Revel Salons vs. Wilson Sophias

I ran the Revel Salons in my two-channel reference system for over three years. I sold them in March in anticipation of the arrival of my Evolution Acoustics MM-Twos, and I have run the WATT/Puppy 7s in my system for the past five months while awaiting the arrival of the new speakers. I know you are looking for a comparison to the Wilson Sophias, but I don't have any personal experience with the Sophias. For what it's worth, what follows is my perspective on the Salons as compared with the WATT/Puppy 7s.

My take on the two speakers is quite different than that offered above. I much prefer the sound of the Salons. The Salons excel at transparency and the accurate reproduction of timbre. By comparison, the WATT/Puppy 7s exhibited a treble coloration that made me all too aware that I was listening to electronically reproduced music. Paired with the right upstream electronics, the Salons sound relaxed and natural while the WATT Puppy 7s sound like hi-fi.

Nonetheless, the WATT/Puppies do outperform the Salons in certain areas. The WATT/Puppies are one of the best soundstaging speakers I have ever heard, so they live up to their reputation in this department. In addition, they are more efficient and dynamic than the Salons, so there is more of an excitement factor with the WATT/Puppies. The WATT/Puppies also have quicker, tighter bass than the Salons, whereas the Salons exhibit bass that is slower and less crisply articulated.

I found that the Salons recreated a better sense of air and hall space than the WATT Puppies. I'm not sure whether this was a function of treble extension or something else. I also found that the bass on the Salons was more extended than the WATT Puppies. The WATT Puppies exhibit a mid-bass hump that somewhat compensates for their lack of extension in the bottom octave. While I could hear the mid-bass hump, I did not find it off-putting, but I did hear a greater sense of weight due to the truly full range bass extension of the Salons.

In the end, I concluded that I could not personally live with the WATT/Puppy 7s given my personal listening preferences. I listen to a lot of orchestral music, and I place a high priority on the accurate reproduction of timbre. The WATT/Puppies were at their worst in the reproduction of massed violins, which always sounded electronic and reproduced to me. On the other hand, I often enjoyed the WATT/Puppies with rock music and with a lot of jazz recordings. Rock music and jazz featuring brass instruments and percussion really play to the strengths of the WATT/Puppies. So I could see someone with different listening preferences reaching a different conclusion.

One final thing I would note is that the Salons are VERY revealing of your upstream components. I went through a number of phases over the years where I would attribute a shortcoming in the sound my system to a problem with the Salons only to discover later that the cause of the problem was elsewhere. One of the drawbacks to the Salons is their low sensitivity and the need to throw some real juice at them. This limits amplification choices, and, unfortunately, many of the high powered solid state amplifiers that have the juice to drive them leave a lot to be desired in their overall musicality. However, if you make the right choices and do not compromise the selection of upstream components, the Salons can gove you truly world-class sound that is very close to the sound of live acoustic instruments.

Just my two cents. and YMMV. While not directly on point to your question, I hope this perspective is helpful.

Jeff, I did not have a Wilson dealer place the WATT/Puppies in my room, but I did follow the Wilson procedure quite carefully myself. The speakers were easy to move around in my room, and I experimented quite extensively with the placement of the speakers. I found that the placement of the speakers significantly affected the bass frequency response, the soundstaging and the imaging. However, as you might expect, the midrange and treble frequency response were not affected to any noticeable degree.

In the end, my biggest problem with the speaker is that it could not be made to sound "natural," in the context of live acoustic music, in my system. My electronics and source components are exceptionally revealing, so my system had the effect of shining a very bright light on the performance attributes of the speaker. My take on the WATT/Puppy 7 is that Wilson achieved excellent dynamics, speed and soundstaging at the expense of flat frequency response and timbral accuracy.

As you suggested earlier, however, this may have no relevance whatsoever to the performance of the WATT/Puppy 8 or any of the other Wilson speaker models, including the Sophia. I would also expect that the 7s might show better with electronics and source components that are more forgiving.

Jeff, I should add that I admire what you have done with your room and your system. I have a lot of respect for your Ayre electronics. I am currently in the process of completing construction on a new two-channel listening room that was designed by Rives, and I like what you have done with yours.