• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Wilson Audio TuneTot Review (high-end bookshelf speaker)

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 363 58.7%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 186 30.1%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 44 7.1%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 25 4.0%

  • Total voters
    618

watchnerd

Grand Contributor
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Messages
12,449
Likes
10,409
Location
Seattle Area, USA
All the analogies you guys are using are pointless here. If accurate sound reproduction is the usecase of a loudspeaker, only one outcome is right here. Everything else is broken, like a car with a engine that spurts every now and then but still somehow run. Yeah for some people it may be ok, if there is a sticker of Ferrari on it.

Oh my. Where to start?

2 channel is fakery.

Microphones color sound.

Real world dynamic range is out of reach for most domestic loudspeakers.

Direct radiators don't represent the radiation patterns of real life instruments, nor do they necessarily match microphones.

So which outcome are we solving for?
 

Crosstalk

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2021
Messages
464
Likes
241
Oh my. Where to start?

2 channel is fakery.

Microphones color sound.

Real world dynamic range is out of reach for most domestic loudspeakers.

Direct radiators don't represent the radiation patterns of real life instruments, nor do they necessarily match microphones.

So which outcome are we solving for?
I didn’t mean what you hear at your listening spot. But the speakers duty is faithful reproduction of what signal comes into its terminal not to add its own color and provide a good dircetivity. That’s the goal I am mentioning here. As a company that’s max you can give. How it sounds in your room is your problem whether to leave it that way or add stuff to get its potential.

You can buy a well engineered car, how you drive it or where you drive it is no excuse for buying a broken car
 

DanielT

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 10, 2020
Messages
4,752
Likes
4,633
Location
Sweden - Слава Україні
Exactly. Very surprised to see so many post in support for such an obscenely expensive piece of junk.
Price - Performance is awful, but with the information that Wilson conveys about them, they do not seem to be inventing anything that is not true. It is mostly marketing information from Wilson's side that you can interpret how you want.

 

watchnerd

Grand Contributor
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Messages
12,449
Likes
10,409
Location
Seattle Area, USA
I didn’t mean what you hear at your listening spot. But the speakers duty is faithful reproduction of what signal comes into its terminal not to add its own color and provide a good dircetivity. That’s the goal I am mentioning here. As a company that’s max you can give. How it sounds in your room is your problem whether to leave it that way or add stuff to get its potential.

You can buy a well engineered car, how you drive it or where you drive it is no excuse for buying a broken car

That's a pretty constrained definition of what is faithful reproduction.

I could easily argue that my Electro-Voice ETX-35P DSP-equipped portable PA system does a better job of reproducing the full scale of the signal that my band captures as a recording from the outputs from the mixing board than anything reviewed by ASR.
 

Crosstalk

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2021
Messages
464
Likes
241
That's a pretty constrained definition of what is faithful reproduction.

I could easily argue that my Electro-Voice ETX-35P DSP-equipped portable PA system does a better job of reproducing the full scale of the signal that my band captures as a recording from the outputs from the mixing board than anything reviewed by ASR.
Show the proof with directivity, impulse response and frequency response and we talk again.
 

Crosstalk

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2021
Messages
464
Likes
241
Show me the dynamic range and max SPL bass response of your nice little home speakers with good directivity and we can talk again.
I never said I have some system which performs good. But I understand clearly what is good here.so I don’t have anything to show here. You were the one who said you can argue with your equipment . So go ahead but with proof
 

aj625

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2021
Messages
325
Likes
226
Color you can't avoid in recording and playback chain but would you try to maximize the color or minimise it ? Imo you may want to minimise it to the limit possible instead of maximizing it to the extent it changes the feel of music completely. Isn't it ?
 

watchnerd

Grand Contributor
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Messages
12,449
Likes
10,409
Location
Seattle Area, USA
I never said I have some system which performs good. But I understand clearly what is good here.so I don’t have anything to show here. You were the one who said you can argue with your equipment . So go ahead but with proof

Your definition of what is "good" is a particular definition that is optimizing for the Toole-school of design.

That is in no way the only definition of what is "good", and for much of much of audio history there have been competing schools of thought as to what is important.

Engineers can intentionally deviate from the Toole-school because they are pursuing different design criteria.

Especially if they're not using direct-radiators-in-a-box, such as electrostatic or horn-loaded designs.
 

watchnerd

Grand Contributor
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Messages
12,449
Likes
10,409
Location
Seattle Area, USA
Rolex shows time without any noticeable errors. Wilson audio reproduces sound with noticeable flaws

Absolutely false.

As a collector of mechanical watches (see my user name?), I can assure you that Rolexes have noticeable error, as all mechanical watches do -- they all run fast or slow, and thus there is drift after a few days.

Your COSC-certified watch will be off.
 

Crosstalk

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2021
Messages
464
Likes
241
Absolutely false.

As a collector of mechanical watches (see my user name?), I can assure you that Rolexes have noticeable error, as all mechanical watches do -- they all run fast or slow, and thus there is drift after a few days.

