Wilson Watt/Puppy 6 or 7 versus Sophia

My encounter with all three of these speakers was enlightening in the extreme. I heard the WP6 first as line demos that were displaced in favor of the WP7. I had never before been gripped by reproduced music to such an extent. Entertained by my response, the salesman asked me if I wanted to hear something even better. He directed me to a room of identical dimensions where similar electronics were playing the WP7s. I was absolutely transported. Jimmy Scott was singing "All the Way" with all of the emotion wrung out of each note. I had an overwhelming emotional response. I left that store and embarked on a six month search for a repeat of that performance. Having carefully (and enjoyably!!!) auditioned nearly 20 systems featuring speakers in the $10k-$40k price range I was unable to equal or eclipse the response that I had to the WP7s. The Sophias "sound" very similar. However, they didn't whisper or shout nearly as convincingly as the WP7s. The WP6 was not as subtle a transducer as either the Sophias or WP7s, and made it less easy to immerse myself in the music. I'm guessing that it might be the extraordinary dynamic finesse of these speakers, throughout the audible spectrum that makes them so beguiling.

I have my WP7s in a 13.5 x 17 foot room with one corner squared off by a fireplace, and two thirds of one of the side walls opening out into a much larger, reasonably well damped room. Because of the enormous amount of acoustic energy these speakers generate, I found that I had to treat the corners, walls and wooden floors to eliminate some harshness that obscured detail. About $600 bought me some inexpensive, but quite beautiful oriental rugs of various sizes from Ikea, which I put on the floor and mounted on the walls. Some inexpensive Roomtunes pillows (stuff I had from long ago and forget the price of) were placed into the corners where the walls meet the ceiling. This has banished all but a hint of echoslap that is intrusive only on certain opera recordings, played at tremendous volumes. I wouldn't be surprised if the full ASC treatment is more effective, but I'm very, very pleased with the current results. In summary, while I am no acoustician, I would predict that you could obtain some pretty spectacular results with the judicious application of absorptive materials to the walls and floor.

From the centerline of the front face of the speakers to the side walls is 2 ft., 6.5 in. They are 8 ft., 9 in. apart, centerline to centerline, and are 4 ft., 6.25 in. from the front wall. They are canted inward at approximately 32°. The listening position is 12 ft., 9 in. from the front wall. Ceiling height is 8ft., 2 in.