Watt/Puppy 7 or Sophia?

Go with the 7's. The 7's come very close to the original MAXX in dynamics and imaging. The 7 is by far the best Watt/Puppy series ever. As you upgrade your electronics, the 7's will do nothing but reveal the upgrades you make more apparent. You will not regret the decision.

Rcprince: Said it perfectly that the
The top end on the Sophia is more forgiving. I found the JC-1's will be a little bright (many hours listening to this amp even after the 1500hrs breakin) on the top but your CDP should take care of that edge. The midbass is warmer on the Sophia's. The WP7's require a more time to setup but that's what your excellent dealer will take care of for you! The highs and mids characteristics can be adjusted with a resistor pack from Wilson (The WP7's are amazing with the customizing and flexibility with the setup spikes for the Watt and the Puppy)

The other option is to buy the Sophia's and then buy the Watch Dog and you will be amazed! Or buy the WP7's and then do what I did a 1.5 years later.. I bought the Watch Dog which give you better positing options of the WP's!!

Another Deciding factor was weight as the 160lb Sophia is a lot harder to move around than the 100lb Puppy and the 75lb Watt which can be separated! Important when you don't have your friends around and you tweak a lot, but otherwise let your dealer dial them in!

Now I'm extra Happy! until I can upgrade to the Maxx II's and keep my Watch Dog.

No problems in your room size with either as my room is 12x16 and I ran them in a much larger room also.

Either way you will get an amazing speaker!! that will reveal everything (good or bad )! But your Electronics will present a good synergy.. Oh yeah.. make sure to run the JC-1's Balanced as the design is fully diff balanced and sounds much better, and run it in High bias for Jazz and female vocals and low bias for Techno and Classical (full orch)

Although I am not a fan of the breed the WP 7.0s are a step up from the Sophoias and the maxx is just more of the same relative to the 7's. Wheather or not they are worth the extra dollars is in the ears of the beholder. Either speaker will fill your room up nicely and the JC-1s should do just fine. Good Luck.

Chuck

I have had demo of WP7, sophia, and the original MAXX in the same room (an isolated treated listening room at the dealer) with the same equipment (meridian 861/800, transparent cabling, classe CAM-350 monoblocks). Prior to this audition, I had heard the sophias in a separate dedicated room with classe home theater amp with transparent cabling. This latter audition was my introduction to quality equipment and it sounded great. The sophias sounded great with the other audition also, but are definitely upstaged by the WP7s. The MAXX and WP7 I would agree did not sound much different from one another. The WP7 has MUCH more detail than the sophia making for a more intimate listening experience. The sophia is no slouch, though, and imaging is excellent on both. I had read reviews on the sophia before the audition in which it was compared to the WP6. The bottom line in it was that the WP6 was more detailed, but the sophia was more enjoyable to listen to. The WP7 seems to take the sophia a step further in that it is even more enjoyable to listen to in my opinion.

I too am curious to hear opinions on the sound with the jc-1's.

When I was shopping for speakers I also listened to B&W nautilus 801s and martin logan odysseys with musical fidelity gear, jm lab micro and alto utopia berylliums with g series meridian components and transparent cables, and revel salons with krell preamp/ levinson 436s/ denon cd player(I am sure this CDP impaired this audition greatly as I was unimpressed by this setup). The WP7s were my favorite and I hope to one day aquire some. Currently I use the micro utopia berylliums with a rel sub.

The real question isn't whether the Watt 7s are better than the Sophias, but which speaker will sound better in your listening room with your equipment? It actually could be the Sophias.