Wilson Audio TuneTot Review (high-end bookshelf speaker)

[xaviescacs]

looked at the picture. "looks like snake oil"
looks at the price "pieced like snake oil"

looks at the review "sounds like snake oil"

who buys this crap in the first place?

Someone who wants a 10k bookshelf speaker.

 

[Geert]

who buys this crap in the first place?

Take a look at the poll results. We have potential buyers in the room.

 

[Chrise36]

Is Wilson playing a joke on us?
I must have missed the memo where this level of performance was acceptable for this kind of money.
A US$110/pair speaker, Neumi BS5, crushes this speaker!

Spoiler

Save your money...Buy the Genelec 8361A's instead.

The subjective impression was better than the Revel though...

 

[Vini darko]

Thanks for the review amir. Pir and eq to the rescue.

 

[MrHifiTunes]

I wonder how the DIY CARRERA from Paul Carmody, compares to this one. Using the same woofer, but handles the shelf in the 800-1000Hz region.
I guess the high bass port output is tuned for baffle step. Seems the design doesn't have much baffle step in its XO. So raising the bassport frequency can compensate that.

 

[thewas]

Funnily "Tot" means "dead" in German, so TuneTot something like tuned to death, to which rather the opposite is true.

 

[Chrise36]

With about 90% votes for poor or "not terrible", and these measurements - I just don't get the recommendation from @amirm ....?

And then there are the costs. You almost get an ACTIVE Dutch & Dutch 8C for this kind of money.

And with this statement:
"If I were to just goy by the measurements, the Tunetot would not get good marks. But I have promised you all that I won't lie about what I hear no matter how much of a conflict this provides. To that end, I am going to recommend the Wilson TuneTot with equalization (cost not considered)."

Are we letting the subjective impressions prevail over the poor measurements? I mean, this speaker is nowhere near full range.

So the measurements matter more than your ears and your subjective impression and taste?

 

[anphex]

Isn't this the most expensive speaker we got so far?

 

[Geert]

So the measurements matter more than your ears and your subjective impression and taste?

Based on the measurements I think it's easy to predict what your ears are going to prefer when you setup these speakers next to Dutch & Dutch 8C's.

 

[bunkbail]

Think he normally uses pro class D amplifier which provides more than enough power. Just uses these amplifiers to deal with comments about using cheap gear to test.

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure he mentioned somewhere that he uses the Mark Levinsons for all speaker listening tests and Purifi amp for measurements.

 

[MZKM]

Isn't this the most expensive speaker we got so far?

Don’t forget the F328Be.

 

[xaviescacs]

Funnily "Tot" means "dead" in German, so TuneTot something like tuned to death, to which rather the opposite is true.

I was struggling to understand the meaning of this "Tot"... perhaps they meant that it doesn't need EQ? Or that they are "definetly" tuned? ... or perhaps they don't consider the German interpretation after all.

 

[Geert]

I was struggling to understand the meaning of this "Tot"... perhaps they meant that it doesn't need EQ? Or that they are "definetly" tuned? ... or perhaps they don't consider the German interpretation after all.

TuneTot stems from Latin an means Tuned Odd.

 

[xaviescacs]

TuneTot stems from Latin an means Tuned Odd.

"Tonus" + "Tot" = (more or less) "so many sounds" They mean the resonances and diffractions!! You were right, it's not German but Latin.

 

[DanielT]

I only see minor variations of the woofer response so hard to say if the above is really the problem. I did like the fact that the port/cabinet resonances are kept low. Woofer response does step up some though and is reflected in the frequency response (between 700 Hz and 1 kHz). Is this due to too little baffle compensation?

Thank you Amir for the review.

Baffle compensation pobably depends on whether it is compensated for the baffle in the crossover. Otherwise the size and wavelengths of the baffle. You can work with this here:

Just load Thiele / Small parameters for Scan-speak Revelator and fix a sensible baffle using:

Tolvan Data

Tolvan Data

Edit:
I've been working with that program now, for fun. At least I learned one thing. To get really good speakers, it takes a lot of knowledge and experience. It did not come as a surprise in itself. But it can be fun for those who are interested in speakers to work a little with Basta even if they do not intend to DIY. Just to learn a few things along the way.
Although there are ready-made kits, for example:

Revelator-4R

www.troelsgravesen.dk

 

[PierreV]

I guess the idea is you can tote your tunes.

BTW, I am a bit tired of the watches and cars comparisons. We could think in terms of escorts.

If the JBL is undocumented young girls making ends meet, the Genelec is the classy PhD student financing her studies, the TuneTot would be the old, wrinkled madam who fulfills the very peculiar fantasies of a senile billionaire.

 

[KxDx]

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

Any enclosure deviation from a standard rectangular prism costs money. Curves, rounds, slopes, all special cuts that are more labor and material intensive than the standard monkey coffin. Even PSB went back to a conventional box for the new Synchrony line, likely to meet a price point.

Then the cabinet internals, if properly braced and routed for airflow, are more $$. The cabinets are probably a higher expense than the drivers and crossovers.

Then I think Wilson still builds in the US. That's always a premium. And of course the brand markup and advertising costs.

So I can see how they get to this price, and as a company I am sure Wilson knows they will sell more at $10k than if they sold them for $3k. Some people pay for the exclusivity of having what others can't afford.

Salk is probably the best high-end value out there, with low overhead and word of mouth advertising, but one must be willing to wait half a year for their speakers.

 

[Gremlins]

The problem is not measurements, it's the selling price ok 10k
What's happeningvin the world with selling prices?

Why would that company wants 10k for this product?
And whats happening in people's head to put 10k in a speaker like this?

Usually, the more expensive, the better engineering and performance

In hifi the problem is that money has no value, this because all of us being too stupid .. and i say all of us. We keep buying low performance at high prices

 

[Madjalapeno]

I think this is the first ASR speaker review where the review system equipment was listed with price tags. I guess that's a prophylactic against the types of comments audio snobs might lob at such a review, but it's still sad.

I think he was missing the gold plated 10,000 strand power cable, and the additional earth rods. Did he have the right cable lifters? Where is the door stop?

 

[ah-ra]

Really?10k for this level of performance?