).  Yes, for all the Wilsons I've heard, setup is more critical than most brands, and - at least in my setup - the sweet spot is smaller than I would like, but in the sweet spot, bliss...they have just the presentation/sound that *I* like.  They ain't going anywhere!