I started this thread because I had not fully heard these speakers. I still have not heard the wp8 but have now heard the maxx2 in two different listening rooms at two different dealers using very different equipment.
Let me begin by saying that I thought and still think that the wp7 is a great speaker. Natural curosity is what made me consider an upgrade.
I had heard the accolades and also the wilson bashers trash the maxx2
Well the first time I heard the maxx2 at dealer A with my own source material (radiohead ok computer), I thought it was a little better than the wp7 but certainly not worth the significant cost differential. The dealer ran the maxx2 with a wadia cd player and krell 750mcx so certainly the other equipment employed was real good. I had some doubts as to the quality of the listening room though.
So I then tried a different dealer who had a much better listening room in terms of acoustics. This dealer also had a more subtle yet powerful amp than the krell. This dealer used the VTL s-400 and used the well-regarded ayre cd player. I listened to Roxy Music Avalon which is even better recorded than Radiohead Ok Computer. It was not the super audio version but still. Again, I found the maxx2 was better than the wp7 sound I got at home. But again, the difference was more than small but not substantial. I would say the very low end of moderate.
I have to wonder then whether the maxx2 is really only a good upgrade for a wp7 owner unless the owner has a lot of disposable cash or listens to mostly audiophile recordings (not mainstream rock or pop). I found a significant improvement when I went from the Wilson Sophias to the Wilson WP7 but luckily do not feel the maxx2 justify double the price. In reality, I was offered a great deal on a maxx2 and use the wp7 as a down payment but felt even then that the sound improvement did not warrant the upgrade.
Instead, I chose to upgrade the emmlabs preamp/dac to the signature edition and upgrade my transport too (which was the old edition whose software was not updatable). I found the improvement with this upgrade was on par with the improvement the maxx2 would have made at a third of the cost.
Now that I have settled on keeping the speaker and upgrading the preamp/dac/transport, I am now migrating to the dart amplifier from the lamm 2.2 amplifier.
Mike
Let me begin by saying that I thought and still think that the wp7 is a great speaker. Natural curosity is what made me consider an upgrade.
I had heard the accolades and also the wilson bashers trash the maxx2
Well the first time I heard the maxx2 at dealer A with my own source material (radiohead ok computer), I thought it was a little better than the wp7 but certainly not worth the significant cost differential. The dealer ran the maxx2 with a wadia cd player and krell 750mcx so certainly the other equipment employed was real good. I had some doubts as to the quality of the listening room though.
So I then tried a different dealer who had a much better listening room in terms of acoustics. This dealer also had a more subtle yet powerful amp than the krell. This dealer used the VTL s-400 and used the well-regarded ayre cd player. I listened to Roxy Music Avalon which is even better recorded than Radiohead Ok Computer. It was not the super audio version but still. Again, I found the maxx2 was better than the wp7 sound I got at home. But again, the difference was more than small but not substantial. I would say the very low end of moderate.
I have to wonder then whether the maxx2 is really only a good upgrade for a wp7 owner unless the owner has a lot of disposable cash or listens to mostly audiophile recordings (not mainstream rock or pop). I found a significant improvement when I went from the Wilson Sophias to the Wilson WP7 but luckily do not feel the maxx2 justify double the price. In reality, I was offered a great deal on a maxx2 and use the wp7 as a down payment but felt even then that the sound improvement did not warrant the upgrade.
Instead, I chose to upgrade the emmlabs preamp/dac to the signature edition and upgrade my transport too (which was the old edition whose software was not updatable). I found the improvement with this upgrade was on par with the improvement the maxx2 would have made at a third of the cost.
Now that I have settled on keeping the speaker and upgrading the preamp/dac/transport, I am now migrating to the dart amplifier from the lamm 2.2 amplifier.
Mike