Upgrade path from Wilson WattPuppy 7s? - seeking advice


I have a McIntosh system with a 275 tube amp, plus some PS Audio equipment. I play many different kinds of music - from Joe Bonamassa to Johannes Brahms.

I like the analytical quality of the WP 7's. They do seem to lack some midrange and do reproduce rock as well as some other speakers. So I previewed the following at Paragon Sound in Ann Arbor, and the price is a consideration. Here are my thoughts but am seeking advice:

(1) B&W 802 D3 - Better with rock, a bit mellow and not as analytical as the WP 7's. Better midrange than my current speakers.
(2) Wilson Alexia 1 - A bit pricey even with a hefty discount. Of interest, I found some of the higher resolution music files to be reproduced with too much complexity. The ability to discriminate transients, a feature of the WP speakers, seem to be diminished in the more elaborate sound provided by these speakers.

Any other suggestions? I do not want to spend a great deal of money, but have the ability if necessary.

Thanks in advance for any advice - Gerry
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xgerryah930
Ah there you are gpgr4blu, as usual another threatened Wilson fanboy.

Your negativity is disengnious, you are the one that should be ignored.

The Persona speakers or any speaker with superior resoloution can sound bright, Rahido sufferers from the same demanding setup requirements and too many shops that sell the Persona line do not have the setup gear that enables them to perform the way that they can when driven by the better brands of equipment.

A couple came to our shop after driving four plus hours after hearing the Personas under perform at another shop, they came away from our demo as proud new Persona 9H owners, along with a T+A amplifier.

I heard them at another shop and was also not impressed this shop was using a $3,000.00 Musical Fidelity integrated along with sub $1,000 cables and a cheapie dac because they didn’t have the matching ancellory equipment. I listened through the demo and determined the speakers had potential and took the plunge even though the demo was sub par I came away intrigued.

As per taking WP 7, Sashas, or other Wilson’s I have heard way too many Wilson demos at shows and walked away with thinking nice musical  speakers, but hardly a fully natural or neutral loudspeaker. I owned the WP 3, and WP 5 and I personally sold more WP then almost anyone ever associated with the brand. Lets face facts Wilson uses good commercially sourced drivers for the majority of what is in their speakers except for their new tweeter, their drivers that are hardly the leaders in the pack for the price they charge so why the high prices? Great cabinets yes, but much of the cost of a loudspeaker is in the performance part of it and Wilson uses very inexpensive drivers compared to the total cost of the loudspeakers.

And Musicfix I would also take WP 7 over Martin Logans for a theater, the Wilson will work much better as a theater speaker. It is possible if you heard our demo with the T+A gear and the Personas you may have chosen the Personas over the Sashas Our Persona setup throws a gigantic and completely holographic soundstage which the Wilsons also do, we beat them in terms of coherency, detail, speed, and deep bass as well as flatness in room response the issue with the Personas is getting them to sound smooth on the top end as they have incredible resolution and thus are more sensitive to setup and matching gear. I have almost never heard an offernsive Wilson demo. 

I would take a Rockport any day of the week much better drivers that they make themselves, and an equilly inert cabinet. I find Magico’s to be too dry for my taste but again they make all their own superior technology drivers and also have a fantastic intert metal cabinet.

Just like the T+A gear we champion which is another brand quickly estalishing its reputation in the US just like the rest of the world as being amoung the best gear out there.

Grpgru the validity of what we say is mirrored in the press. our setup at the 2016 New York Audio sounded amazing, what we accheived in that small hotel room was an awesome sound.

If you look at Tone Audio this month you will see Jeff Dourgay who is a big Wilson fan pronounce the Personas as one of the best speakers available at any price.

http://www.tonepublications.com/

to quote from the review:

Paradigm has created one of the world’s finest loudspeakers the right way, by applying what they’ve learned from decades of research, design and manufacturing know how to produce a speaker with no compromises. There’s nothing they don’t do, nothing they won’t play and from what I can deduce, nothing they won’t partner with regarding electronics.

I’ve heard way too many six figure loudspeakers with caveats attached. There are no caveats that apply to the Paradigm Persona 9H speakers, other than the fact that you probably can’t lift them without help. That’s it. This is a world class, zero compro - mise loudspeaker for $35,000/ pair.

This level of excellence and execution wasn’t even available ten years ago, and if Paradigm didn’t build everything in house, along with the scale of econo - mies they enjoy, they couldn’t achieve this either

The Paradigm Persona 9H will be our Speaker of the Year for 2017. It’s one of the finest speakers I’ve had the pleasure to listen to at any price

as well as receiving a similar accolade in the Absolute Sound.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/2017-golden-ear-awards-anthony-h-cordesman/

Along with Legacy, Paradigm is one of the two manufacturers I’ve found that can really do room compensation well. Its Persona 9H is truly flat, goes very deep, and is still quick and detailed in the bass. Its low end is matched by a superb new beryllium midrange and tweeter with a great deal of life and resolution but no hardness. With excellent driver integration and something much closer to a point-source presentation than most complex speaker systems, the 9H provides some of the best imaging and soundstage performance around.

