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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 1 response by hgeifman

hgeifman
2,113 posts
 
I own the Sonus Faber Olympic II Speakers and like them very much.  They provide great musical sound and I highly recommend them.  I am using Hypex NCore NC400 Bridged Mono Block class D Power Amplifiers to drive these speakers.   The addition of these power amplifiers (no pre-amp) into my system provide more natural sound, clearer music, more bass, an overall lack of noise, excellent dynamics and musical details. Another layer of sound is also presented WITHOUT THE pre-amplifier in the system.   My Bricasti M1 DAC (with a volume control) is going direct into these power amplifiers.    

I compared them to the Sonus Faber Olympic III Speakers and decided there was too much bass in the Sonus Faber Olympic III Speakers for my space.  In addition, the Sonus Faber Olympic III Speakers were large and not a good fit for my living room (not a dedicated space).  The Sonus Faber Olympic III Speakers are excellent but my sense is they require a large space to really sound good (you need to verify this in your own space).

Speaker selection is not an easy process so I suggest you listen to the speakers you are interested in and not rush the process.  I suggest you listen to several songs from 3 of your favorite albums to help you decide.  Unfortunately, this might take several listening sessions since sometimes I really liked a speaker on one day and did not like it during other listening sessions.  The main point is you have to listen to music you are familiar to ensure you make the right decision.  Comments from Audiogon are interesting but you have to make your own decision based on your existing equipment, space and listening experiences.  Please let us know what you decide.




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