Wilson Sofia 2 vs marten dajango L

Easy. Stay well away from Marten ceramic drivers (accuton I believe). Get the Wilson. The sound of the Wilson Sophia 2 is extremely realistic - especially in the all important mid range.

Ceramic or rigid drivers suffer from the "ring like a bell" issue - lots of unrelated harmonics. Think about it - a drum set has cymbals - thin round rigid discs of hard metal - they sound great and have a long sustain with a multitude of vibrations after the initial hit - do you really think a cymbal would make a great speaker driver????

Clearly, not everyone can hear the difference nor can they be expected to understand how ultra light rigid cones might behave differently from soft fabric or paper/pulp or "intrinsically damped materials". For those mentally challenged, imagine a wine glass versus a pillow - which one will ring most when you tap it - extreme example of course.

Stewart,

Of course the material and construction of the driver influences the sound. Basically, hard material cones are less damped and tend to ring but can be more pistonic (broader frequency operating envelope) - allowing the use of small voice coils on larger woofers. Softer materials such as damped fabric cones often have the least coloration but suffer from a reduced operating envelope as the cone can break up and to have a good operating range they may need enhancements like more support from a much larger expensive voice coil.

There are are pros and cons to everything and then there is aesthetics and marketing (choice of material may influence buyers) - as you alluded, there are so many ways and combination of materials used to make the cones that the only logical conclusion is that it DOES matter.

BTW - the rubber damping dots on Accuton drivers - any idea what they might be for - could it be Accuton’s approach to reduce ringing?

BTW - I can hear the difference. You are blessed if you cannot as a variety of materials and a much larger number of speaker designs will work equally well for you.

Here is a well written link that describes the pros and cons of direct radiator driver design. 

http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/speaker-design2.html

Clearly, some people here are in need of some education. I will not stoop to labels like STUPID, as I don't regard anyone here on these forums in that way. I believe I can often learn a lot here on Audiogon but clearly, in this thread, there are several well meaning folks who might learn something interesting if they do choose to read further the above link.

I am not saying Wilson Sophia are the best speakers in the world - just that in this particular comparison stated by the OP they will sound a lot better (for valid technical & audible reasons stated)