Amp suggestionsfor Wilson Watt Puppies/Sophia

I had a pair of Sophias and now have a pair of WP7's. I tried a bunch of amps with both speakers, including OTL, SET, and push-pull tube amps, as well as some solid-state amps. I listen mainly to rock and jazz of all types and am in a small room. I loved the way they sounded with OTL amps but I had too many problems with them. Maybe some Atma-Sphere OTL amps would sound good. The 15 wpc SET amps didn't have enough power to produce the bass and dynamics the Wilsons are capable of. Push-pull tube amps worked great with both speakers, perhaps the Sophias a little better, and IMO produced the best combo of dimensionality and bass and dynamics. The ones I tried were Audio Research VT100 Mark III and Conrad-Johnson Premier 140's. Solid-state amps produced the best bass and dynamics, which is what the Wilsons are known for, but until I heard Essence amps, I didn't like the flat soundstage SS amps produced with the Wilsons. The Essence amps I have, while not quite as good as tube amps in the soundstage department, are startlingly the best I have heard in detail, bass, dynamics, and transparency. Hope this helps.

Wilson uses Audio Research amps at their factory and Audio Research uses Wilson speakers as well.

Try a REF110.

I'm an ARC dealer.

I have the WATT/Puppies and the only amps that I've heard sound good on these are the Pass Labs XA-160. I'm a Mastering engineer and do a lot of Jazz/Orchestra work. Even Mikey Fremer thinks so too!

Regards,
Bruce

I have seen the WATT/Puppies at shows mated with tube amps that were relatively powerful (no low power SETs). I believe they are particularly good matches in the midrange and highs.

My personal philosophy is that dynamic range is very important to my sense of fidelity. Therefore, although my WATT/Puppy 6s are pretty efficient, I am driving them with Pass X600s (600 wpc). I regard Pass solid state electronics as enjoying some of the favorable sound characteristics of tube electronics without giving up control in the bass. The match works for me.