I am not a box speaker fan, WIlson fan or ss fan. (Ok Steve's Wilson Alexandria is of course in a class by itself.). The Wilson Sasha was in a room that makes nearfield listening a must. JS Audio Bethesda, MD. System-Meridan Sooloos-Boulder amp and preamp and the Wilson Sahsa. Not sure about the cables, Appeared to be the Cardas Goldedn Reference. I am like Myles. I have to evaluate the entire system. My belief is in the end yo are listening to the speaker. If you have a large CD collection the way to go is a Music Server. Just insert your CD in the bottom of the picture screen. It will upload you CD in a matter of minutes. You can listen to another music selection while you do this. You can also download Hi rez from the internet. Steve you could trade your PD for this. The Sooloos called no attention to itself.
The Sasha was the same color as Steves Wislon. I think. Steve knows the speaker color changes according to the available light. Nearfield listening puts a damper on imaging. I am sure in a big room the Sasha will throw a deep soundstage.Vertical imaging was excellent.
SS is boring to me. The Boukder was everything you would expect. Powerful, smooth and nice. Vocals were vg. Bass was excellent. Highs were smooth and extended. Everything you would expect from a system bucking up against $100k. Oh BTW before turning on the Sooloos I listened to the Meridian CD player. Every bit as good as the Sooloos.
You would think that a company as good as Wilson did not have much room for improvement. IMO they have recently made huge steps froward. The first step to improvement is to admit you're not perfect. Did you hear that digittalfiles?
Okay nowforthe hard part.
What's better?$50k NOLA Baby Grand Reference. Magico Q5, WIlson SAHSA? Yikes! Whoda thunk there would be such hot competition in that hot price category. Becasue the NOLA is open baffle you'd think that would be my choice. The Wilson has no obvious box colrations. The Magico does, but they is nothing to get upset about. Why don't I save my opinion until I hear the NOLA in person.