Listened to Wilson Sasha's last night.
 

I have heard most of the Wilson line and had the opportunity to include the latest version of the Sasha's last night. Although I always found Wilsons to be rather odd looking they always offer impressive performance. Unlike the Maxx III's the Sasha's are much smaller and look like a combination of the Sophias and the robot from the movie Black Hole.

Overall they were a rather impressive sounding speaker with full bottom end nice imaging and overall great performance. The only problem I have with them is their $28k asking price.

Figured i would share.

I've been considering some used Sophias based on reviews. I should get out there and listen to some. Although I think Wilsons are expensive, I look at Magico pricing and think maybe not.

IMO although the latest version of Sophias are a major improvement and a nice speaker although there is a lot on the market in that price range for less that are just as good. The latest version of the Sasha is a considerable jump in price but is a full redesign and major improvement. It does sit well within many price ranges with far superior sound over the Sophias and many other speakers costing more.

Listened to the Sasha's a month ago and it was not to my liking, i would be willing to say it was the setup , the room was not ideal IMO and i could not get over the ringing in the mid-range.


The prices for decent Hi-fi today is redonculous, I'm glad i don't have to go there...

Latest version? I actually found the new cabinets to reduce resonance to almost nothing. Didn't pick up on the ringing but i will be back Friday night for another go, the local rep will be there.

Will report back.

Brand new and supposedly setup by the man himself Peter Mcgrath..

The ringing was not cabinet , but mid-driver related, i had suggested the room was a bit too live for the setup, they disagreed , but the ringing was obvious, ( piano ) and was evident even 1 ft from the speaker.

Could have been a faulty driver, we will see ...

If you don't mind PMing me with more details I will be speaking with Peter tomorrow night. I would be interested in hearing both sides not to mention listening for the ringing you heard. Hopefully Jonathan Halpern from Tone Imports will be there too.

Being on my third set of Wilsons

Watt/Puppy and Levinson
MAXX with Halcro
Sophia with Levinson

The Wilson speaker is potentially bright with the wrong equipment and cabling.. The evolution of WP to Sasha's is a fabulous improvement .. The ringing maybe as simple as the amp and freq and or the cables

My finding is get a Tube based output.. and or a less bright AMP .. for me.. a Hybrid Amp is the way to go... Best combination to date (and subjective) is LAMM equipment with these speakers.. magical in the right room
Wilsons are not for everyone.. but to me.. one of the best value in High End when properly matched

good luck

Matt

Good info Matt. So you think Sophia 2's would be a good match with McIntosh MC275's? I have them mono blocked. McIntosh C2300 for pre.

wow.. there is a amp from the past.. sweet setup..what speakers do you have now ..?

I dont remember the watt/chan on the 275s.. but they do have both 4/8 ohm hook up options ??.. as the Sophia's at 87db .. I would try the 4-Ohm tap with the Sophia's.. this would be more inline with driving the speaker properly.. I think when positioned well.. toed in slightly and using the Wilson methodology .. I think you will be surprised at what your amp really sounds like..

I agree with what you say I am using a Shindo Masseto tube Pre with Accuphase class A amps which I find to be quite neutral. I found the Shindo to be a step up from the Lamm although unless you experience it most people find it hard to believe, also cabling is critical. After several listening sessions I am considering pulling the trigger

The amps have 4/8/16 ohm taps. 150 watts per side when mono blocked. They are the Mk V version, with modern binding posts. My current speakers are the Onix Strata mini, 86 dB @ 8ohms.

What color are you getting, Cobalt blue Sasha's .....? :)

Tony
Using 4ohm taps would be ideal.. that should be a very sweet combination..
as a side note.. I found using pure silver or gold interconnects had a negative impact.. again as we all know.. cables are subjective.. but I had more success with copper interconnects - balanced of course !!! :rockon:

Matt

I would not suggest you drive the Sash'a with a tube amp , or one that does not have an 2 ohm tap, The bass will be horrible.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/w...r-measurements


Looking at the measurements here the Sash's drop to 2 ohm in the critical bass region with an phase angle of 45 deg, this will cause you amp with it's 4 ohm tap to distort.

