About the new Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy 8

Bartokfan,

I don't know which Wilsons you listened to but I own WP7s and have listened to(and about to receive) the Maxx IIs extensively. They really do show everything you put in. Maybe your Jadis was not a good combination. From my understanding everyone modifies their Jadis for this reason. Once modified they are supposed to be excellent but who knows I wasn't there. Maybe they weren't setup right. All I know is that tons of people own Wilsons & you seem to resent it. Yet anytime people here the recent generation Wilson speakers they tend to love or at least respect the sound. Maybe you are right and all the people who buy wilson speakers (which aren't so beautiful in my opinion compared to some other speakers out there) are deaf and only you can hear. All I know is when I listened to the Wilsons w. Levinson, Halcro or Naim or VTL or Krell I knew what I was hearing immediately and they all impossed their signature on the sound.

Hic,

There are no definites. If you are buying new I would purchase the new MB450 in a heart beat. They should be incredible. Also get the new 6.5 preamp. Make sure it is a brand new one as there are some changes. You will then be in hassle free heaven. Those are my biases. I would match preamp to amp in this case as you will benefit from the super balanced topology which is truly superb. It takes the sound up a level. If you don't run fully balanced you will miss out. Also the 6.5 preamp is a sleeper. It is affordable & sounds great. Don't mistake the synergy of the combination.

I haven't heard the ARC so no comment but every time I hear VTL equipment (or Manley for that matter) I recognize their sonic signature & love it.

Bartokfan once listened to Wilson speakers at a dealership 5 years ago, which makes him an expert.

Bartokfan - You are a riot!

I like to think that I'm not completely deaf, being a musician, (piano guitar and cello), going to symphonic and chamber music concerts regularly, but out of: Kharma, JM Lab, Dynaudio, Revel, Totem, B&W, Quad, Klipsch, Von Schweikert, Verity, god knows how many others... out of all these, the BEST STUFF (asin, made me forget about gear and hear music) that I have EVER heard, have come out of Wilson speakers.

Unless I hear something that I like better (unlikely, but possible) my next pair of speakers will be a brand new pair of Wilsons, pride of ownership and all.

Talk is big, and I'm "going for it," right?

Bartokfan:

You were probably talking about 5.1 or 6s back then---i agree they were fatiguing. The 6s drove me crazy and it didn't matter what electronics i heard them with---that tweeter was hot.

The Sophia broke that mold and has followed through with the W/P7 and Maxx2. I don't find any of the new models fatiguing. Honestly, its a very different sound and one you should hear for yourself before coming to a definitive conclusion.

KeithR