Downunder,
Your perceptions of the Alto's and WP7 are very similar to my auditioning experience. I am still struggling to make a decision on speakers/electronics. Like you, I listen to primarily alternative rock/rock, plus alt.country (e.g. Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams etc.) and a lot of female singers. As much as I loved the Be tweeter on the Alto's and the room filling bass, I found the midrange laid back and lacking in that pop to bring my music to life. THe bass on the Wilson was clearly tighter and punchier (e.g. play White Stripes Elephant), and the imaging laser focused, but I found the overall sound very fatiguing. I kept finding myself hitting next track on the remote. I have listened to a lot of others Dynaudio Confidence C4, Living Voice Avatars, Focus Audio FS888, Vr4 jr but so far none have really done everything well.
Then, I went to audition the Tenor 150HPs amp/Audio Aero Capitole CDP with the Kharma Exquisite Midi's with diamond tweeter at Tenor Audio in Montreal. WOW !!! On stuff like Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams the sound was haunting ... made the hairs on my arms stand up. The midrange was the best I have heard so far. Blows the Alto out of the watter. I finally realized what everyone was talking about when they talked about the massive soundstage, driver coherence, and Kharma disappearing act. The diamond tweeter can compete with the Be. Only two problems ... one I can't afford the Exquisites ... two, I did find the bass on certain test tracks (e.g. White Stripes) somewhat missing in action. The kick drum certainly didn't remind me of what I heard on the Wilson WP7's or Sophias. But, on the other hand everything else I played for 3 hours was phenomenal sounding. Even the new Wilco CD was more enjoyable than I remembered. Modest Mouse "Float On" is a great song, but suddenly I realized just how good it was ... I was ready to start dancing ! Yet, overall the Kharma sound I heard that day made me want to explore the lower priced Kharmas to see if I could get a slice of these Exquisites at a more affordable price. I don't know if you explored the Kharma's at all, but definitely you should give them a try. I don't know about the bass though, whether it will be dynamic enough for you. I am also very anxious to see some of the new offerings from Von Schweikert like the VR4 SR etc... as a number of A'goners here have abandoned their high end Kharmas for Vr9 or VR 11's.
Your perceptions of the Alto's and WP7 are very similar to my auditioning experience. I am still struggling to make a decision on speakers/electronics. Like you, I listen to primarily alternative rock/rock, plus alt.country (e.g. Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams etc.) and a lot of female singers. As much as I loved the Be tweeter on the Alto's and the room filling bass, I found the midrange laid back and lacking in that pop to bring my music to life. THe bass on the Wilson was clearly tighter and punchier (e.g. play White Stripes Elephant), and the imaging laser focused, but I found the overall sound very fatiguing. I kept finding myself hitting next track on the remote. I have listened to a lot of others Dynaudio Confidence C4, Living Voice Avatars, Focus Audio FS888, Vr4 jr but so far none have really done everything well.
Then, I went to audition the Tenor 150HPs amp/Audio Aero Capitole CDP with the Kharma Exquisite Midi's with diamond tweeter at Tenor Audio in Montreal. WOW !!! On stuff like Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams the sound was haunting ... made the hairs on my arms stand up. The midrange was the best I have heard so far. Blows the Alto out of the watter. I finally realized what everyone was talking about when they talked about the massive soundstage, driver coherence, and Kharma disappearing act. The diamond tweeter can compete with the Be. Only two problems ... one I can't afford the Exquisites ... two, I did find the bass on certain test tracks (e.g. White Stripes) somewhat missing in action. The kick drum certainly didn't remind me of what I heard on the Wilson WP7's or Sophias. But, on the other hand everything else I played for 3 hours was phenomenal sounding. Even the new Wilco CD was more enjoyable than I remembered. Modest Mouse "Float On" is a great song, but suddenly I realized just how good it was ... I was ready to start dancing ! Yet, overall the Kharma sound I heard that day made me want to explore the lower priced Kharmas to see if I could get a slice of these Exquisites at a more affordable price. I don't know if you explored the Kharma's at all, but definitely you should give them a try. I don't know about the bass though, whether it will be dynamic enough for you. I am also very anxious to see some of the new offerings from Von Schweikert like the VR4 SR etc... as a number of A'goners here have abandoned their high end Kharmas for Vr9 or VR 11's.