Amplifier advice for Wilson Sophia speakers

I listen at fairly loud levels as well but also like to have great sonics at low levels for quiet listening nights after working too hard. :-) So I asked one of the audiogon pros for their advice...

Albert Porter guided me to VTL MB450s. These were an excellent choice for my room and preamp (a new Audio Research LS26) and Purist Audio Cabling. Sources include Ayre CX7e, Linn LP12 (all current updates through end of 2006).

FYI: I purchased a new pair of Wilson Audio Sophia Series 2 speakers in Oct 2006.

Happy Listening!

I heard Pass Labs X.5 series behaves like a class A at low volume. How low a volume must it be? I usually listen in the range of 70-85 db. Secondly why stop at such lowly 250W X250.5? Wouldn't an X600.5 sounds better? I heard power doesn't have to be for loudness. It also means more juice for non-woofer components to do their thing. Both Sophia and Watt Puppy are rather large speakers as well.

hmmm, I would say around 47-50 db, it will be in Class A operation.(also depends on source, cd, xrcd, Sacd, voltage of the cd player, recording.....) X250.5 will give first 35 watts in Class A mode. This is for sure, than, if you raise volume (-55 db ) it will switch to AB when it needs realy a bass slamm. If the meter of X250.5 starts shaking time to time, it means bias is not fixed, amplifier needs to switched to AB.
X600.5 will sound better with more demanding speakers from Wilson range, but not with sophias. Building a Hi-End setup is tricky thing:In this case, If I could find substantialy better amplifier, I would have bought it. (cost is no object , even my speaker cable is expensive as my Pass Amplifier)
I hope this helps.

failry loud levels? most likely the pass 250.5 may not do it for you. the next one up, the pass x350.5 is capable of bringing more to the sohpias [are they the original version or the 2's?] the x350.5 puts out 50 wpc class a, which will probably give you beautiful quality for low and med low listening volumes. you will need the power of the 350 wpc if you require moderately loud listening levels without strained bass. keep in mind, the sophia doesnt extend down to the very bottom end as a full range speaker does. you may want to look into source and cables that excell at tight bass response otherwise you may find yourself pushing up the volume in an attempt to get the depth that the speakers are not designed to give. sub woofer may help in that area. IMO, if you achieve a tight lower end and excellent upper bass clarity, you may find yourslef listening at lower volumes as the clarity will be there.
i also suggest emailing vtl and arc and pass directly. they all will respond with suggestions within your pricerange. then do a followup call. i have found all 3 companies very available, especially vtl and pass. i dont think the vtl st150 will give you enough power. i also dont think the arc ls 16 will give you the clarity you wish to hear with mostly accoustic instruments. i have little familiarity with BAT.

with the sophia, you may want to look more towards a s/s amp and a tubed preamp. the s/s amp, or a hybrid amp, may get the best out of the mid bass of these speakers. i found that true when i auditioned the sophia 2's and an all arc amp/pre, the pass x350.5 amp excelled $ for $. i also agree with previous comments that the x.5 is a better mate for the sophias than the x250 (or x350), especially the original version. cheers.

I have the Sophia 1's in a similar room. My room, however needs a significant amount of power to adequately pressurize the space with lifelike bass. The bass characteristics of your room need to be a primary issue in your choice.
The Sophias LOVE tubes. If your room is easy to pressurize, the Audio Research VT 100 will be a good choice. I needed more power and picked up a demo pair of Audio Research VM-220's. A gorgeous combination of accurate tonality , great. huge stage and great bass. I had a Cary V-12 with 50 triode watts and 100 watts ultra-linear. Small scale music was gorgeous with the 50 triode watts, but large scale performances never achieved life-like scale with 100 tube watts.
I was never able to audition a Macintosh amp with the Sophias but one of the customer service guys at Wilson Audio felt his favorite combo with the Sophias was a tube pre-amp and a MAC power amp.
I felt the Pass X250.5, while good, lacked the tube magic that my Audio Research Monos have.
The only solid state amps I auditioned that I liked a lot were the Jeff Rowland
201 mono-blocs. They are slightly recessed in the high frequencies, which, depending on the characteristics of your room can be a great match. The Sophias tend to be "revealing" in the high frequencies so careful matching is the key to the phenomenal realism they are capable of producing. Listen to many amps and the proper choice will be obvious.