Wilson Sasha, SF Amati Anniversario, Thiel CS3.7

One thing I would be on the lookout for in an audition is what amplifiers are being used with the particular speakers. Unsound is absolutely correct that you get the speaker that sounds best to you, but if you have a low-powered tube amplifier and the speaker you're listening to requires a powerful solid state amp to sound its best, you'll need to factor the possibility that you might have to buy a new amp into your buying decision. Perhaps the dealer giving the audition has a number of amps that you could listen to with the speakers in question. In addition, if you have space or placement constraints in your listening environment, you might take note of where the dealer has the speakers placed in the room, how far from the walls they might need to be, how big a room is used, etc.

Otherwise, I would bring my favorite discs/records with me to the audition, not necessarily the best sounding but the ones I love to listen to, and see how they sound on the speakers. Each of these speakers is an excellent one, and each will have its strengths and weaknesses and its own particular sound. Rather than trying to analyze different aspects of the presentation from the speakers, I'd suggest that you just try to listen for the one you feel sounds right to you, that connects you best to the music. That's really what you want, when you come down to it.

In my honest opinion: Wilson Sasha

Thanks guys for the replies. Yes, I intend to upgrade my speakers and amp together. I will be auditioning these three at 2 different dealers. At the first dealer, I will be listening to the Thiel CS3.7 paired with Parasound JC2 pre and JC1 power amps.

At the 2nd dealer, I'll be able to compare head-to-head the Amati Anniversario and Sasha. They will be paired with ARC Ref 3 preamp and Ref 210 monoblocks.

As for my listening space, it's 18 feet wide and 30 feet long. So I don't think I'll have any space/placement constraints.

I have demoed the Thiel 3.7 a number of times and I feel they are one of the best buys in high-end audio. I have demo the Sophia for a few hours but only heard a few songs on the Sasha.

What the Thiel have that make them stand out is they have a very wide ever dispersion. This gives them a very solid sound stage and imaging. It also makes them some what more flexible than many speakers as far as placement goes. The other nice thing about having a wide even dispersion is you can use less toe in (if you have a wide room) which will make the sound stage wider than if they were toed in.

They are also time alined and this will translate to more accurate timbres. But you need to sit 8-12 feet depending on how far your speakers are apart.They also have razor flat tonal balance.


As for the Wilson line (again I have very limited time spent with the Sasha) you will gain bass punch, slam if you will but you will give up other things to get there. They will not be time and phase alined (once you have it you will always want it). The Watt Puppy 8s (Sasha?) dispersion is also not as even though out the frequency range as the Thiel's. You often here people say 0.5" either way can make a break a wilson from being good to outstanding...

In the end all the speakers you listed are VERY good and it comes down to personal preference. The Thiels are the best buy IMO but I could see why someone would choose the Wilson... They have more body and an slight inner warmth that the Thiel 3.7s lack. Thiel are nothing but the truth like it or not.

Time-align in the Thiels is a kind of a "myth". Yes, they are time aligned, but ONLY for one, defined distance from the listener. Move closer to the speakers, or away from the speakers, and you loose the time-align. I'm not sure if Thiel gives the exact distance at which the speakers are time aligned - probably not, since they do not want to scare the customers.

Sasha on the other hand is true time aligned, since you can adjust the tweeter/midrange driver distance to the listener by tilting its upper module.

I'm not a big beliver in time-align myself, just wanted to give some more details, since you went so far in describing the allaged technical superiority of the Thiels.