From Wilson Watt Puppy 5.1 to ?


I have and love my Wilson Watt Puppy 5.1 speakers. I have been considering replacing them and have listened to several other speakers, even bought some, but have not found anything that I like better - yet!

FWIW: room is about 12-13 X 18 with a single slant cathedral ceiling - 12 going down to about 8.5 feet.
Amp = Krell FPB 300-C
Preamp = Jeff Rowland Capri
Sources = Esoteric X-03SE or Slim Devices Duet into a DCS Delius

Seeking:
Decent bottom end extension 30-38 preferred at a minimum (though I do have an available Rel Storm III sub).
Accurate but not bright (I my Wilson's are not bright)
Smooth but not soft
Timbral accuracy is very important
Excellent soundstaging is a must (width, depth, focus & height)
Placement flexibility is important (the face of the speakers cannot be more than approximate 54" into the room from the back wall).
I sit in a quassi nearfield setting, only about 6-7 feet from the speakers.

The pros/cons to me for the W/P are:
Excellent, clean extension in the upper frequency range
Very resolving with lots of energy and excitement in the music
Suitable base extension for my room. A little more extension would be fine, but not if it begins to over power, loose tightness (vs. the W/P) or becomes too single note sounding.
Sound staging is pretty good with the W/P, but I would mind seeing some improvement in this area, especially in terms of depth and a bit more air
While I find the W/P pretty consistent across the spectrum, I do notice some areas that are pronounced and also some inconsistencies or areas where the different drivers could blend a little bit better. I guess what I am saying is that I would like to improve a little bit on integration between the various drivers. While this integration is no where near as pronounced as say a Martin Logan cone woofer to panel integration, I still notice it with certain instruments that can play with wide frequency ranges.
I don't listen to music all that loudly, so a speaker that will perform very well at moderate listening levels is a must. A speaker that must be played quite loud for it to "come to life" is completely unacceptable to me.

Like I said, I have listened already to a couple of speakers and have so far not found anything I like better. I would prefer to buy used for financial reasons. I don't necessarily believe that only $20K plus speakers are necessary for comparison and I don't want a speaker that excels in only one area at the expense of other important performance requirements.

Any well thought out suggestions are welcome. Don't bother wasting my time telling me that Wilson's suck, as I have owned many brands of speakers and listened to many others and so far, have not found something that I like more. For reference, I cannot afford the higher priced Wilson speakers and I definately prefer the W/P's over the Sophia's for my tastes. I have listened to the 7s and while there may be some improvements over the 5.1s, I don't find that glaring, immediately apparent, or to the value of selling the 5.1s to get the 7s.
ckoffend
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.