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Sonus Faber vs Wilson

I currently own a pair of absolutely gorgeous Serafino Tradition speakers. They are about 3 months old and I’ve finally got them positioned nicely in my room. They are being driven by a Gryphon Diablo 300. Great soundstage and imaging even off access. Tremendous detail and I just love the way the speakers look. I must add that it’s really important to me how all this stuff looks in my home. I love the tight fast and nuanced delivery of the Gryphon but not loving the way it looks…alas..that sound made the decision for me and I’ve hidden it away so my wife doesn’t have a coronary.

So….this brings me to my newest quandary. My local dealer has a gorgeous dedicated listening room in the lovely Biltmore hotel just minutes from my home. (Very dangerous…!) There are a pair of Wilson Sasha DAW speakers that sound…well…that sound like the best speakers I’ve heard. I absolutely HATE the way they look…and I would dread getting them up the three front steps of my home…but that sound….

Do I keep the lovely sounding and gorgeous looking Serafino’s or swap them for the ugliest best sounding speakers I’ve ever heard.? 
(There is an $18k price difference so there’s that too…!)
jomonhifi
ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,473 posts
 
I understand the appeal of Wilson. I have heard them over decades and still have the WAMM audition etched in my mind. The holographic imagery. I was overwhelmed and appreciated the sound, but at the same time, said that is not the sound I want to live with. It is wonderful and if I could have three fantastic systems, one would be Wilson based.

About ten years ago I got season tickets to the symphony, 7th row center now and subconsciously started moving from my mainstay of ribbon speakers to Sonus, then up the Sonus line. Currently Sonus Amati Traditional. I don’t think my migration to Sonus was unconnected to having constant exposure to live acoustical concerts. I found that instead of optimizing one kind of music at the expense of others, all improved as I moved to Sonus and up to higher levels of their products. I have nothing bad to say about Wilson, they are fantastic speakers. But for me with the right electronics Sonus better gets the gestalt right and true musical nature of the music they are reproducing. To me.
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ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,473 posts
 
@steakster 


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Yep, the better the system the more any change matters. Really high resolving speaker enhance this.
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,926 posts
 
no doubt the speakers are the determining factor in a system's ability to resolve upstream changes made... there is a thread lingering about how and where to prioritize gear in system building - ultimately if the speakers can't play the music in a way that let's us hear the differences, all upstream efforts exist only in theory

having said this, the most resolving system, the most resolving speakers, are not necessarily the path to sonic happiness and satisfaction...
ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,473 posts
 
@jjss49 

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Very true… actually on some components also… particularly on source. I chose carefully on the CD player I bought in the past. Too resolving and you can have many recordings sound bad because the high end is tuned up to catch every detail and it passes on distortion and gets hard, bright, and looses musicality. 
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