Upgrading from Wilson Sophia 2's?


Currently using these in a 14x25 room. Enjoying them for the most part, but they can sound aggressive and make mediocre recordings sound like crap and be somewhat fatiguing. Iā€™m interested in trying something that is slightly more forgiving without sacrificing a lot of detail, air, dynamics, etc.

Any suggestions?

Associated equipment (preamps still in flux):

Amps
Pass XA 100.5 monoblocks

Preamps ā€“ Tube
Audio Valve Eclipse
Cary SLP-05

Preamps ā€“ SS
Fire H20
Wyred 4 Sound STP SE
Pass XP-20

Sources:
ModWright Transporter
Raven One TT / Triplanar / Dynavector XV-1s

Thanks.
madfloyd
I have found them more Aggressive then Fatiguing. But we all hear different and we all have different rooms. When I had my Maxx 2 they were to aggressive for me no matter what amps I used. But it all comes down to personal taste at this price point.

BTW I thought the Sophia II was Wilson's better speaker and in most rooms there best speaker.
Mtdking,

Please define aggressive as compared to fatiguing. Just curious what you hear. And for sure there is no speaker w. perfect highs.
Based on what you are looking for the Silverline Bolero speakers may be just perfect for you. They sound exactly like what you described in this thread.
See here for plenty of great alternative suggestions with no mention of Wilson Sophia. I like the last suggestion - Active PMC great detail but not fatiguing.

Well, I agree your room is certainly Dead!

A dedicated room is a great thing to have, so you should take advantage of it. I'm kind of surprised that your speakers are sounding aggressive in that room with all that "deadness" around you.

A couple of other points:

How old are your Speakers? Are they fully broken it yet?

You certainly need to dedicate one seating position for yourself, with the proper seat height at the midrange-tweeter axis. I assume you're sitting in the front row, correct?

I would recline the other chairs behind you when not in use, but I can't believe that would be your problem, nor do I think your screen is the problem, because your room is dead enough, any deader and I would think that we need to get "CSI" down there.

I also don't understand why you have to move the speakers back and forth for movies and audio only. It took me 3 weeks to setup my speakers, with laser pointers calibrated by NASA>.

You need to find the best listening position for the speakers and then you should try to work the screen around the speakers and not the other way around. Sometimes too much toe-in can sound a bit aggressive, even if you're off by a 1/4 inch for each speaker, then that could translate to a huge difference. Tape on the floor is not accurate enough in my opinion. I'm telling you..., even if I look at my speakers the wrong way, they sound different.

Another point that I agree with is that you should strongly consider demoing a Tubed Amplifier.

If none of this works, then I think you may need;
"NEW SPEAKERS.... NEW SPEAKERS....NEW SPEAKERS!!

Road Trip!

Rich