B&W Nautilus 801s vs. Wilson Audio Sophia?

I've sold both Wilson's and B&W's. Personally, I might consider owning 804's in the right application if need be. But I prefer the transparent, dynamic, and higher sensitivity Sophia. Also allow more amp options if applicable.

everyone own's and likes their own stuff. EQUIPMENT MATCHING is way critical on analytical high end speakers. The more transparent, the more critical.
That other gentleman could easily have heard the Sophia's with some bright/cold gear in the system. You can't hear something in A SYSTEM, and make an ALL ENCOUMPASING ASSUMPTION! There's too many variables (unknown to the novice) that affect sound.
I've dealt with Wilson for years. They walk the line of total transparancy, if not total dynamic transparancy;...it's easy to push em over the edge, like many like them.

The B&W 801 (as with all the B&W's with that head unit design) have a horrible mid to upper midrange suckout. This is exactly where the majority of music plays. This is a function of internal standing waves and presures that works against the driver. This adds coloration and a muddy sound to the recording.
I have heard the Sophia and the 800 right next to each other with a quick a/b compare, the Sophia was more musical (to say the least).

On the subject of "midrange suckout" try aiming Wilsons at a point behind the listener for a prime example. This speaker really needs to be aimed at the listener.

B&W's arent as picky on setup as the Wilsons with regards to midband performance. My room has ranged from slightly down to peaky in the midrange depending on the setup of my N803's. Using the Rives Audio test disc really helped me fine tune my speaker position for the best response.

With proper power the bass response of the N801 is in another league compared to the sophia. This makes setup for bass response potentially more difficult with the N801 but the rewards of course are much greater.

Both are fine speakers

I agree with Yoga as the suckout problem is one which is not tolerated for myself. I used modified NEAR's which use to have these same problems until I was lucky enough to have them revamped by Bill K of NEAR. A whole other speaker after that.

New Drivers and XO's make a world of difference. I do not see how B&W has not addressed the problem> with the davent of new meterials for drivers and XO components it does not seem that it would be a hard thing to overcome. They have had enough time to do it and yet the problem persist. If it were me I would look to another manufacture for speakers rather than have to live with problems which should not be there when paying such a heavy amount for quality components.

I use to live with a euphoric presentaion ,for lack of a better description, until I found that I prefered a presentation which I felt was truer to the actual event.This was the problem or signature which NEAR drivers had .Now that I have better drivers and XO components my enjoyment of the reproduced musical event is much more enjoyable. I compare it to Electrostatics or panels to Boxed speakers. While speakers such as Maggies are euphoric and very involveing I do not feel they represent what the actual event is suppose to sound like. I went from Boxes to Panels and now back to boxes which I will happily live with boxes till I go to the big gig in the sky.

Hey ,but that is just my opinion and if you can live with the tradeoffs and inherent problems such as Suckout then you'll be a happy listener.

Good luck!