Wilson Audio and Soulution amplification - a match in heaven or a pairing from hell?

There are synergistic combinations known in the industry, where speakers and amps appear to harmonize particularly well, such as:

- Magico and Soulution
- Wilson and D’Agostino
- B&W and Classé
- Sonus Faber and Audio Research
- Harbeth and Pass Labs

So what about other combinations? I’m particularly interested in Wilson and Soulution synergy, any experiences?

What I could imagine on the pro side is, that
- Soulutions can drive Wilsons very well, as there are other more difficult to drive speakers they mate well with
- the amps’ ultra high frequency tech (up to 800 mHz) will not be exaggerated by the Wilson coated silk tweeters (up to 30 kHz)

What I could imagine as potential cons are
- Soulutions are a bit darker sounding, and Wilsons tend to be strong in bass - is there a risk of the sound getting too dark

Please share your thoughts, if you like.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

you thinking of buying a set of Wilsons? :D

Why not? Just playing with ideas so far.

But to be honest, most ideas remain just such, as there is currently nothing I would like to change in the sound. Any mod is likely to result in different at most, rather than better.

Biggest change this year has been switching to Qobuz sublime [emoji3].


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

There is a gentleman on WBF who runs this combo. I believe his (username) is Marty.

He has made several posts about this combination.

That being said, are you concerned bout the resolving power and neutrality of Soulution electronics being "lost" in Wilsons?

Example, I've always thought of Wilson as a more darker and less neutral speaker than a Magico as an example.

Miguel, that kind of summarizes my question.

My understanding of Wilsons is similar, definitely darker, more sonore than e.g. Magicos. Also, less resolving capability.

What you typically do, is bring in the different desired traits through a combination of components in the system. I’m wondering whether Wilson and Soulution add too much of similar characteristics.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

Miguel, that kind of summarizes my question.

My understanding of Wilsons is similar, definitely darker, more sonore than e.g. Magicos. Also, less resolving capability.

What you typically do, is bring in the different desired traits through a combination of components in the system. I’m wondering whether Wilson and Soulution add too much of similar characteristics.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

---

I agree.

That being said, are you looking for a different type of sound with Wilson?

Their design goals are clearly different than a Magico or YG. If we speak to the big 3 "High-End" American made loudspeakers.

However, the time distortion of Soultuion amps are so good low, maybe on a bigger Wilson DAW and above (to my understanding) where you can adjust the time-delay to your listening position.

It might be very special indeed.

Or, this could all be marketing? I'm curious to hear a modern Wilson myself.

My last experiences were the Sophia 3 (Metal tweeter) and Alexia 1.

I think there is member who runs Audionet Humboldt with Sabrina X.

If there was an amplifier that is similar to Soulution , I'd say it is that.

Perhaps they will chime in on this thread.

The entire topic of pairings creates a lot of confusion in the marketplace. Magico and Soulution is good, but I feel Magico and Boulder is better, much better. There are some pairings to stay away from.

B&W and Luxman and B&W and Sim are excellent. The new Classé gear looks nice. Can’t comment on the pairing with the newer Classe stuff - yet. [emoji6]

Not sure about Harbeth and Pass. Prefer Harbeth and Luxman. Pass and Magico is superb.

I also think the pairings are a bit a question of taste as well. And there might be a dealer perspective to it also [emoji3]. Magico develops with Soulution, Pass and Harbeth is a classic.

But for Wilson it appears to be difficult to get a lots of comments here, as this used to be such a strong Magico community.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mdp632

That being said, are you looking for a different type of sound with Wilson?

---

That’s exactly the point: I’m not looking for a different sound. On the contrary, I’m very happy with my sound. Just experimenting with different ideas occasionally.

It was the same with Lansche and Magico. I was very happy with Magicos, but when I went to pick up my first pair of Magicos, I heard a very nice Lansche demo. From that point onwards it was clear to me, that I will at some point buy speakers with the Corona tweeter.

Then again Wilson is one of the very top speaker manufacturers. At some point I will probably have Wilsons. Just not sure whether it will be with Soulution electronics though.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Is this thread going to be another Heisenberg mono blocks dealio or are you serious about buying a pair of Wilsons and a new amp? Which Wilson speakers are you looking at purchasing?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mep

Is this thread going to be another Heisenberg mono blocks dealio or are you serious about buying a pair of Wilsons and a new amp? Which Wilson speakers are you looking at purchasing?

---

Should you not know how to read, I’m asking the question whether anyone has experiences with a Wilson/ Soulution pairing.