Stereophile:

"Sasha's plot of impedance magnitude and electrical phase (fig.1) reveals the speaker to be a demanding load for the partnering amplifier to drive. Not only does the impedance drop below 4 ohms for most of the lower midrange and upper bass, with a minimum value of 2 ohms at 86Hz, but there is also an amplifier-unfriendly combination of 3 ohms and –43° phase angle at 61Hz."


Being subjective, the reviewer did not have an issue ( he claims) when listening from the 4 ohm tap on his Art's Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks........



Stereophile:

A little too much energy is apparent at the top of the midrange; whether this will be perceived as a forwardness to the Sasha's balance, or whether the relative lack of energy in the presence region will be heard as a slightly laid-back quality, will very much depend on the music played. This graph was taken with the Sasha's grille removed..


This is how i had auditioned them with grille removed and the ringing in the upper middle was too much for me , granted , this can be tamed with cables a bit high in inductance ( no silver here) and or tube amplfiers with a soft top end.

This is why it is very critical for in house listening , to get the best from the setup , cables et al .

Stereophile:"

It took me longer than usual to comprehend what the Wilson Sasha's measurements were telling me. Some of the individual measurements raised my eyebrows a little, but taking in the entirety of the speaker's measurements, it becomes apparent that the Sasha is the result of its designer carefully balancing each parameter to achieve a good-sounding whole. And judging from not only Art Dudley's auditioning but also my own, the Sasha does achieve that goal. With the Sasha, David Wilson has finally eliminated the upper-bass "blump" endemic to earlier generations of the WATT/Puppy, and that I felt to be that otherwise excellent-sounding speaker's Achilles' heel. But its impedance is still going to mean careful auditioning with a would-be purchaser's amplifier, to see if the latter is up to the task of driving the Sashas.

—John Atkinson


Industry speak ..... ;)


Impedance graph, not tube friendly ..

All said and done I passed on the Sasha's. They are just too heavy and have too many idiosyncrasies. Proper tuning of the speaker is critical and after further consideration I don't think these are best suited for my room based on their size and needs. This is a speaker to buy for a completely dedicated room and at their price there is so much more I would consider if I decided to go that route.

It is my understanding they were voiced with the grills on which is how I auditioned them and I think they would be too bright without the grills. I wasn't concerned with impedance the accuphase can handle the loads these require although they would run hot. Although knowing Ken Shindo's product I doubt they would give his amps any issue but I actually prefer the SS with tube pre sound. After taking into consideration all that is required with setup and not sure my room will get over their needs it wasn't worth even going through the home audition. besides management still wants aesthetics as top of the list which isn't going to be easy. If I came home with an original pair of B&W Nautilus she would probably be OK with that.

I am in no rush when the right pair comes around I am ready. For now the system sounds quite good and I am adding a JL sub just to round things out until something better suited comes along. Gives me a good reason to start from A and work my way through my collection of LP's again.

Happy Holidays

The Accuphase will drive just about anything , so i was not concerned about the SS amp, tube ! ... Yes. Regarding government , i would take home a pr of avangarde trio's in yellow..:)

Imagine the leeway given to replace them ......:roflmao:

try some ml summit x
easy to drive, nice, smooth sound.
sashas need power like the gryphon antileon or soulution 720 or boulder 2050.

Wilson's to me are all hype. If you go to the web site its full of nonesense. X-material, thats Corian he uses. The guy is full of it. Tweeters are from Focal and he uses Focals inverted dome entry line. He could not get the Be tweeters that Focal uses on Electra and Utopia top of the line speakers. They claim now they "have found the best dome tweeter". Speakers are a ton of weight on cheap Home Depot casters. Avant garde they are but just hype. See how many are for sale at Audiogon, they that good no one would be selling them. I still got my 901's from college, thats avant garde!

Now I've heard it all, a Bose 901 owner trashing Avantgardes...like a Chevy Vega driver trashing GT3s.

Bose..!!!! I thought he was talking Porsche 901 ..:)

he was talking about BOSS 944!

Thats BOSS 924 .... :)

yes, yes........

