Wilson Audio TuneTot Review (high-end bookshelf speaker)

[rammster]

I would not buy these speakers at any price. Performance and engineering level are are almost insulting.
#untunetot

 

[FrantzM]

Here's my take...
I haven't heard the speaker but I take Amir's position that it does not sound bad. We also got to keep in mind that , some Bose speakers , soundbars, Sonos etc.. sound Ok too. I've been quite surprised by the enjoyment I derive from some car radios or even my Bose Wave Radios.. I , for one like the Sonos products ... Wouldn't call these accurate or great but , they're beyond tolerable in my view.
This Wilson is one of those products. it sounds ok, even good under certain conditions but .. the rub is the price and the hyped-reputation: it's not worth 10K a pair. Period. For the same cash outlay you can find better speakers, by all metrics, objective and subjective... Heck you could find several at 1/20h the price... The JBL Stage, Studio 530, LSR305, The Kali, The Edifiers, some Adams, that hover in the less than $500/pair region, are its true competition and many of these surpass it. i would advance that the JBL LSR308, for example is a better, more capable speaker by all metrics...
We all were yearning to see it being a very bad speaker, similar to how bad the Total Crap .err DAC was, as compared to the $9.00 Aple dongle. We don't get an entirely crappy sounding thing. It is not however anything, we would consider or recommend buying for $10,000.

Peace

 

[Sal1950]

At this price?

 

[Chester]

I’m surprised by all the comments regarding the price…..it’s Wilson Audio, this is the space they are in. Even if they measured well, are they worth 10k? Probably not.

By taking price out of his reviews, Amir is objectively listening to the sound and telling you what he thinks and can then objectively compare the sound to any other speaker. Personally, I find that approach useful.

We all have our own definition of value so can work that bit out for ourselves.

 

[Marc v E]

This speaker gives me a true hifi feeling from the old days. High end components put together like it was made by a guy with ocd in a shed, to get an end result that's pleasing to the ear. Reminds me of expensive watches and hypercars. I don't know if that should make me laugh, cry or be indifferent. People do weird things sometimes.

 

[Blumlein 88]

These Wilsons or some Revel F228Be speakers at the same price???????


Hmmmmmmmmmmm, decisions, decisons..........I'll go with Sal's response and pick up some F228Be speakers.

Or if you must have a monitor type speaker these Wilsons or some Genelec 8351B's for $2000 less plus....plus, you don't need an amplifier. Again this is not even a no-brainer and I'll go with the Genelecs.

 

[BoredErica]

To me, if you're going to spent a ton of money on unique looking speakers, you want it to look *good*. That's super important. These look unique yes, but uniquely bad. If they were a work of art I'd be more forgiving.

 

[abdo123]

Who expects these to be "full range"?

at 10000$ you kind of expect speakers to be full-range to be honest. I wouldn't settle for anything less than a Dutch&Dutch 8C.

 

[Pearljam5000]

People buying these will probably using them with a $5K amp + a $5K DAC at least, so total cost is around $20K which is insane

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Just a thought on darko video….blah, blah, blah….I (darko) am having a moment with these speakers… and it’s 22 minutes of nothing concrete, except how lucky he is. Wow can’t believe this is how I use to learn about audio equipment. A caveman review …you wanta speakers I gotta speakers.

thanks for the great review and happy holidays to all.

 

[thewas]

I voted headless because:
a) It costs $10K.
b) The directivity is a mess.
c) The dispersion width is not enough to justify that. We have Focals that cost a fraction as much, with similar width and much better directivity.
d) This thing is ugly, and I mean that as a person who thinks Genelecs look pretty good! I'd rather have the chunkiest, most boring black studio monitor in my place than one of these.
e) "TuneTot"? Really?

Very disappoint.

This ^^

Am not disappointed though as I didn't expect it to be better having seen several measurements of Wilson loudspeakers before, just from the panther ranking, maybe we should introduce also a second one like for headphones? (with or without EQ).

