About the new Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy 8

Hifimaniac -

I read your "David vs. Goliath" review.

So pretty much you're saying that the Caravelles sound better than the MAXXs in your 13 x 18 ft room....

That's like trying to drive a Farrari on a 10 foot track, you'd be better off with a go-kart.

13 x 18 is order-of-magnitutde WAY too small for the Wilson MAXXs. They are a big speaker, and require a big room, should be 16 x 25 or so minimum for the MAXX.

small room -> small speaker will sound better, it doesn't matter which one

Goatwuss, if you read the review I stated what you are stating! I had the MAXX in my old room 17 X 28 (in CA) and they sounded great, but the Caravelle still is a more musical sounding speaker with a better tweeter than the MAXX 1. The MAXX 2 tweeter is better, but there was no comparison on the high end; the Caravelle sounded better and the vocals more natural. The Wilson speaker is too lean sounding for my taste now after hearing a better midrange. The Caravelle is a superb speaker; however, I like big band and full, dynamic classical and it failed me on certain pieces I like even with a sub. In a smaller room, it would have been fine. I found the perfect speaker in size and dynamics for my room and it is the Zu Definitions. I have owned the MAXX for five years and the Watt/Puppy 5.1's before. For the money, the Zu's can't be beat...Anyone thinking of the Watt/Puppy 8 should demo a pair of Definitions for 60 days with no risk return policy. It is worth the shipping costs if you're going to save $21k. By the way, if you read the Stereophile review of the MAXX they talk about how good they sound in a small room about the size of mine; don't believe them. Finally, comparing Wilson's to a Ferrari is a slap to Dave Wilson who builds a very high tolerance product that will last a life time unlike Ferraris that have to be dealt with on a regular basis.

Hi Hifi -

Sorry, I must have missed that line. It looked a lot like you were saying "The caravelles are a better speaker because they soujnd better than the MAXXs in a small room." If what you were saying is "the caravelles have a better high-end than the MAXXs did even when they were in a large room" than that is meaningful.

Sometime in the next five years I will be looking for my reference speaker in the up-to-$15k price range, and both the Zu Definitions and the Wilson Sophias are on my list, along with a small handful of others including Audio Note and Merlin.

You say - "By the way, if you read the Stereophile review of the MAXX they talk about how good they sound in a small room about the size of mine; don't believe them."

Don't worry, I don't believe anything that Stereophile says ( :

The description of design price changes are accurate...as I understand them. Recently I purchased the Sophia 2s...not the 7s, since I was aware...or suspicious that there was going to be an model change in the near future. If that wasn't the case I would have gotten the 7s....but will get the 8s instead. Against many other speaker models I felt that Wilson seems to handle all the real world tradeoffs that a speaker faces with the best balance of all the ones I listened to....They, for me in my room, provide the best reproduction of 1/2-15ips recordings I made with a stereo Neumann mike. While no speaker is perfect and no speaker can replace a live performance...Wilson's designs seem to provide smooth power response with correct time information...and thus do an excellent job....the list of other speakers with that capability is very short...IMHO. Given their performance and quality of construction and ruggedness I think Wilson prices are fair...remembering this is an elite product (part of my background includes managing the design and manufacture of loudspeakers)...it costs a great deal to take the last few steps towards Nth performance...which is what I sought....