Does Wilson Sophia Sound good at low volumes?

Ever read the white paper on the B&W design principals? They are overdamped, extremely inefficient and engineered for excessive headroom aka loudness. In other words they are meant to play loudly with alot of power and not compress. The irony is that they sound dead and compressed under average to below average listening levels. Live music has energy at any volume level, not just ear slitting levels. I owned a few pair over the years and liked some aspects of their sound but eventualy heard speakers that delivered a more realistic portrayel of music being played in front of me. I recently sold my Sophias but they definately have more life a the lower end of the volume range. Preamp sensitivity and voume range will also play a huge difference in your perception of "aliveness" at any level.

I have found that the amp/speaker interface is more important. We tend to forget that the components and cables we speak of cannot, do not and will not make a sound by themselves. They only work in unison with other components under variable circumstances. Some componets definately have a heavy handed design perspective which will dictate the overall resultant sound heavily, but not completely. In the case of B&W there is a tendency to sound restrained dynamicaly without large amounts of power and current. This is by design as they are born of a studio monitoring heritage...large headroom and low distortion uber alas! SS amps can have tremendous micro and macro dynamics when utilized properly. On the other hand, tube amps can sound lacking in dynamics as well if mated improperly.