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.

I forgot to mention that I heard a pair of Sophias driven by a VTL ST-150 amp at my dealer's and the sound was very impressive. Great soundstage, warm yet detailed, and you could pick out the bass drum and bass guitar in separate locations between the speakers. I still like my Essence SS amps driving Wilsons but these are difficult to find used. The VTL is a great choice with Wilsons.

Spectron Musician III Signature my own experience provides very "seductive" synergy. David Wilson speakers. I owned WATT/Puppy just a few years ago and few of my friends have Sofia and WATT/Puppy. It is phenominal amplifier, it can handle any speaker in the world (stability up to 0.1 Ohm and peak power 3500 watts over 330 msec) and they emphasize on their web site that the sonic signature is nearly identical with any speaker ( and with their Remote Sense cables even absolutely identical). Even Standard Musician received, this month, TAS Editor Choice Award 2007 and in description its said that it sound "on the warm side of neutral". I have had both standard and now Signature and Signature is way, way better (more musical, more seductive, more transparent - immensely transparent, as a matter of fact, as no amplifier I ever audition). Price - with good dealer discount - would be about $5k - $5.5k.
All The Best
Rafael

BAT always is a winner. I had 75SE and 51SE.

btw, for the record, Wilson uses a number of amplifiers for design purposes.

I have used many different amps with my Watt Puppies.
The amps that I have used are C J Premier 11, ML 33h, ML 33 , BAT VK 6200 and the ASR. The 33s and the ASR are what I use now for everyday listening.
I am presently looking for the Lamm ML 2.1 just to change things up with my new Maxx IIs.
So in a nut shell it really depends what flavor that you are after.
Good luck,

i greatly agree with those who mentioned various models of pass labs amps. the xa series may result in a bit warmer sound within the neutral spectrum. there is also the new xa.5 versions; i am unfamiliar with them. if you consider pass for the amp, you need to be aware that synergy with a variety of tube pre's may be an issue with impedence. also, pass amps should be run in balanced mode for best results, which will reduce some single ended preamp candidates.

if in a large room with moderate db levels, probably the x350.5 would be the smallest single amp for either sophia2 or w/p 7s or 8s, though the xa100 does produce 100wpc all in class A. i suggest you speak directly to pass labs if you are considering them. many of their customers have wilsons.

vtl and arc make excellent tube amps + excellent pre's to mate. if the room is large, i think you need to go above the arc 110 amp if pairing with the w/p 8s or you may lack tight control over the bass range IMO.

careful cable choice is important with the wilsons. they are very revealing speakers.

Wilson speakers are only degraded by amplification.
If you are insistent upon this approach then by all means avoid speaker cables.

I would also suggest Pass Labs x.5 series. I own Sophia 2 and drive with x250.5.