Rolling these various set up experiences together, the conclusions are straightforward. The Peaks have a clear preference for well-behaved rooms, space to breathe and plenty of solid-state power. Bi-amping or at the very least, bi-wiring should be high on the agenda too. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use them in smaller rooms or with simpler systems and lower powered amplifiers, but it does suggest that if you take that path, you’ll struggle to maximise the musical return on your not inconsiderable financial investment. As the saying goes, “Why fight City Hall?” Give the Sinfonias what they so clearly want and they’ll repay you in kind – with interest!
Getting down to business…
I’ve owned the Wilson Sasha DAW since its launch, and still consider it the high-water mark for the Watt/Puppy family and, in many ways, Wilson’s speakers as a whole. It is a genuine benchmark performer, while my limited experience with the Sasha V suggests that the loss of 3dB sensitivity, its lower impedance/more awkward drive characteristics and higher price are retrograde steps. Yet the Sasha (in whatever guise) really is a natural mirror for the Sinfonia – as well as the slightly larger El Diablo, with its twin bass drivers – in terms of both performance and market position. I’ve used the DAWs extensively in both the Music and the Reading Room. Stand it alongside the Sinfonia and the two speakers are so uncannily similar in size and frontal aspect that I suspect comparisons are almost inevitable. In my case, the fact that the Peaks actually replaced the DAWs in the Music Room was as convenient as it was instructive, allowing direct comparison of these two, similar loudspeakers.
With the Sinfonias installed and optimally positioned (slightly forward and slightly narrower than the DAWs) height off the floor and rake angle (measured across the caps of the front/back outriggers) both proved critical to the presence and immediacy in the musical picture. With those details attended to, both the similarities and differences between the two speakers were writ large. The Sasha (and its Watt/Puppy predecessors) has traded on the ability to project convincing scale and dynamics from a cabinet volume and footprint that remains just about manageable. The Sinfonia is cut from the very same cloth, matching and even exceeding the Wilson’s sense of weight and scale. Both speakers present a coherent soundstage and both manage surprisingly well with double-bass and timps. But these are also the points at which they start to diverge. The Peak Consults offer a fuller, weightier and richer tonality than the DAWs, with slightly shut-in upper registers that limit the air and extension at the top-end. The slightly rounded warmth that results is far from unpleasant, but there’s no missing the fact that the DAW’s greater high-frequency extension and life deliver a more transparent, spot-lit and focussed soundstage with greater intra-instrumental space. In contrast, the Sinfonia offers a more developed and coherent overall acoustic, with greater depth, more dimensional images and more clearly defined side and rear walls. Voices have more chest behind them and orchestras are able to swell more convincingly.