Please let me know in case you’d like me to clarify further.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

I also think the pairings are a bit a question of taste as well. And there might be a dealer perspective to it as well [emoji3]. Magico develops with Soulution, Pass and Harbeth is a classic.

But for Wilson it appears to be difficult to get a lots of comments here, as this used to be such a strong Magico community.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

---

Yes, dealer opinion matters, but I try to be objective. As for Soulution, Magico actually has a room (think office size) full of electronics that they use to voice with. It’s quite the growing collection of goodies - including Soulution.

I’ve owned Wilson Alexia’s and my struggles over a 1+ year period were well documented. I encounter Wilson owners looking to switch to Magico regularly and I’m sure Wilson dealers encounter Magico owners looking to switch to Wilson too. It’s all good. There is plenty of room for everyone.

We have a lot of Wilson owners here and that’s great. The company is in good hands with Darryl and has a long history like so many in the industry. I think whether one likes Wilson or Magico or some other speaker comes down to obviously personal preference, but also room, music tastes, matching equipment, etc. There is no doubt that Wilson’s are voiced very differently from Magico’s. Setup for both is quite different. They show with completely different music styles. I have sat through dozens and dozens and dozens of Wilson demos. You will hear a lot of classical. The mid bass bump in voicing helps give those cellos and violins an added “richness”. But on a stand up bass in jazz, that can be troubling - in the wrong room. That has been my finding. Again, it all depends on the music you listen to and the friendliness of your room. We don’t have to get into the driver technology of the two, their respective positions on time alignment/misalignment or appearances - that’s been well documented. Some of that matters to a buyer, some of it doesn’t. I could happily make a M2 or Sasha DAW work in my room. For me, the Alexia was just the wrong speaker in the wrong room. Period.

Let’s also remember, there are lots of great speaker brands out there and lots of great ways to get great sound. So many always focus on Wilson or Magico. But there are lots of folks out there who love the sound of horns or dipoles or whatever.

But to answer your question, I think Soulution would be fine with Wilson and I definitely don’t think they are “too alike”.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

Should you not know how to read, I’m asking the question whether anyone has experiences with a Wilson/ Soulution pairing.

Please let me know in case you’d like me to clarify further.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

---

I did read what you said and when asked if you were thinking of buying a pair of Wilson speakers you replied "Why not?" So which Wilson speakers are you "thinking" about?

Thanks Mike. As always, your vast experience shines through in your responses [emoji3].

As an audiophile, I’m in a good bad spot right now. My sound is superb, so I don’t therefore need a change. But then again, I occasionally have an itch to experiment. But if I do it, I’d like to do it w/o losing what I do have today.

I would also think rather Sasha DAW for my relatively modest room, rather than Alexia. Also the backport remains a question mark. Lansches, like Magicos, do not have any. I’m therefore also intrigued about about the M2s, as there would definitely be a good synergy with my current system. Also MBL 101 mk2’s would be intriguing, but would require a complete system overhaul.

Regarding electronics, I always also liked the tank build quality of T+A HV components, and the AudioNET Humboldt might allow to tip a toe in the water, before making a complete shift. So many options, so little time [emoji3].


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mep

I did read what you said and when asked if you were thinking of buying a pair of Wilson speakers you replied "Why not?" So which Wilson speakers are you "thinking" about?

---

Ok, sure. As just indicated to Mike, should I seriously consider Wilsons, I think the Sasha DAW’s would be the right size for my room.

And I have been reading/ hearing positive things about them. I think Darryl has done a good job with them.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike

B&W and Luxman and B&W and Sim are excellent. The new Classé gear looks nice. Can’t comment on the pairing with the newer Classe stuff - yet. [emoji6]

---

One pairing I also liked was B&W with Naim. The best I have heard the previous series B&Ws was with Naim.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

One pairing I also liked was B&W with Naim. The best I have heard the previous series B&Ws was with Naim.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

---

Yes, we have the 300DR with PSU and the 252/SuperCap-DR and NDX2/XPS-DR in the store and love to pair it with lots of speakers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike

Yes, we have the 300DR with PSU and the 252/SuperCap-DR and NDX2/XPS-DR in the store and love to pair it with lots of speakers.

---

If you have speakers which enjoy a bit of low-end support, also Naim can do that,


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wilson/ARC is a pretty classic pairing. While Marty likes his Wilson/Soulution pairing, note his sources which are quite a bit different tonally. Atypical combo if you ask me.

Vandy with ARC/Ayre, B&W and SF (and JBL prob too) w/ McIntosh, Sim + Dynaudio, Focal + Naim, Avalon + Spectral are some others.