This speaker gives me a true hifi feeling from the old days. High end components put together like it was made by a guy with ocd in a shed, to get an end result that's pleasing to the ear. Reminds me of expensive watches and hypercars. I don't know if that should make me laugh, cry or be indifferent. People do weird things sometimes.

Spot on, a typical high end product which old people listen to at weird demonstrations in small hotel rooms, a market that probably will disappear when this generation is gone as younger people are hopefully better informed thanks to the WWW, the old generation grew up reading the BS from the audiophool press and most cannot give it up as it takes a very strong character to admit you were wrong and wasted alot of time and money on snake oil the largest part of your life.

 

[restorer-john]

Personally, I think they look really nice. Was just at an audiophile friend's house today picking up another vintage receiver he paid too much money for. He has a pair of Wilson Saschas like these:

(his are a goldy/orangey Aston Martin paint colour I forgot the name of)

The Tune Tot is like a small version of the top of these speakers.

 

[MGG]

That's precisely why I did it. Didn't want the grief of "you used cheap gear to test it."

Please list brand, model and price of cables, cable lifters, speaker and other gear stands, power supplies, power conditioners, router, network switches, master clock, crystals...
You are clearly using cheap, mid-fi at best, DAC and player combo so I suspect you have cheaped out on other components as well. Let me guess, no audiophile grade solid state drives in your so called "custom, silent Roon Server/Player"? I thought so, $2,000 would barely cover decent set of anti-vibration feet.

 

[BoredErica]

Spot on, a typical high end product which old people listen to at weird demonstrations in small hotel rooms, a market that probably will disappear when this generation is gone as younger people are hopefully better informed thanks to the WWW, the old generation grew up reading the BS from the audiophool press and most cannot give it up as it takes a very strong character to admit you were wrong and wasted alot of time and money on snake oil the largest part of your life.

I hope so.
I am a pessimist in nature though.

 

[MZKM]

Note: Rating meant for far-field listening.

Preference Rating
SCORE: 2.6
SCORE w/ sub: 5.6

Sensitivity: 84dB (300Hz-3kHz ; spec: 86dB)
Frequency response: +/- 8.2dB 65Hz-20kHz ; +/- 7.1dB 80Hz-20kHz

 

[phoenixsong]

The 3kHz point is interesting across all measurements

 

[Larry B. Larabee]

Listening vs measurement is a work in progress. The duration of the listening test is insufficient to make a valid decision and little progress can be made if the speaker is out the door before any necessary follow up tests can be done on speakers such as this one that seem to be an abberation.

 

[Koeitje]

This speaker gives me a true hifi feeling from the old days. High end components put together like it was made by a guy with ocd in a shed, to get an end result that's pleasing to the ear. Reminds me of expensive watches and hypercars. I don't know if that should make me laugh, cry or be indifferent. People do weird things sometimes.

But expensive watches and hypercars show excellent craftmanship and high performance, this does not. You can argue that mechanical watches aren't as accurate as a Quartz movement, but the best mechanical movements are clearly better in terms of performance than the budget mechanical ones. Its about pushing the limits of the technology you are using. Wilson doesn't do any of that. Reminds me more of homeopathy than anything else.

 

[restorer-john]

But expensive watches and hypercars show excellent craftmanship and high performance, this does not.

The fit, finish and construction on Wilson Audio speakers is flawless. I don't know where you get the idea it isn't.

 

[FrantzM]

But expensive watches and hypercars show excellent craftmanship and high performance, this does not. You can argue that mechanical watches aren't as accurate as a Quartz movement, but the best mechanical movements are clearly better in terms of performance than the budget mechanical ones. Its about pushing the limits of the technology you are using. Wilson doesn't do any of that. Reminds me more of homeopathy than anything else.

Do not go by the pictures only.. Wilson Audio products craftsmanship is exemplary... For value, performance ... or aesthetics .. There are too many ways to do better.

Peace