Best Cabling for Wilson Sophia's

Cytocycle - That is very interesting. I travel a lot too. I've heard the WP7's in several showrooms during my travels but have always been underwhelmed with their soundstage and imaging abilities, the speakers have never even come close to disappearing. Maybe I expect too much for $22K. I have no qualms with the WP7's other qualities. I live north of Dallas, but I've never had the time to go to KC Audio. Too busy traveling.

Rcupka: I have not had a chance to combine the Shunyata Andromeda and the Valhalla interconnects. I can tell you that my exoerience has led me to the belief that mixing and matching IC's is not a very good thing. If you are going to do any mixing, run all the same IC and a different speaker cable.

Cytocycle: I bought my Wilson's and Transparent at Krystal Clear Audio in Dallas as well. I went for the BAT electronics though.

Yup ... In Dallas- Krystal Stero - Excellent dealer, I've been to about 8 Wilson Dealers Nationally (I travel a lot) and this was the setup that made the decision that Wilsons weren't too analyitcal for me and revealed their true potential. The dealer I bought from solidified the experience once again with Rowland Equipment. Others just had Wrong Synergy (Wilson/Classe?) etc.

Cytocycle - You wouldn't by chance have auditioned this gear at a dealer in Texas would you?

Transparent Reference XL (SS for solid state or VU for tube)is really expensive (comes in a wood box) if you didn't notice right? So Transparent had a model change and updated the standard Reference (only one model for tubes and solid state) with the 'XL' technology. Don't buy old Reference you want at least "with XL" (Serial number will have an XL at the end)

This year Transparent Released their new technology which is called MM and that is suppose to elevate each cable series by one level (hense the price increase), and these cables can be noticed by the rounded network boxes.

Don't skimp on the speaker cable it really tightened up the bass more than changing 5k amplifiers I did trying to improve my system.

Now that I've said all this, I have heared the Super with MM technology on Wilson Sophia's with VTL5.5/VTL250monoblocks/ARCAM etc and I was blown away that a complete Super sytem blew my system(older with NHT 3.3) out of the water and I had XL and with Xl cables! So system synergy says a lot to make everything work better, I then listend to WP7 with Reference with XL and VTL450's and Burmester front end (nice!), and finally Maxxes with DCS frontend, Halcro Amps, and Reference XL (OH MY GOD!) Keep in mind this dealer had the rooms accoustically done right and power conditioned and cabled.

The good news is that my setups sounds better than the Sophia and WP7 setup above and I only have 50hours (still breaking them in) on the speaker and they aren't even spiked!

You might try just tranparent speaker cable to see how it flavors your system. People don't understand why my cables cost as much as most of my system but then again that is where I've heard the most gain (after buying the Placette Active Preamp, before it wasn't as significant). I have bought up the MIT line and switched to Transparent at the Ultra, Reference, Reference with Xl and now finally Referenc XL SS (except for my speaker cable.. can't afford that.. need a new amp before I change that)

Each to their own.....
PS Wilsons will reveal any system weaknesses or lack of synergy you have just like your Magnepans did! Nice front end I couldn't afford to get the Wadia (another product I like!) and nice Amp (I'm debating Pass/AccuphaseA50V/Lamm)

My Wilson Witt II's were internally wired with Monster cable. They sounded great with Transparent cables.

Cytocycle: I'm encouraged that you made, and more importantly like the transition from planars. I sure hope I share your sentiments.
JTinn: What's your opinion on the Andromeda's paired with Valhalla i/c's from CDP to amp.

Anyone out there know the difference between Transparent XL and "with XL" ...the latter being significantly less expensive.

Thanks to all.

You didn't make a mistake moving from MG 3.6 to Wilson's as they are one of the few box speakers that are as fast and precise as the magnepans (i've owned three sets of Magnepans and upgraded to Wilson Watt/Puppy 7's), and now you get the capability to do dynamics!

I have run Transparent Reference XL (and with XL for the cables I couldn't afford)with outstanding results. Never tried the Valhalla which I heard of similar caliber. They might be a little dryer on the upper/mid than the Transparent on the Wilson is what I remember from other comparisons.

Spend time using the Wilson method of setting up your speakers (without the spikes so you can keep moving them around) They are really precise and 1/4" can sometimes be the difference between Bliss and Excellent.

There's another thread going that claims that Wilsons are internally wired with Monster Cable. If it's true, maybe Monster Cable is the correct choice!

Jfrech,

Thanks for the response. I'm actually getting the Sophia's tomorrow to replace my Maggie 3.6's (hope I made the right decision).

I've been using a bi-wired Valhalla (now need a shotgun)and need to make a decision on re-terminating the Valhalla or going in another direction.

Wilson's usually like transparent cable quite abit. They are internally wired with Transparent and Watt/Puppy's and MAXX use it to connect to the bass cabinet's to the mid/high WATT enclosure.

I'm sure the Nordost will sound great though. YMMV.

I am a dealer for Nordost, Jena Labs and Shunyata. I think the Valhalla may be a bit to bright with the rest of your equipment. The Jena Labs and Shunyata should be a better match with the Sophias'.