Watt/Puppy 7 or Sophia?

Vargus,

In addition to Audiogon, I regularly read the Vanguard Diehard board at Morningstar and several of the Motley Fool boards. It's on TMF boards that one encounters the plea from someone five years from retirement with a few hundred $K in savings who, having come to realize it's not enough using a 4% guideline, wants advice on quick portfolio growth.

And I've been down the slippery Ferrari slope -- nothing sounds like a Ferrari V-12. But I also know what it's like to at last have a good income after years of schooling. Next thing after our first house was a Porsche 911.

I've found buying used equipment from other audiophiles on Audiogon a very cost effective way to build a first-rate system that can do both stereo music as well as home theater.

db

Vargas

I have always said that this hobby involves two things--our ears and our wallets

Having said that, if you are looking for a superb entry level speaker the Sophia for the money is hard to beat. But if you can afford them, the WP 7 is indeed in a different league with a much larger and more realistic soundstage. I have owned just about every Wilson speaker made and each one has its own special virtues. I did have the WP 5.1 and the WP 6. My son and many of my friends have the WP 7 and it is the best WP made to date. You owe it to your self to listen. You also must be cognizant as to whether your gear will drive them

Here is a look at my Wilson system

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vaslt&1049587927&read&3&4&

http://homepage.mac.com/imacdoyou86/PhotoAlbum52.html

Hello all,

Thank you for your advice, Oneobgyn and Cytocycle. I will give the 7's a second audition. It will be difficult to hear the type of sound I'm looking for as both dealers who are the closest to me (Ann Arbor and Toronto) run SS systems with their 7's. I may hold off on purchasing till I am able to go to one of the upcoming shows in the new year. I have a feeling my room won't be ready anyways once Rives audio gives me blueprints, I'll probably have to make make some major changes to the room.
If anyone is interested, I listened to the Eben X-3 a couple of days ago. I wasn't expecting much, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It is very musically coherent and very fast in terms of bass speed. The tweeter is also probably the nicest I have listened to yet. It does play down to 30 Hz, but you don't get the subjective weight of the bass that the Wilson speakers provide. It has a different presentation than the Wilson speakers, but I feel it was no less enjoyable than the Sophia. Of course my listening memory is short, and it is hard to compare these speakers with the Wilson's as it was a completely different set up in terms of the room. I am going to try to see if I can somehow convince the dealer to let me A/B them with my friend's Sophia and BC 204.
Unfortunately I spent so much time with the Eben's, I was unable to audition the Temptations, so it'll have to wait for another day.

you have some money, you have a nice house, and you want a reference-level pair of speakers. so your biggest problem is that you seem to just be in the early stages of researching what you want, with a myriad of choices to make. and, if you haven't heard (sonus faber) loudspeakers just for an example, you could possibly end up making hasty decision that you might regret in the future. recalling your experience with the blue circle amplifier, i can only say that in my case it took a lot of years trying different components in MY ROOM. if you want a synergistic system right away, you may need a really good friend/audio consultant to help you out, and find out what kind of music you like and what your sound-preferences are. just as an example, my present amplifier sounded "okay" at the dealer, but when i got it home, it blossomed into something really special. THEN, not leaving well-enough alone, i started a SERIOUS upgrading of wires- i now have to stick my neck out and state that, imho, wires are a component-level part of the results you might potentially obtain. my speakers are doing things now i didn't know they were capable of. ditto for my front-end components. as long as we're stuck with so many separate components, so many possibilities (what about big-buck power cords and conditioners, isolation platforms, ACOUSTICS, etc.), RESEARCH is inevitable and must be embraced as a "fun" endeavor, rather than a time-consuming chore. i love classical music, and played a musical instrument for 12 yeare, so i've been dreaming of a great-sounding stereo since i was 15yo or so... otherwise...

I certainly agree about interconnect and speaker cables.

I have tried them all and IMO there is simply nothing better than Nordost Valhalla. You should audition this cable as it is a must have in any system