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Considering Wilson or Sonus Faber floor standing over my Rockport monitors & Wisdom Sub

Hello All,

I have a pair of Rockport Mira Monitors with a Wisdom SCS subwoofer, driven by Audio Research tube amp and preamp.  I am considering a move to a floor standing speaker.  The Wilson Sophia 2 and the Sonus Faber Cremona M or Sonus Faber Olympica III all caught my eyes.

As it is, I am getting very good bass with the Wisdom SCS sub, and great sound from the Rockports.  What will a move to a similarly classed floor standing model over the monitors and sub give me?  I wonder at the ability of the monitors & sub compared to a singularly designed floor standing speaker.

My room is not dedicated, and the living room where the system is opens to the left to a dining area, and there is an open foyer behind the listening position.  The listening area itself affords about 9.5 feet between the speakers, and an equilateral triangle to the listening position.  The speakers are about 4 feet off the back wall.  The left speaker has the open dining room to the left.  The right speaker has about 3 feet to the right side wall.

My Rockports are relatively insensitive at 85db, so a move to an 89db or 90db speaker would be a welcomed one.

Do you think a floor standing speaker on this level (Sophia 2 / Cremona M / Olympica III) will be a dramatic improvement over what I have?

The details of my system can be seen here: https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/5421

Thanks!
- Mark
marktomaras

Showing 2 responses by gpgr4blu

gpgr4blu
1,078 posts
 
I think you will find that all Wilsons play well with tubes. Indeed I’ve owned 3 different sets (Sophia, WP7, Sasha and possibly soon to be Alexia) and have had them in house with a number of systems including all McIntosh tubes, all ARC tubes and tube pre and D’Agostino solid state stereo amp.
3 nearby dealers feature them mostly with tubes. Sophias are the easiest to drive. Sashas quite a bit harder and Alexias the toughest.
A number of members at Audio Aficionado who are also ARC fans use the Ref 75 or Ref 75 SE with 75 watts per channel and feel they need no more on either their Sophias, Watt Puppy/Sashas or Alexias. No doubt that is true for Sophias. I like the Watt Puppy/ Sashas and Alexias much better with the Ref 150 or 150 SE. Alexias are the only speakers in the Wilson line that are noticeably better (10 to 15 percent) with 250 watts (eg Ref 250 or 250 SE). The question then is---Is that percent worth doubling the cost of amplification?
gpgr4blu
1,078 posts
 
I drove my watt puppy 7s for a few years with the McIntosh 2102 (100 wpc). I was very happy with that combo. So the answer is yes. Also, the WP 7s were easily my favorite WP. They were the first to be voiced musically. In fact, when the Sophias first came out, the WP 6 was being phased out and the dealer offered me a huge discount. I actually preferred the Sophias (with no discount) and purchased them instead. They were my first Wilsons.
When the WP 7 came out, it had the musicality of the Sophias but with greater depth, extension, imaging, texture, etc, etc. So I moved up from Sophia to WP 7. When the W 8 came out, I felt they lost a little of the 7s magic. Of course, others may feel differently and they would not be wrong. Also, SF makes great speakers on the opposite end of the musical spectrum from Wilson. You pick your flavor and go. 
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