They will all function fine, it is a matter of personal taste. You should try to listen if possible. My vote is for Pass, but that shouldn't sway you. Ayre is another that should be on your list of ss amps. |
I have had excellent results with both the BAT VK-250SE and VK-600SE and my Sophia Series 2. See my system for details. |
The Wilsons are designed on and for tubes and they are easy to drive. If I were you I would certainly consider broadening your amplifier choices... |
Ralph
Guess that's why they use AR gear then. |
BAT 75SE was the best i had on them. i've owned the Pass, but not with Wilson so i can't comment. auditioned both 250se and 75se and the tubed unit was clearly superior in all aspects (even bass)
KR |
Agree with Sbank, all your choices are good, and it really is personal taste, and totally agree you should throw Ayre into the mix. But, I would still go with tubes if it were my decision, unless SS is a necessity for your situation. |
Jtwrace, Wilson has used ARC for many years, and ARC has had Wilson for many years- no secret there! But Wilson's national sale manager used our gear in his own system at home for years also. ARC and Atma-Sphere both can make some power, but are vastly different in every other way, yet the Wilsons seem to serve both approaches quite well.
IMO they are an easy speaker to drive, so one should feel free to experiment, since they don't need that much power. |
Put a VT100 MKIII on those and sit back and enjoy. Sophia's do sound much better with tube amps. VTL also works very well. |
with all due respect to the posts above, i had a long discussion with dave and daryl wilson a couple of months ago about the amplification they use. from what i understood they use spectral (ss) dma 360's (mit cables) and have used spectral for many years. this is not due to any particular synergy with spectral rather the neutrality, accuracy and speed of the spectral products. they had mixed comments about arc. |
Richard_stacy, Daryl has told me that also. However if you look at the design the speakers have taken over the years it is apparent that they are favoring tubes over transistors. The Watt is a great example- it has always been known for its 2-ohm/2KHz aspect- a resonant point that the tweeter had. A trap to reduce energy at that frequency was their solution- hence the 2 ohm impedance at 2KHz.
If a transistor amp encounters that load, it will make more power, the opposite of the desired goal.
If a tube amp encounters that load, it will make less power- precisely what they had in mind.
Wilson has always had a variety of amps around- a good idea if you make speakers :) |
Wilson uses cj amps amongst many to voice their speakers. Mr johnson of c-j uses a wilson personaly at home i believe. My sophia 1s sound great with my cj pr 12 monos now that i have faster chryoed kt 120s in my amps. Every upstream change can be heard on these revealing speakers. got great results chryoing my hovland 2 phono cable, seems a lot of what i did not like was not do to the speaker which is only 5-6k used, a nice bargain in todays market |
I had a pair of Sophias and enjoyed both solid-state and tubed amps. However, I think they sounded the best with tubed jobs, blooming more with a robust sound and a bigger soundstage. The slight reduction in bass depth is much less than that of the Watt/Puppies, so it is not really missed. In fact, I heard a pair of Sophia 2's at a local dealer being driven by VTL tube amps and I heard the unusual sound of deep bass being imaged separately from bass guitar. I had a Conrad-Johnson Premier 140 and Audio Research VT100 Mark III that made the best sounds with this speaker. |
I had a few clients with Wilson Audio speakers. I sold my XA100.5 to a person with the Puppy7. By far the best sound ever heard from a Wilson Audio. Most of the time it is always very average by Wilson demo's and clients. |