No, no,no, guys you misread my post. Avant Garde like different, out of the ordinary. Not Avantgarde Audio. Read the post again, I did put a space between "Avant Garde". Secondly, I never mentioned "BOSE" just 901. I guess subliminal advertising or classical conditioning? Anyhow, no big deal guys just putting my two cheap cents in. How abot HUGO BOSE?

funny you mentioned chevy vega, drop a chevy 350 small block, now we talking:rockon:

You didn't have to mention Bose, we all know that's what you meant :)) We've all been there. Have you ever listened to Wilsons?

Using the same N3 spec Michelin PS2's is not going to make a Miata handle like a Boxster. There IS more to it than marketing hyperbole. There is a science to making P-cars different and delightful. It's not not all snake oil, and real audiophiles like real car guys know it's not only objective and quantifiable, it's discernible too.


Sophia 2, MC275 x2

Yes I have. The place that I bought my VTL amp ( Sound Components Miami Coral Gables) to drive my Magnepans 3.5 Ribbon speakers (sold 2006) had them. They had the Alexandria's and someone was listening to them. I was picking up a center channel for my system and I stayed around to hear them. Monsters they are in size but I don't have that type of money to spend on them. The sales person at the time told me to get better sound, I would have to jump in the $30K area with Wilsons to better my 3.5R's. My Focals are not cheap, I have two different sets. The 1008Be upstairs, 1028Be's downstairs with the matching Electra Subwoofer. The bookshelf with stands ran me $5600.00. The towers were $9500.00. The sub was $4500.00. The rest are in ceiling Focals not cheap either but I like quality stuff. I also had B&W 802's with the VTL MB-450's sold those also. No desire to buy any speaker or upgrade, Focals are it for me. Plus wife is had enough of speaker, amp, pre-amps, processors..etc. funny thing is she thinks that stuff is like $200.00 a piece! Talking about Wilsons, find out whom they get most of the drivers from? I will give you a clue, it's Focal! Look it up. They just changed out the tweeters they used to get from Focal (inverted dome aluminum) to a new supplier. Focal makes everything in house. Speakers, cones, furniture, the whole thing. I am passionate about Porsche and Focal.

Yep, Focal is good stuff.

I guess you missed the point of my analogy of Miata running Michelins PS2's to make it handle like a Porsche Boxster.

Yes I know Wilson uses many Focal drivers, so what? The sum of the other parts does not equate Wilson to an inflated Focal speaker. Wilson sounded more "there" to my ears. Although there might be something to be said for the Be tweeter, very ethereal and detailed orchestral violins. I auditioned Alto Utopia Be extensively before buying Sophia 2. I understand everyone has their own flavor which is what makes the world an interesting place. Pretty boring if everyone drove Porsche! I just came to defend the speaker maker I currently enjoy and share my own findings. I do not doubt Corian with a dab of Liquid Nails is in fact Material Z @ $5k sqft. Who really knows. I wanted to not to like Wilson. I really did. But then I had a good listen and was sold. Instead of listening to what salesman say, or magazines or intuition etc... I listen with my own ears YMMV

Sound components still there ....... ?

One is architecture guys .. :)

I just can't stand Dave Wilson and his snake oil rhetoric nature. Kind of a bull crap artist. Listen to that crap man!



Sound Components still there minus Wilson's don't know why. Guess they have to sell certain amount to be a dealer.

Dave's new speaker the Alexia , I bet he wants all of his press releases back ..

:)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexia_(condition)

at the end of the video, i'm sure he is talking about the 991.....:typing:

:roflmao:

Wilson built an empire on hype with the iconic Watt/Puppy and duped many other makers to copy them, all while the deaf and dumb keep coming back for upgrades. Don't Porschephiles do that too? Upgrade that is. Gee so many Porsche's for sale everywhere --they must suck :icon107: OTOH, since Porsche uses Bose, it must be the shiz!! I'm so confused. I better go roll a toobie. Bomp-she-bomp!!:bigbye:

Guess should cut the company some slack. At least it's an American company creating and maintaining jobs here. I should not be saying bad things about them. If I got a pair of Sophias I guess I could at least take them apart and use the Corian and make me a wet bar?

hahaha!