As per your other snide comment if Bose decided to build the world’s best speakers they could easily out build and out design Wilson or Paradigm or anyone, so can Sony or Apple or Google or anyone with the cash reserves to do so.

As per invading Wilson theads dude if you think that a $58k Wilson Alex is a better speaker you should get your ears checked. The Persona 9H is a better, more technologically superior, and greater performing set of speakers, and a much more practical product for $23,000.00 less money.

Lets just wait and see how the market reacts so far two esteemed reviewers are saying the same thing that we are saying, how many more before you will learn we know what sounds good and we know value.

Here is another wake up call for you, we just did a demo with $35k worth of T+A gear vs $90,000.00 Boulder amps, and the T+A a stereo amp plus outboard power supply had tighter bass then the Boulder amps, the Boulder did sound a bit more transparent and had a bigger sound stage, but considering the almost 3 times more expensive price point the T+A gear was a fantastic perfomer. and perhaps if we had the mono block setup the T+A would have outperformed the Boulder setup.

Fact is the Audio Doctor team we know our stuff, and consistantly pick some of the best sounding products at the time and will continue to do so as technology and fair pricing guides us to what we pick along with fantastic sound.

Oh and our track record on products we champion Conrad Johnson Art and Gat, Scaena loudspeakers. T+A, Paradigm Persona, Usher loudspeakers, Legacy loudspeakers, Nuforce, Running Springs, every one of these brands has received accolades at the time as being stellar performers.

Dave owner
Audio Doctor NJ







I have Watt Puppy 7's which I moved to the theatre room. This pair of speakers replaced 6 Martin Logans and sound much better. I bought Sasha's for my main listening room, absolutely love them. Listened to many speakers over 15 months from Magico's to Vandersteen to many others and decided on the Sasha's. 
Ignore Audiotroy. He loves to invade Wilson (and other)  threads to tout Paradigms with the same long winded opinion of one whose pocketbook depends on the success of Paradigm Personas. But you sort of invited him in by asking for any other suggestions.
I have heard Paradigm Personas on 3 different occasions (including Audiotroy's setup at the NY Audio show last year). They are good for the money although a bit on the hard and bright side (he says transparent--wrong) for me. I'll take WP 7s, Sashas, Alexias and Yvettes and countless other more musically coherent speaker brands over the Paradigms.  
Audiotroy always talks about the alleged $ that Paradigm put into the Persona's development. Under that rationale, we should all be listening to Bose, Sony and B&W and not brands like Wilson, Magico, Rockport, Nola and countless other reputable brands with strong science and great individual ears behind the brand.
 When you purchase loudspeakers, you purchase the ear and talent of the creator. By all means, listen to all of the speakers you can, but don't listen to opinions of biased, hyperbolic dealers.  
Sorry,best...try different amps before moving on with your Wilsons...and Tidal if given the opportunity. 
Gerry we were long time Wilson setup guys and and owners.

The WP 7 is a good speaker but is bettered by today’s newer systems which are much more transparent, the Wilson sound is punchy with great dynamics. The newer Wilson are a bit more laid back in the treble since the switch to the new soft dome tweeter which you may or may not like as much.

We would recommend that you consider the new Paradigm Persona 9H they cost $20k less then the Alexia and actually outperform them.

The Personas are a $60-70k sounding speaker yet are priced at $35k
they were just awarded Loudspeaker of the year in Tone audio,

http://www.tonepublications.com/

as well as receiving a similar accolade in the Absolute Sound.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/2017-golden-ear-awards-anthony-h-cordesman/

When setup correctly the speaker has a totally holographic sound stage, is very transparent, and has remarkable deep bass. add to that 96 db sensitivity and built in subwoofer amplifiers powering four long throw woofers with dual 700 watt amplifiers and room correction to ensure that the speakers can work in any size room.

We have tested and listened to many of todays best loudspeakers including a $120k pair of Kharamas, the $32k KEF Blades, $70k pair of Polymer Audio Research MKX-S, the Dali Epicon $20k and a few others.

