I had WP 6's & traded up to SF Amati's. Took me all of 2 hours of listening to know that I made the right decision. You seem to have enough power & room for them. You'll give up a little bottom end, but you'll be rewarded in spades with mids & highs. Fit & finish is second to none. Liked the SF line so much - I moved up to the Strad's & couldn'd be happier. Trust me - There is life after Wilson audio. |
If you LOVE your speakers, why are you thinking of changing them? Be happy! |
Stick with what you have, you're happy - many here are not. If you feel the need to spend some money, have an acoustician come in and setup your room. That'll make a huge improvement in your system's sound quality...
-RW- |
RW - great suggestion! I have found acoustic room treatment to offer some of the best bang for the buck in improving the sound of my system. |
I agree with RW, it is hard enough to find the speakers you love, you have, so enjoy them. Acoustic treatment will improve your system more then you can imagine and you will fall even more in love with your speakers. |
RMAF is a month away if you can make it you may find something special. What I recommend may not be your cup of tea but in your situation a potent small speaker may be best.
Blessings, Bob |
Gentlemen, thanks for the suggestions to sit pat and consider myself lucky that I have speakers that I actually love. Of course this is an option, but the purpose of the thread is to garner recommendations for other speakers to audition which I may prefer over these.
So, bring on the recommendations - along with the reasoning/rationale. My room is pretty good, could probably be a bit better, but thought has gone into the accoustics. For critical listening, all the drapes are closed which soften about 60% of the wall space (in fairly proper areas). I have some accoustical treatments in corners and on the back wall and a rug between the speakers and listening position (soft/absorbant couch). |
I suggest keeping your WP 5.1s and getting a room correction device to tighten up the bass. I have a friend who has WP 6s and I'll ask him the name of the device he had. I heard the speakers with and without it and the bass was definitely tighter and cleaner with it. When he turned it off, it was easy to hear the bass loosen up. The rest of the audio frequency range was unaffected by the device. He was using a huge Mark Levinson amp and an excellent dcs CD player. - Steve |
I have never felt the bass on the 5.1s to be loose. In fact, I had a friend over today who has the 7s and while he feel that the 7s have a bit more bass, that on the 5.1 is very well controlled and tight - he felt possibly tighter than with his 7s, but we did agree the Krell (mine) vs. his MacIntosh may have been the difference in the bass tightness/control. Though he felt/feels his goes deeper. |
I was in the same boat as you, tried SF,Kharma,Eggleston,Apogee,B&W, ...... kept coming back to Wilson.Currently moving from WP7 to maxx2. Didnt find magic or connection with any other speakers but Wilson.Learned the hard way but eventually going to stick with Wilsons. |
How about Sophias? They're a good match for your room size, and the buzz seems to be that they are more integrated sonically top to bottom than the Watt/Puppies. They're at least worth a try.
I'm also partial to Sonus Faber. And Mirage. |
Stick with your 5.1s and be happy. |
Because the sound comes from the speakers, many start questioning that component first. You might think of really good power cords...you won't believe the improvement you can get with them. If you are really hot for speakers however, check out the Vandersteen 5A's. They are very easy on amps because they have their own built in bass amps already, and they are custom equalized for your room as part of the dealer setup. |
Apogee Diva >Tannoy Westminster >ProAc Response 4 >ML Prodigy >MG20.1 >Stradivari >Magico MiniII
Hi Ckoffend, Having lived for at least 1-2yrs with each of the models above, I must say that they're all wonderful speakers in their own rights. A couple of months back, the dealer friend who sold me my Strads 2yrs ago, loan me the MiniIIs for the weekend. Was initially quite reluctant and a little skeptical of all the hypes hovering around this overpriced Minis. But Hey, what the hell thought I--it's a free no obligation trial!!
As likable as my beloved Strads were, they just weren't on par against the MiniIIs in most keys and musically important areas. (Had a similar shoot-out vs the original Minis 2yrs ago, although showing potentials, I can't bear their upper mid glare and lack of bass foundations on most materials for the music to be believable enough for me, thus preferred and bought the Strads).
Having always been impressed with the Wilson's house sound, but somehow never loved them enough to live with one (their up and coming Maxx3 perhaps??), prior to my finalizing the Minis, me and some phile friends (one a happy Maxx2 owner), made it a point to audition other competing makes as well, including the Sophia2s and WP8s. Also happen during that particular time the Wilson dealer had a 2nd hand pair of Maxx2 in as new condition, selling for US$25k on hand (which tempted me quite a bit actually--more speakers for the money?).
Anyway, finally here I am ended up with the smallest, but in my and fellow phile's opinions, producer of the biggest musical enjoyment throughout our whole audition period! Seriously, you owe it to yourself to give a 'properly driven' set of Magico MiniIIs a serious listen. As I see that your priorities sonically are also a good match up to the Minis' strengths. Good luck in your search!
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Oops..sorry, before I confused anyone, the first line of my previous post was not list of suggestions, rather some of my evolvement in loudspeakers over the past 25 or so years as a music lover. Cheers.. |