Wilson Sophia2, Watt/Puupy 8, differences?


Ok, so I've auditioned both of these speaker systems (twice no less) and yes, the W/P 8's go deeper in the bass. Yes, the W/P 8's are a little bit more exciting because of their larger dynamic range. I was surprised by how well the Sophia2's did though considering they're half the price of the W/P 8 system. The midrange on both of these guys was very similar. Vocals sounded good on both. I'd love to hear from others out there the pros/cons of these two speakers. The Sophia2 is definitely better bang for the buck. On a Cd that i'm intimately familiar with, the bass on the W/P 8's shook the walls of the room, the Sophia's didn't. The upper end as far as I can remember sounded pretty unmemorable. That is it sounded about right. I would still give the edge in the upper end to the Focals I demoed a couple of weeks ago, their Berilyum tweeter implementation was top notch. Any advice???
baraeryo
Wow, those measurements are some of the worst I've seen. Anyway, back to topic. I'm going to upgrade the amp in the future. I'm also considering using the Wilsons as both a 2ch and 2ch HT system.
Tvad:

Atkinson's measurements: yes and no. My initial set of measurements reflected the general frequency response shape seen in his anechoic measurements, but the aberrations were less severe. I measured with the speakers set up on sliding glass doors (not a good idea, but listening positions in my listening room are very limited). The speakers were also powered by my VAC 70/70, which is a triode tube amp that I run with zero feedback and which can thus be expected to measure bizarrely due to impedance interactions. I reported my measurements in the following thread:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1204289616&openusid&zzRaquel&4&5#Raquel

For aesthetic reasons, the final position for my Fremonts is on a solid wall and they measure quite differently there. I run them with either a VAC 70/70 or a darTZeel. With the darTZeel, the midrange measures flat within 2-3 db. from approximately 200 Hz. to 6,000 Hz., with only one exception: Atkinson measured a bizarre suckout of 25 db. centered at 4,000 Hz. With the darTZeel, I measured a suckout of approximately 5 db. near the same point. Atkinson also measured a dip of approximately 10 db. at 200 Hz. With the darTZeel, the response was down approximately 5 db. from 160-200 Hz. Atkinson measured a roll off above 4,000 Hz. of approximately 5 db., both anechoically and in Larry Greenhill's listening room. With the darTZeel, my response is down 3.5 db. at 3.15 kHz., but otherwise basically flat to 8,000 Hz., with a gentle rolloff from 12,000 Hz. to 20,000 Hz. My measurements with the VAC 70/70 and the speakers on the solid wall are pretty similar to the darTZeel-powered measurements, but ultimately a bit less linear.

While the frequency response measurements are what they are, many argue that other measurements are far more important than frequency response, and I subjectively prefer the Escalantes to the Salons, Dynaudios, V.A. Mahlers, Dunlavys and Ultimate Monitors that I owned previously. The Fremont is a complex design and I leave it to "Audio Oracle", who worked at Singer and Innovative in Manhattan for many years and who as a result has probably heard, sold and installed as much gear as anyone, to describe their strengths and weaknesses in the above referenced thread.

My sincere apologies for the diversion, but I recommend the Fremonts in good faith - I cannot hear their foibles, while I can hear (as can many others) the problems with the titanium tweeter in the WattPuppy and Sophia.
Thank you, Raquel. Have the Fremonts replaced the Zu Audio Definitions which you also own(ed)?

My only experience with the Fremonts was at a couple of audio shows in 2006. I recall they were used in Modwright's room when Dan was introducing the LS36.5 preamp. At that time, several glowing reviews of the Fremonts had recently been published. I couldn't understand what the fuss was about as I thought they sounded quite average. But, that can be the nature of audio shows.
Tvad: I have never owned Zu's. The Fremonts replaced AudioMachina (Karl Schumann) Ultimate Monitors, which were a fantastic speaker that simply didn't work in my new listening room.

07-22-08: Raquel
Tvad: I have never owned Zu's.
Right. I had you confused with another member. Sorry.