The Personas are the only reference speaker to offer the following advantages:

1: Pure Beryllium tweeter for stunning clarity
2: Pure Beryllium midrange so you have remarkable detail as well as complete coherency.
3: 96db efficiency and are easy to drive
4: 4 proprietary aluminium woofers aligned in a reaction canceling cabinet which offers true sub-woofer levels of bass down to 19Hz!
5: A rigid yet somewhat light weight cabinet designed by using 7 layers of HDF with a viscoelastic damping layers to eliminate cabinet resonances.
6; Dual 700 watt amplifiers 2 per speaker to power the woofers
7: Anthem Room Correction to apply room correction below 5k designed to align the speakers to achieve a flat room response on matter what sized room.
8: The service and support from one of the leading speaker manufactures in the world!

To understand why the Persona can do what they can do all you have to do is invest $4 million dollars and allow Paradigms engineers to run wild.

Only a large company such as a Paradigm or a B&W can invest this kind of money. The Persona’s have numerous advantages over the B&W such as bi-amping, self powered bass and of course state of the art room correction.

We have been in the industry for over 30 years, the Personas are remarkable and are a testament to how a large company can when they are committed can build one of the world’s best speakers.

They are a must audition. If you are ever in our neck of the woods we have the Persona 9H on display with the T+A gear from Germany which is also remarkably good.

Just tested a $35k T+A amp and power supply vs $90k a recently updated pair of Boulder 2050 mono blocks and the T+A actually had tighter bas,s the Boulders were a bit better but wow, the T+A were exceptionally and were nearly as good!

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ



Hi Gerry
Some more options to consider -

DeVore - I like the Silverbacks, the Gibbon x is a great product as well.
www.devorefidelity.com

Verity Amadis S
www.verityaudio.com/en/

Tidal Contriva g2 If you want to splurge
http://www.tidal-audio.com
www.thevoicethatis.com/pdf/The%20all%20new%20TIDAL%20Contriva%20G2.pdf

I have a pair of the original Sonus Faber Cremona, they are dated. When I got the bug to upgrade but didn't have the scratch, I tweaked the speakers I had by
1. I put them on Isolator feet.
2. I switched out the driver screws with non ferrous brass screws
3. Added a pair of Rel B2 subs, one on each channel and performed steps 1&2 on them as well.

This took some time, and luck but definitely worth it.  I am truly realizing 100% performance out of my speakers. -The level of detail, and imaging in the midrange is euphoric.  All in the cost was no more than 3.5K with the siltek bassline, and Analysis Plus power cables.

Good Luck

If fast transients are important to you, then I would suggest you audition a pair of Martin Logans.

Their top model, the Neolith, is a bit pricey ($80,000) but they have a very solid lineup to choose from.

I run their midrange Spires ($10,000) on 80 W tube monoblocks.


I have Egglestonworks Andras which I love and have enjoyed for many years. I had the upgrade bug and listened to a lot of different speakers without finding anything I liked better. Then I tried some different amps with my speakers, including the Mac 275 which I was disappointed with given the generally positive reviews. I upgraded to an Audio Research Ref5 SE preamp which made a huge improvement to my system and then a few months later tried some Audio Research Ref210 tube mono blocks which have been another huge improvement. I'm really amazed how much they improved everything without changing the character of  everything I liked about my existing speakers. I second trying some new electronics first if you are otherwise generally happy and I highly recommend Audio Research.
Adrian
I just setup the Marten Bird 2 in my demo room. Truly outstanding on day 1. Still running the frequency sweep cd in between.

Mat
jjaudiosolutions.com
You should give Von Schweikert a try - either the E3 MK II, E5, VR-44, or VR-55 depending on your budget. All of these are very dynamic and easy loads for your amps. They are a better value and performance than the Wilsons or Vandersteens (which I prefer over the Wilsons).
If you really want scientific precision you should audition at least one pair of electrostats (and not hybrids).  Quads would be a good start.

I’m not sure how much bass your looking for but you should look at Living Voice OBX Rw3 ( also the IBX, out board cross over for the OBX and Inboard for the IBX) these speakers for me have been the most musical I have yet found in a speaker line. they are very detailed but the music just flows from them. They are defiantly a keeper speaker. Only limitation is they don’t really go much below 30ish HZ but don’t let that be the only deciding factor. They voice all there speakers with tube gear, Kondo Audio Note Japan to be exact. These run at 94db and are very easy to drive look beautiful in the traditional way ( the Santos is my fav) I highly recommend them and they get gushing reviews all over.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/livingvoice5/1.html

Also the company in my experience have some of the best customer service in the industry.


https://www.livingvoice.co.uk/#anchor8

https://www.instagram.com/living_voice/



The WP7 is a somewhat tricky speaker to match with amps.  Although, on paper, it is a quite efficient speaker, it is a very demanding load that doesn't work well with some tube amps.  You should consider auditioning amps in your system.  A lot of dealers will allow a customer to borrow amps (speakers are rarely loaned because they are easily damaged in the transportation and set up process).