Having owned a pair of Wilson Alexias for about 5 years, I found the setup was critical to get them to sound at their best. The port in the rear of the speaker makes it a requirement for the speaker to be setup away from the front wall. The ability to setup the tweeter and the midrange individually made a significant difference and helped fine tune the speaker to the room and the listening position. And, these adjustments helped get the speaker to a pretty good level of coherency.

In terms of good to excellent Wilson-“Brand X” electronics: (based on listening sessions)
- ARC
- D’Agostino
- Constellation
- VTL (somewhat popular but not my cup of tea)

Not so good was a Wilson-Rogers combination I heard at a show a few years ago.

Lastly, haven’t heard Wilson with Soulution, Audionet, CH Precision or DartZeel.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

Why not? Just playing with ideas so far.

But to be honest, most ideas remain just such, as there is currently nothing I would like to change in the sound. Any mod is likely to result in different at most, rather than better.

Biggest change this year has been switching to Qobuz sublime [emoji3].


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

---

Are you able to get a home demo?

You will know pretty quickly as the Wilson tweeter certainly would not be as resolving as the Lansche, but it may be easier to get along with more types of music.

Your Solution would have no issues driving and controlling the Wilsons and you will probably get more bass weight.

sounds like fun.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ritmo

Having owned a pair of Wilson Alexias for about 5 years, I found the setup was critical to get them to sound at their best. The port in the rear of the speaker makes it a requirement for the speaker to be setup away from the front wall. The ability to setup the tweeter and the midrange individually made a significant difference and helped fine tune the speaker to the room and the listening position. And, these adjustments helped get the speaker to a pretty good level of coherency.

In terms of good to excellent Wilson-“Brand X” electronics: (based on listening sessions)
- ARC
- D’Agostino
- Constellation
- VTL (somewhat popular but not my cup of tea)

Not so good was a Wilson-Rogers combination I heard at a show a few years ago.

Lastly, haven’t heard Wilson with Soulution, Audionet, CH Precision or DartZeel.

---

Years ago I heard a demo of the Sophia III with a Dart 8550, which sounded vey good.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by XV-1

Are you able to get a home demo?

You will know pretty quickly as the Wilson tweeter certainly would not be as resolving as the Lansche, but it may be easier to get along with more types of music.

Your Solution would have no issues driving and controlling the Wilsons and you will probably get more bass weight.

sounds like fun.

---

I guess a home demo would be difficult. That would of course answer all the questions. But that is not so easy to arrange, as the larger models are quite substantial and proper setup takes a while with Wilsons.

Also, a Wilson tweeter would be no match for the Coronas, and the Ion top-end never sounds harsh. So I would not expect an upside in that area either.

As stated earlier, rationale of a change would be just to try out something different, rather than to really get better sound.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

wow, cool to see you looking at wilsons....theyr current line up are very satisfaying speakers! they pair well with almost any kind of amps. nothing compares to the lansche plasma tweeter though.
my-sound.net does have everything you need for that evaluation: brinkmann turntable and streamer, soulution 5er series, magico m2 and all the wilsons. take your cable with you and it will be as accurat as possible.
there is a review somewhere between m2 and daw....some preferred the daw but most the m2.
in your room the m2 will probably produce the better picture and will be much easier to set up.
they cost about 88k euro with the feets....the alexia2 is really better than daw and in about a year alexia3 will be released with the new capacitors, the incredible mid driver from the chronosonic xvx and all out of w material. i d wait for that model in that priceclass. you could spend the cash meanwhile on a everest powerconditioner. or alexias2 are available at great prices 2nd hand. very little difference vs daw. just thinking.

Thanks, appreciate your thoughts. I’ve seen the M2 and Alexia reference elsewhere as well.

In terms of swopping out the Lansches, I was mainly trying to understand whether Soulution would be a good match with Wilsons in general from their sound characteristic point of view. However, any thoughts related to changing anything would really be more about an itch to try out something new, rather than looking for a different sound. I’m very happy with the sound as it is.

As you say, in terms of the Corona treble the Lansches would be really hard to beat. So, for the moment they’re not going anywhere [emoji3].


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

well i am convinced the solutions would sound great, precise and well defined with wilsons in general, both beeing very well allround without any weakness.
it is more that it would be nice to add a second 511 in that case.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by u-sound

well i am convinced the solutions would sound great, precise and well defined with wilsons in general, both beeing very well allround without any weakness.
it is more that it would be nice to add a second 511 in that case.

---

Are you the member with Audionet Humboldt and the Sabrina x pairing?

If so, do you feel that incredible resolution of those electronics is "lost " if you will in the Sabrina x?

