Myles, i have enjoyed reading your posts for years, and have a few that continue to re-read on equipment that i am considering s/hand. Keep writing!!!
I will say that the Sashas were the first of the smaller Wilsons that I could live with very happily. I very much respected but did not love its earlier predecessors. The voicing of the Sasha seems different...still very much in the line of Wilson's quest for accuracy, control and detail...but the midrange and the general voicing seems smoother/more full/mellifluous without syrup. i prefer them to the Maxx II which i have heard in the same room/setup, mainly for their voicing not for their dynamic capabilities. i suspect (perhaps incorrectly) that they will also be somewhat more flexible with their adaptability with other electronics because of this voicing. Almost a similar evolution in the way that SS and Tubes at the very best levels sound more similar to each today, than they did 20 years ago. David Wilson has never compromised for his quest for inert cabinets, accuracy, dynamics, speed...and now he seems to have kept this while capturing a touch of a warmer? voice.
That said, i still feel like the Sashas are physically up against physics when it comes to a comparison with the largest Wilsons (X1 and Steve's X2) The largest Wilsons possess a few qualities (which matter to me) that the Sashas do not possess in the same quantity: first and foremost, the bigger Wilson's are effortless, effortless, effortless in their delivery. Couple this with an almost obsessive effort to deliver pitch-perfect detailing, accuracy, transparency, etc...David Wilson has managed to deliver a transducer that almost disappears when set up properly. It is the closest i have heard to sound just passing through 2 large obelisques that i have personally witnessed. At any volume, of any level of complexity...orchestral/choral, rap/hip hop/piano/smaller jazz ensembles, deep house. Sound...music just seems to pass through them and come out the other side.
The one thing where i do feel the Sashas surpass the X1 is that it seems easier to set it up so that it balances being accurate, quick, transparent...with also being somehow more mellifluous without syrup. The X1 is capable of doing this...it replaced my Sonus Faber Strads which i loved and were dialed in with CJ and Zanden tubes, plus Gryphon Antileon (ie, warm)...but boy does it take an enormous effort to set up!!!!!!!!!! Absolute Sounds and KJ West One took 8 hours to set them up...resoldering resistors twice, for example, to adjust for the treble dispersion in my room. Smokes!...that was a ton of effort on their part. But once dialed in, they are magic in a way that i have yet to hear from the smaller Wilsons (to these ears).
I'm not so sure that Dave doesn't agree and I wouldn't be surprised to see updates to the bigger speakers in the Wilson line now.