I don't know which 275 you have, but, I've heard the current model and it is, to me, a quite mediocre amp even when driving an easy load.  I can't imagine it working that well with a WP7.  

Try Wilson Sashas 1 or 2. Both provide a warmer (not in a bad way) and more realistic and refined midrange than the WP 7s together with better and more linear bass. The Sasha 2s have the newer soft dome tweeter which some prefer to the titanium tweeter in the Sasha 1. Prices on the used market for the Sasha 1 are criminally low.
Perhaps one the Magico's  would fill the bill?  I think their bass response is very quick and realistic and to my ears the upper frequencies are more pleasant than some of the Wilsons.
With all this Vandersteen talk on threads I will have to get a pair sooner than later. 
Vandersteen deserves your attentive listen.   I too am a violinist, and Vandy's do it for me.   The subs mesh so beautifully you'll never know that there is a separate amp...only that it will make your amp run easier. ....had B&W's... moved to Vandersteen and happy I did.  Call John at AudioConnection in NJ...he knows and sells everything...certainly worth a call.....
+3 for the Sabrina's.
Though I am a Vandy fanboy, I think the Zu's have more punch for 
rock.
B
I’ve got countless hours with most of the D3 series and I find them to be overly analytical and sterile sounding with most sources and amplification. The Wilson Sophia 2’s I owned were much warmer and inviting compared to the 802 D2’s they replaced in my main system. Sabrina’s are beautifully balanced speakers worth listening to.
You like Wilson Audio. How about the Sabrina? IME they sound awesome with ARC tubes. (I have not heard the Alexia)
Great advice from everyone here, and thank-you so much. Some thoughts:

1. The Vandersteen 7's seem of interest, but I am somewhat concerned with speakers containing a built-in amplifier (but I am not that knowledgeable), and like many speaker companies, their prices seem to have climbed a bit.
2. Although I am a former violinist, I find the Sonus Farber and B&W speakers to be too sweet and not as analytical as the Wilson WP7's. I am a scientist and tend to hyper-focus when I listen to music.
3. I am never opposed to looking at older speakers.
4. I am a big fan of speakers that are fast at reproducing transients.

Any more advice is greatly appreciated. I hope I am not being too selfish here. Thanks - Gerry
Everyone is going to think I am crazy, but, here goes. Have you ever thought of something radically different? I use a McIntosh C50/MC275 Mk VI with a pair of refurbished 40 year old Gale GS401A speakers (www.vintagegale.com). The overall sound, via TT and computer audio, is about as good as it gets IMHO. Aesthetically, the system is simply beautiful, again IMHO.

My main system is a Krell HTS 7.1/TAS combination driving a pair of N801 speakers; I prefer the sound of the Gales. I went to Axpona this year and heard some very exotic/expensive systems and still prefer the sound of the Gales. See my previous post on this subject and building my TT/Tube system around the Gales.

I assume if you audition speakers at Paragon Sound you live in Michigan? I live in NWI if you want to hear the Gales.
I had the WP7 before.  While it did some things very well, I wanted more coherency/refinement and a more linear bass.  Went through a couple of other speakers before settling on the Vandersteen 7.  Must have been a few years ago and I have had zero urge to change speakers.  
Out of left field: how about a nicely refurbished pair of Altec Valencia's? Plenty of impact and drive! Even when used with a low-power SET amp! 
I have Wilson Audio Duette 2's that I am trying to sell on Audiogon.  I recently demo'd the Wilson Alexia versus Sonus Faber Amati Tradition.  I thought the SF were more musical than the Alexia's.  I also thought the WiIson's were a little bit more in your face.  I also demo'd Magico S3 and 5.  I  ended up buying the Sonus Faber and love the sound.  I am not of fan of the B&W sound.  
Keep looking. Your WP7 are as good as if not better than what you auditioned. When you hear something that much better you will know right away. The fact you are undecided after an audition means neither speaker was convincingly better than what you have.

B&W mid range is scooped so I don’t understand how you thought it better than your WP7 which has an outstanding mid range.
Make sure you get a listen to the Vandersteen 7 series
 Try and do a little research on these.
 When they are tuned, and in your room, they should bring you what you have been missing with the above.
 Joe Bonamassa Live at Royal Albert Hall should be a unique experience,
 especially when all of their lofty drivers that you dont hear are more in time with the Mic
 Installed many pairs.
 Best,
  JohnnyR
 Vandy Dealer
 
You could try a pair of Zu Definition speakers.
They play well with tubes and are good with both classical and rock. 
they are also considerably less.-With the savings you could get a pair of Subdomination subs.
The 30 day trial period doesn't hurt.
B