Amp for Wilson Sophia

Hi Marti340,

The Krells are fine, look at my previous forum on Sophias and Watt Puppy 8's. I just ordered my Sophias mk2, picking it up in 3 weeks, tried many many hours of listening periods on various amps with various people. I ended up going with Krells, the VTL's were good, so were the Audio Research Reference and Monos but the Krells were just perfect, as smooth as the tubes. Do NOT listen and get confused by many. I almost got deviated to that lane and was only considering tubes after being a tube buff for a long time (confusing eh). You know whats the best thing to do, ask your dealer. I did, one of the largest Wilson dealer in Canada, 95% of their Wilson sales walk away with solid states so.... tubes will be fine too and so are solid states (Krells to be exact, I even tried it with the FBI and it sounded fantastic)! Ask your dealer and get a feel of it yourself. Its never bright or forward at all like what some say, play with cables...they are sensitive, I am using the Transparent Reference and its a great combo. I use to be an Apogee full range freak, final I found something that is just balance and truthful in every way. Best of luck!

i am only familiar with the sophia 1 thru various comments made on sites such as these. i have auditioned the sophia 2s at length. perhaps an amp that presents in the neutral to neutral to slightly warm [vtl] rather than highly analytical and/or lean [older models of bryston, krell, ayre, for example. though the most recent models may be excellent].

i favor pass labs amps, the x###.5 series is wonderful with highly detailed speakers such as the wilsons. depending on your budget, room size, room acoustics and your normal listening volume, you have more than a few choices. tube amps may also be excellent, but if you go tubes, pay close attention to how defined and quick you require the bottom end to respond. mcuh depends on the rest of your system, which includes the cables [ imo, cables are not frosting on the cake, i consider them as integral and key as any component.] frosting on the cake IMO me is if the component you have chosen with your ears actually looks pleasing to your eyes... and if the remote control is user friendly.

back to pass labs amps: consideration of impedance issues with some tube preamps should be noted.

if the sophia 1 has a somewhat bright highs, you may want to investigate the recent pass amp series XA###.5 which runs fully in class A or the older XA [no point 5] series , which is also a bit warmer than the x###.5 series [but perhaps slightly less transparent and nible IMO, though this may not be an issue for the sophia 1]. pass labs can best advise you various differences among their models in terms of performance. they are very familiar with wilson speakers as are many amp mfrs.

other: if you use transparent cables [many with wilson sophias do] TA just came out with mm2 tech. the ultra+mm2 SC may also be an excellent upgrade opportunity, depending on your current speaker cable. you may have cable better suited to your entire system synergy and aural preferences. there are many excellent choices for SC.

cheers.

As a Sophia 1 owner: the 2 best amps: CAT JL2 Signature, Symphonic Line's Kraft 250.

I owned Krell MCX 700--prob. not the right #, but bought in '05 and traded in a heart beat for the CAT, and the same w/the SL.

I could easily have lived w/either; they were so far above the Krell--shocking for a long time Krell owner.

Allow some $s for great cables for the frosting on the cake.

Let me know if I can

I think you have to decide on tubes vs solid state. What's your budget and what are you after sound wise?

What's the rest of your system? What music to you listen to and how big is your room?

You have killer speakers 1

The one time I heard Krell with Wilson Maxx 2s I hated it

I know it does not answer your question I just can not imagine Krell being much better with the Sophia

BAT VK75SE was the best i had on them.

KeithR

Any Pass Labs amp would be terrific. A friend of mine had Sophia 1 and now has Sophia 2. By far, the best amp was the Pass Labs - he had both the X150.5 and X250.5 (presently utilized) and they were equally good (and terrific). They both surpassed an old Krell (don't know the model) and a very large recent Plinius. The Pass amps just had more of everything - detail, transparency, dynamics, bass, and a very nice sweetness also.

FWIW, I also have had great success with my recently obtained Pass Labs X150.5 for use with my Magnepan 3.6's. My system took a great leap forward with the Pass.