Amp/Preamp combo for Wilson Sophia 3's

The shortcoming of the Ayre with the Wilson combi is that the stage will not be very deep and wide. There is some wide and depth, but not first class. Wilson can give depth, but there are other brands with better crossovers. They can build a bigger and wider stage. With Pass Labs and Wilson the stage will become deeper and wider. I compared these two brands with eachother. The Ayre is very good in the high freq. But the Pass Labs will let you hear more layers of a recording. Also the mid freq are a lot more involving. I sold my X100.5 to a person with the Watt puppy7. It was one of the best combi's I ever heard with Wilson. Most of the time the endresults were average. This is maybe more possitive said than it was!!

I have had the pleasure of hearing an ARC SP-17 and Bryston 3B power amp to excellent results. Would love to see, I mean, hear an ARC reference pre-amp and a Bryston 3B SST/4B SST...

Bryston is not an amp which can give a deep and wide stage. Depth and wide are the most essential parts which need to be there in the world of highend. Wenn they are not there you play at a 2-dimensional level. I call 2-dimensional audio standard audio. Because a cheap amp of 100 dollar also can produce a 2-dimensional image. Wenn you have speakers like Wilson you would be a fool to choose for a 2-dimensional amp. Compare a Pass amp with a Bryston amp and you will hear how big the difference is in stage. It is that simple!

I agree, and I'm a Bryston user. It does sound a bit bare bones. I do like the detail it presents though.

I had many discussions with Pass Labs as well about there limitations. Pass Labs is very good in giving a deep and wide stage. But it still lacks the sharp and small individual focus of instruments and voices like they sound in real. But also how big they need ot be projected. So you need the right cables to creatre this. I sold my Nautilus 800S to a person with a Bryston 7B. This was a very good combo. An 800S cannot give a deep stage so in these situations an amp which can give a deep stage make no sence. You Always need to know what the properties are of the speaker you own. Only then you can look for the amps and sources which can give all these properties/ talents.