Wilson Sophia

A used pair of Von Schweikert VR4 GenIII HSE for $3800 is an excellent alternative, and will surpass the VR4Jr in all areas. I'm not sure how they would compare to the VR4Sr, but I'll bet they'd be darn close...and at less than half the cost.

I listened again today to a pair of the latest WPs, and I must say they do sound great. I've listened to the Sophias at the same shop, and I like them as well.

The last several posts brought up the issue of cost, especially as related to other system components. Now I would be the first to argue that you should spend your money on speakers, where the electrical signal is transduced back to an acoustic signal. And you could always add higher quality components as you can afford them.

But the distinction between the ability to pay for something and afford it seems lost. In my mind, afford relates to the other areas in your life. Will the purchase of expensive speakers have little or no impact on other financial planning, particularly planning for retirement? I read these posts about having incredibly expensive systems and I wonder if you're all very wealthy. I certainly could pay $12K or even $25K for a pair of speakers, but I doubt that I can afford to do so. In retrospect I probably couldn't afford the Ferraris I bought either. I sure did enjoy them, but not nearly as much as I'm enjoying retirement, and getting my kicks with a Porsche Boxster S.

db

"Anyone mentioning the Sophia being better than the WP7 hasn't listened to them correctly setup."

Speak for yourself! They are a different sounding pair of speakers. No doubt the WP7 are the more dynamic speakers - They are like thunder in a box. I like the way the Sophias do midrange better though. They sound more organic through the midrange.

Medium time lurker here - you flushed me out describing the sophias as "trashcans" - thanks - I love to laugh out loud!

I have heard a pair of ex demos, but there was something wrong with the system - even in this situation they sounded good.

I can empathise with an earlier post about stretching your budget. However "quality is remembered long after price is forgotten" does spring to mind - as and when you can afford them - go for it - you don't often read about people downgrading do you? Just don't give yourself a heart attack doing it!

Thanks dmurfet...I laughed too when she called them trash cans. It was quite a shock to see the way she changed her POV once she heard them!

Regarding the comments from everyone about stretching my budget...This is just such an addictive hobby. A year ago I was using a surround sound receiver and a dvd player as my source for cds. I would never have even thought about spending 10K+ on a system let alone a pair of speakers!

Clearly I have come along way in a year...Buying the Sophias is not going to break me but it is a choice and something else is going to be cut if this is the route we are going to go. I have listened to just about everything that is out there and really have decided it is the Sophias or nothing. Everything else just seems to be spending a lot of money for not much more in terms of performance over the 704s. So it is either now, or wait and buy the Sophias later.

Again, many thanks to everyone for their input. Will keep everyone up to date with whatever we decide to do.

All the best,
John