Compared to let's a Magico or Lansche speaker that the OP has.

Meaning the tweeter can give you much information and resolving power than the Sabrina x tweeter.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by u-sound

wow, cool to see you looking at wilsons....theyr current line up are very satisfaying speakers! they pair well with almost any kind of amps. nothing compares to the lansche plasma tweeter though.
my-sound.net does have everything you need for that evaluation: brinkmann turntable and streamer, soulution 5er series, magico m2 and all the wilsons. take your cable with you and it will be as accurat as possible.
there is a review somewhere between m2 and daw....some preferred the daw but most the m2.
in your room the m2 will probably produce the better picture and will be much easier to set up.
they cost about 88k euro with the feets....the alexia2 is really better than daw and in about a year alexia3 will be released with the new capacitors, the incredible mid driver from the chronosonic xvx and all out of w material. i d wait for that model in that priceclass. you could spend the cash meanwhile on a everest powerconditioner. or alexias2 are available at great prices 2nd hand. very little difference vs daw. just thinking.

---

Looks like 2021 will bring the Alexx Series 2 or X with the XVX trickle down technologies.

2022 Alexia Series 3 as you mentioned.

I think a limitation in tweeter resolution and the mid bass hump are factors that need to be taken in consideration when pairing Wilsons.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mdp632

There is a gentleman on WBF who runs this combo. I believe his (username) is Marty.

He has made several posts about this combination.

That being said, are you concerned bout the resolving power and neutrality of Soulution electronics being "lost" in Wilsons?

Example, I've always thought of Wilson as a more darker and less neutral speaker than a Magico as an example.

---

Never heard a WA sound darker than a Magico , two different type of presentations for sure but not dark at all ..

regards

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by a.wayne

Never heard a WA sound darker than a Magico , two different type of presentations for sure but not dark at all ..

regards

---

Sorry, I chose the wrong word from the audiophile lexicon :-)

That being said, to my ears and what I've heard in my limited exposure of the respective brands.

I've always found Magico to be more transparent and resolving of the upstream gear.

[QUOTE=mdp632;322366]Are you the member with Audionet Humboldt and the Sabrina x pairing?

If so, do you feel that incredible resolution of those electronics is "lost " if you will in the Sabrina x?

Compared to let's a Magico or Lansche speaker that the OP has.

Meaning the tweeter can give you much information and resolving power than the Sabrina x tweeter.[/QUOTE

no, iti s only the size that limits the sabrina (bass and max db) and the amps resources in terms of disortion free ohhmps.
the humboldt/sabrinaX is a wonderful combination, full of microdetail, colors and sparkling. ultra cohesive. everybody loved it.
that goes for mid level volume. at higher volume it is still good but that free feeling disapears. you will turn back the volume to the sweet spot, the disortion free spot. that said, the room is big, 120sqm, so the same thing in a smaller room would help.
i would really love to connect a lansche or M-magico to enjoy and compare.
there is an outstanding magico/soulution dealer only minutes away....scroll down and enjoy
soundloft_zurich
i was there and it was great apart from the pricelist. the good news is, imho, both the m-models and the newer wilsons have such a high quality without any weakness. afford what you can and prefere or look for your best deal, there is no risk soundwise. it is not like 5 or more years ago, s-model vs sasha1 etc. where both brands sounded shrill.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mdp632

Looks like 2021 will bring the Alexx Series 2 or X with the XVX trickle down technologies.

2022 Alexia Series 3 as you mentioned.

---

my dealer ordered the alexx2 and it shouldnt be much more time.
about alexia3 i was just guessing. however, both very mouthwatering. thinking about how my wife would react on the alexx2 proposal...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by u-sound

my dealer ordered the alexx2 and it shouldnt be much more time.
about alexia3 i was just guessing. however, both very mouthwatering. thinking about how my wife would react on the alexx2 proposal...

---

She'll probably love it - at least good for a new vehicle, some nice jewelry/clothes and a first class vacation!

Alexx2? Has there been an announcement?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

i think these days they announce it when the dealers are equipped.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike

Alexx2? Has there been an announcement?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

---

There was a teaser add in The Absoulute Sound that just arrived.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike

Alexx2? Has there been an announcement?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

---

Steep price increase from what I’ve heard.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KeithR

Steep price increase from what I’ve heard.

---

how much?
way above my budget anway but i can buy the demo unit for 50% in 3 years time.

My wife loved my Alexx purchase ... she actually reminded me of it just today when she went to her favorite jewelry store to pick up some goodies ... talk about the gift that keeps on giving ...

George