Your COSC-certified watch will be off.
I m not into watches but i wouldn’t bother if my Rolex shows few seconds off as it won’t affect my time daily life. But if I cannot listen on a speaker with so much midbass hump that it would totally change guitar riff tone, voice tones, every single instrument which has something happening in those regions. Imo, everything sounds flawed. In my books it’s headless panther for dilson audio. Yeah you are free to buy anything you like if as long as it’s your hard earned money. M over this.
 

watchnerd

Grand Contributor
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Messages
12,449
Likes
10,409
Location
Seattle Area, USA
Price - Performance is awful, but with the information that Wilson conveys about them, they do not seem to be inventing anything that is not true. It is mostly marketing information from Wilson's side that you can interpret how you want.


Cost No Object is the preferred term when price/performance is awful. ;)

The longer I've been in the hobby, the worst my price/performance gets.

Diminishing returns are cruel.
 

DanielT

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 10, 2020
Messages
4,752
Likes
4,633
Location
Sweden - Слава Україні
Cost No Object is the preferred term when price/performance is awful. ;)

The longer I've been in the hobby, the worst my price/performance gets.

Diminishing returns are cruel.
Do not worry about it. As long as you are satisfied and happy.:)

I myself am now testing some cheaper speakers.Bought for not much money at all.I will see which ones I keep then the rest will be sold for roughly the same money. Okay there are no "high end" but it's damn fun to compare different speakers.:p

Edit
Typically headstrong Englishmen. Of course British thread for the missing screw. But then I have a little to tinker with. Positive thinking, half full glasses and all that (shit lol) .:D
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20211226_094038.jpg
    IMG_20211226_094038.jpg
    124.7 KB · Views: 108
  • IMG_20211226_094045.jpg
    IMG_20211226_094045.jpg
    157 KB · Views: 99
  • IMG_20211226_094940.jpg
    IMG_20211226_094940.jpg
    172.7 KB · Views: 90
  • 18-160_xl_1.jpg
    18-160_xl_1.jpg
    24.4 KB · Views: 90
Last edited:

KSTR

Major Contributor
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
2,690
Likes
6,013
Location
Berlin, Germany
But the speakers duty is faithful reproduction of what signal comes into its terminal not to add its own color and provide a good dircetivity
Directivity is not that bad at all for this speaker. It's very similar to a gazillion of other speakers of that type, not using a wave-guide. The slight christmas-tree pattern in directivity (excess total energy at crossover point) has partly been mitigated by a drop of on-axis energy at that point, again good common practice.

The bass bump is nasty, no arguments. The excessive dips at upper mid frequencies aren't nice either. But now comes the point which matters in real life: If you do not use proper "room-EQ" (DRC) to flatten out the bass/mid response at your listening seat, you are not interested in faithful reproduction anyway. And when you do, DRC takes care of that hump and the dips easily (but cannot make up for the lack of low bass, obviously).
 

Crosstalk

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2021
Messages
464
Likes
241
Directivity is not that bad at all for this speaker. It's very similar to a gazillion of other speakers of that type, not using a wave-guide. The slight christmas-tree pattern in directivity (excess total energy at crossover point) has partly been mitigated by a drop of on-axis energy at that point, again good common practice.
The bass bump is nasty, no arguments. The excessive dips at upper mid frequencies aren't nice either. But now comes the point which matters in real life: If you do not use proper "room-EQ" (DRC) to flatten out the bass/mid response at your listening seat, you are not interested in faithful reproduction anyway. And when you do, DRC takes care of that hump and the dips easily (but cannot make up for the lack of low bass, obviously).
I agree the the importance of DRC. No doubts here. I am still wondering, pay 10k on this and then DRC or pay 50 bucks on an Amazon basics speakers and then DRC. What does DRC on this gives me extra over a 50 bucks speaker which also can be corrected in the room? Then it comes back to the brand name marketing and me falling for it… no thanks.
 

thorvat

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2021
Messages
323
Likes
386
Directivity is not that bad at all for this speaker. It's very similar to a gazillion of other speakers of that type, not using a wave-guide. The slight christmas-tree pattern in directivity (excess total energy at crossover point) has partly been mitigated by a drop of on-axis energy at that point, again good common practice.

The bass bump is nasty, no arguments. The excessive dips at upper mid frequencies aren't nice either. But now comes the point which matters in real life: If you do not use proper "room-EQ" (DRC) to flatten out the bass/mid response at your listening seat, you are not interested in faithful reproduction anyway. And when you do, DRC takes care of that hump and the dips easily (but cannot make up for the lack of low bass, obviously).

While I agree with everything you said I still think that, considering the price, this speaker should have far better measurements, because if it would have that than it would be far easier to apply proper DRC.

To summarize, it is not that this speaker cannot be corrected to sound good, it is that it costs too much to do so, considering the effort you have to put in it and considering the final result you will get - which will be quite good, but not perfect. And for that kind of many anything less than perfect is a complete shame.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom