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Wilson Audio Sabrina . . . I'm smitten. Should I consider others?

Went on a small audition trek last week and heard the following:

Tekton Double Impact SE (I was curious based on the posts/comments)
Magico S1 MKII
Magico S3 MKII
Devore Fidelity Orangutan 0/96
Wilson Audio Sabrina

The Wilson Sabrinas were not initially on my list, but when I stumbled across them while searching for Focal Sopra 2s, I couldn't resist.  The Sabrinas were very impressive.  In fact, after hearing the Magico S1 and S3, I went back to hear the Sabrinas a second time to confirm what I had heard.  They were initially driven by the ARC Ref6 preamp and the new ARC $30K monoblocks, but the second trip I asked if they could be driven by more economical equipment, so they used the LS28 and VT80.  The source was the dCS Rossini both times.  Because there was no A/B comparison of equipment, I really didn't notice any drop off in performance.  

The Sabrina's price point is my upper end, but I'd like to achieve a no stone unturned level of search/comfort before I pull the trigger.  Most brands are not easily accessible in Kansas City, but I'm willing to make the effort if justified.  Are there any other loudspeakers I should consider in this range?  I listen mostly to older rock, blues, jazz, and female vocals  Streaming with something like an  Aurender A10 will be my primary source.  My goal is to decide on the loudspeakers for this system, and work backwards into the components.  That'll be a future question.  Appreciate your time and help.
kcpellethead
prof
1,741 posts
 
kcpellethead,

I’m looking forward to your view of the JA Perspective speakers. I believe I’ll be ordering a pair soon after an extensive bunch of speaker auditioning. But then, they fit the criteria I’m juggling, one of which is to downsize from a larger speaker due to my listening space. The Perspectives are designed to sound bigger than they look, especially in terms of bass, but I still doubt they will upend your desire for the Sabrinas, given you seem pretty smitten. (And I’d think the Sabrinas by sound more authoritatively larger).

The main thing that grabs me about the Joseph Audio sound is the purity of tone, the utter lack of any grain or electronic haze. Instrumental tone and timbre just seems to come through like looking at colorful pebbles and flora through a perfectly clean stream. If something like that grabs me, I find it hard to give it up.
ladok's avatar
ladok
64 posts
 
The Devore O/96 requires a fairly large listening space and the ability to sit a reasonable distance from the speakers. They do fine along the long wall of my16 by 21 room about 9 feet from my seat, but they sounded even better in the dealer's room, which was twice the size. Obviously speakers are a very personal experience, as evidence by some of the reactions in this thread to the Devore. I've owned about 20 brands of speakers and the O/96 is by far my favorite.
curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
143 posts
 
Thanks for the info kcpellethead, 

I'm hoping to get up that way before the baseball season is over and to check out an audio store or three.

JD
kcpellethead OP
40 posts
 
@prof 

Reading your description of the desirable properties of the Joseph Audio gets me excited to hear them.  My appointment is tomorrow afternoon.
prof
1,741 posts
 

kcpellethead,

Don’t forget if you aren’t happy with the Perspective’s sound at first (tonal balance or whatever) to experiment with seating distance, spread, toe in etc.

Due to their crossover/driver design, they remain very coherent even up close so you can sit closer to the JA speakers than some of the other designs you are looking at.

As I said, I doubt they will supplant the Wilson speakers for you, but you’ll probably notice some nice aspects to the Perspective’s sound. Their sense of detail tends to not come from pushing detail at you so much as just being clean and clear. The exact nature of hall ambiences, reverbs used in recordings etc really comes through on the Perspectives due to their "low haze" factor.   (Of course if you sit too far from any speaker, even the perspectives, the reflected room sound can overwhelm such a feature in a speaker).

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