Watt/Puppy 7 or Sophia?

I think the JC-1 should make both speakers sing
I've never heard the amp.. (cough..) but
this guy (Fremmer?) at the Stereophile highly recommended the Pass X-160 to the WP7s and he recalled the closest competition to the X-160 was the JC-1.. (if I remember right)

either way, good luck and happy listening ~!

I would never buy Watt Puppies w/o a careful audition. They are an acquired taste & not everyone's cup of tea. I had the WP 6's for a year or two and could never get the highs to stop sounding buzzy, and vocals were terribly screwed up, like a tinny transistor radio. Remember that was the 6's, not the 7's, so I can't speak for those. The bass, however, was phenomenal on the WP 6's: unobtrusive, "just-there", extremely detailed, never overbearing even at close listening range. I still long for the Wilson bass.
I wish Dave would put a softer tweeter in the Watts, maybe a ribbon. Or maybe he should try the ribbon supertweeter approach like Albert Von Schweikert uses in the smooth-as-silk VR9s. Dave Wilson would have one heck of a speaker if he could just get those highs and upper mids on a par with the bass, IMHO. (Watt Puppy 8 someday?)

Thanks for your responses guys.
As I have stated, I will listen to the 7's in the next week or so. I will do an A/B comparison with the Sophia's.
The issue I'm having is listening to these speakers with the system I have put together.
Onhwy61, I agree with your point, so that's why I'm trucking the jc-1's and the Capitole to a fellow audiophile's place to voice my system on his Sophia's. I won't be able to do this with the 7's. The dealer I have been using for Wilson is in the States and I'm in Canada. I think it will be a real hassle for him or for me to get the amps or speakers over the border to listen to this system. Yes I could go to Toronto, but I would rather not drive 4 hours with this equipment to do so in that traffic.
That's why I'm trying to use the collective knowledge of the 'Gon to come up with some idea of the synergy of this possible system.
Jeffjarvis,
I have to listen to the 6's (which may be impossible for me) so that's why I haven't considered them.
Bigsam2 and Hifimaniac,
Interesting point about the MAXX's. I listened to the MAXX2's the same day I listened to the Sophia's (at the insistence of my brother!) Clearly an amazing speaker- I could go that route, but I have to put a stop to this spending $ somewhere. I wonder how the 7's will compare to them- I guess I'll find out soon.
Jungsan,
Thank you for the reference to the Stereophile article- it would seem the Pass XA 160 has some sonic similarities to the jc-1's, at least according to MF. Perhaps by extrapolation this means the jc-1's will synergize as well with 7's as well as the Pass amp does. If I go this route in someways it will be somewhat of an educated guess to see whether this all works. An expensive guess too.
I am hopeful because currently my amps are getting broken in on Nautilus 802's at my in town dealer. I first heard these speakers using his Rotel monoblocks- the system sounded absolutely crappy- loud but no music. Well, I heard those speakers yesterday voiced through my system. It was like night and day. I thought B&W had sold out(I have 805 matrix) but they can still make a good speaker. I still feel the Sophia's outperform them and looking forward to hearing the 7's.

for their price they(the w/p) certainly aren't the last word in a lot of areas. the highs do sizzle compared to many other speakers that sell for much less and midrange is not only detailed buy almost in your face. if you have a huge music collection, get ready to frown at anything that isn't state of the art.

I own the 7s & have listened to the 6s & the Sophias. The 7s definitely have equipment that they favor. That being said they sound great with equipment they don't favor as well. They just sound incredible & beyond in a synergistic system. The Sophias are great as well but not as great. IMO if you are willing to upgrade along the way then you will notice your rewards w. the WP7s. If not then you can stay w. the Sophias. Allow me to confuse things more. The lack of bass might become an issue on the Sophias and less of an issue w. the WP7s. It really will depend on your listening. I will not sacrifice bass. To me it is the foundation of much of the music I listen to. A great speaker without extended bass should not cost a lot of money. Also if yo ucan see yourself purchasing a Watchdog subwoofer (truly an amazing subwoofer) then the bass situation will be solved w. the 7s & I assume (I haven't heard it though) the Sophias. If you really want to finish it up get the Maxx IIs. Also if the tweeter is to "hot" you can warm it up by positioning & angling the 7s & changing resistor values (not encouraged though). The Maxx IIs the resistor changes are more "normal" occurence. Hope I helped. Your ears will be better than any of my words.