Reviews of all three speakers in the March hi-fi+
Indeed, while not a full review in his system, Chris Martens puts it in no uncertain terms:
"Put all of these technical and sonic factors together and the YG Acoustics Sonja XV stands as the finest and by far the most accomplished loudspeaker I have yet heard, and by no small margin at that. If your budget and listening space permit, the Sonja XV will serve you as a mighty musical force for good and one that will not easily be equalled, let alone surpassed."
Also interesting is that the cat is out of the bag for the Sonja XV "Junior":
The Sonja XV Junior – A smaller alternative to theSonja XV
The Sonja XV is a big loudspeaker system that performsbest in sizable listening spaces—rooms larger thansome enthusiasts may possess. To address thispotential issue, YG Acoustics can—on a special orderonly basis—build what is in essence a ‘Sonja XV Junior’model that is identical to the full-size Sonja XV in mostrespects, but that foregoes the lower woofer modulesfrom both the standard XV’s main and woofer towers,reducing the total woofer count from four to two perspeaker. Naturally, this change also requires a special,purpose-built crossover network that compensates forthe shorter system’s reduced number of woofers. Theresult is a signi cantly more compact system that—apart from its absolute bass output capabilities—soundsidentical to the full-size Sonja XV and that may better tmid-sized listening rooms.
Indeed, while not a full review in his system, Chris Martens puts it in no uncertain terms:
"Put all of these technical and sonic factors together and the YG Acoustics Sonja XV stands as the finest and by far the most accomplished loudspeaker I have yet heard, and by no small margin at that. If your budget and listening space permit, the Sonja XV will serve you as a mighty musical force for good and one that will not easily be equalled, let alone surpassed."
Also interesting is that the cat is out of the bag for the Sonja XV "Junior":
The Sonja XV Junior – A smaller alternative to theSonja XV
The Sonja XV is a big loudspeaker system that performsbest in sizable listening spaces—rooms larger thansome enthusiasts may possess. To address thispotential issue, YG Acoustics can—on a special orderonly basis—build what is in essence a ‘Sonja XV Junior’model that is identical to the full-size Sonja XV in mostrespects, but that foregoes the lower woofer modulesfrom both the standard XV’s main and woofer towers,reducing the total woofer count from four to two perspeaker. Naturally, this change also requires a special,purpose-built crossover network that compensates forthe shorter system’s reduced number of woofers. Theresult is a signi cantly more compact system that—apart from its absolute bass output capabilities—soundsidentical to the full-size Sonja XV and that may better tmid-sized listening rooms.
Interesting how Hifi + has YG praised by Martens as "the best", while Sircom is on the Magico is best bandwagon
As much as I like Alan Sircom and his writing, those kind of 'heard at distributors location ' (Magcio M3) or 'heard at manufacturers location' (WAMM) reviews bring little real value to the readers.
What's more interesting in comparison is how we always see Wilson paired up with tube amps (VTL) and "Network " speaker cables like Transparent for this reviews.
Guess, Wilson doesn't use Spectral anymore due to the MIT Requirement. After all this speaker (WAMM) has Transparent cable inside of it supposedly? But, what makes the Opus cable different if there are no networks inside the speaker cabinet itself?
However, we see and read about Magico and YG for example using the latest Solid State Electronics from Germany and Switzerland for example. In addition, no network boxes on these speakers for most reviews.
I wonder how many of these "choices' on part of the speaker manufacturer have to do with performance and or really just part of the business.
All Wilson loudspeakers use Transparent raw cable internally and have for many years. Spectral Amps continue to be used at Wilson as well. They, among others, get quite a workout in the development of speaker designs.
Alan listened with D'Agostino Momentums and Siegfrieds. He reported that in the same sentence in his article. Most who have listened to the WAMM have listened on the solid state M400s.
Just curious. Is there a reason you capitalize solid state but not tube?
As much as I like Alan Sircom and his writing, those kind of 'heard at distributors location ' (Magcio M3) or 'heard at manufacturers location' (WAMM) reviews bring little real value to the readers.
Evidently the people who publish them seem to believe (you would think backed by metrics) that readers actually do value these types of articles as they continue to publish them.
I don't have a problem with those articles. In the internet is rife with those "drive-bys", people's impressions of other people' systems and setups, so why can't the reviewer post a similar impression? As long as that condition is clearly stated in the article, I see no problem with it.
Not so sure. Did you read the WAMM article?
Evidently the people who publish them seem to believe (you would think backed by metrics) that readers actually do value these types of articles as they continue to publish them.
Sure, they read is an entertainment of sorts. But entertainment does not equal useful info. I bought the M3 and Alan's review didn't have any real value for me.
Someone from Soundstage (I think it was Doug Schneider) has recently written a long rant about this and I wholeheartly agree.
I did a while back, and forgot what he wrote. Most recently he wrote about Magico being an "honest speaker". What else is new in this statement?
As much as I like Alan Sircom and his writing, those kind of 'heard at distributors location ' (Magcio M3) or 'heard at manufacturers location' (WAMM) reviews bring little real value to the readers.
..But if I had spent money in this particular magazine based on its cover I would not be happy after having found that there is no serious - and this just means at less a few pages long so that will supply reading for more than two minutes - review of the WAMM in it..
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