Wilson Audio TuneTot Review (high-end bookshelf speaker)

[capitanharlock]

Hi guys,

Love this review...

Why ?
Because of it's conclusion.
I think it can be summed up this way : "Despite measurements that are not stellar, it provides a lot of fun to listen to".

So, measurements are not everything after all in audio domain ?
Good to know And since the boss says it...

I would really like to see amirm do it the other way round :
- listen to the gear first
- measure it after

Regards.

Sure they are fun to listen, a little less fun is their price.
Totally unrelated to the materials, the drivers, the performances.
But they are fun.

 

[hvbias]

I personally find Amir's listening impressions quite helpful. For anyone saying buy the Genelec 8361a instead, I can't help but feel that his comments about them sounding small and the Wilsons sounding larger than they were to be extremely valuable. Sean Olive used to have the Harman training program on his blog and I went through it and it is as extremely difficult as Amir says it is, so I definitely value his hearing impressions. So for me this is not a cut and dry issue of "just buy 8361a". I've also owned (and still own) several of the best measuring mini monitors under the $500 range and these continue to sound like miniature speakers even with several subwoofers. To prevent any sarcastic retort about why I still own them it's because if ~ $1500 worth of speakers (good luck stealing the subs!) were stolen from my office I'd be upset but it wouldn't be devastating.

Going back to the annals of my audiophile journey I recall it was Wilson What Puppy 5 (or 6?) that really impressed me at a hifi show. One of my favorite albums at the time was John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, and the imaging on these was quite remarkable. Even more obvious was the fact that Rudy Van Gelder just didn't record piano properly and it sounds like a very small boxy instrument. This is evident on nearly any RVG recording where he also recorded horns, because to him the horn sound was the most important. These were recordings made to be played on 1950s and 1960s home consoles and the Wilson WP showed exactly this issue. I was working at Best Buy at the time and had their highest end JBL tower speakers that I got for a remarkable 40 or 60% off due to employee discount and on these speakers the presentation on A Love Supreme was more like a wall of sound where imaging was diffuse and all instruments were given equal size which was incorrect.

The major issue for me with Wilsons has always been how they will tank in value once they bring out a new speaker. I sure as heck couldn't afford the What Puppy 5 but when the next one came out there was a flash flood of the previous model on the used marked. By two or three revisions later even my meager pay could afford the ones I heard, but I chose to avoid them for this reason. I've been seeing the same pattern with them decades later.

Anyway, from the great The Sopranos that is my "$4 a pound"

 

[bennybbbx]

great to see the step response of such a expensive high end speaker. there can see the tweeter polarity is swap to the woofer/mid polarity. this cause the gap at 2.5 khz i think. but it is a hifi speaker and they have own sound

 

[Chr1]

Surely for this kind of money you want something who's name doesn't sound like a five year olds toy?

 

[bigjacko]

We need to knock the piggy bank panther's head off.......

 

[tomtoo]

This seems a reasonable speaker to compare to....$650.00 Pair.

Polk R100 Bookshelf Speaker Review

Polk R100 Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

View attachment 173860

You cant compare, couse it has not this +6db bump at 120Hz that you have to Eq out.

 

[Shike]

I just don't get it with this one - at all it seems...

You peeps have the audacity to slag off a 1/5 price cheaper old model ATC and an even older model Harbeth for gently tilting response 'errors' deliberately designed in (well, at least one was!), yet these expensive hideous looking monstrosities are 'tolerated' and excuses made for +/- 5dB response errors with one set as a massive crossover region dip and the other a one-note bass bump??? (bass unit looks as if it has extra doping over the stock model?) and because of the price asked and the high end audiophool cachet of this brand, it's almost fearful to be *too* negative about them?

The best measuring Wilsons I remember were the mid to late 90's WITT which was a fairly conventional 12" three way (5" or so cone mid and Focal inverted grey-dome tweet) in a VERY heavy box with best of 1970's British-Leyland car standard orange-peel black laquer on the sides! They actually sounded good I remember but cost at least as much as a pair of superior ATC 100A's which weighed at least as much too...

Excuse the rant, but come on, when Neumann and Genelec to name but two of the better known and liked-here makers can run rings around these and are fully active as well...

Most people disagree and believe this deserves the fucking guillotine (headless panther) so . . .

Literally the only thing goes for these is low distortion. Everything else feels like a cruel joke at this price point.

 

[tomtoo]

Man i dont get it, +6db at 120Hz. Its cool, so cool. For what? 10k+?
The only thing you can learn here, get a way to EQ your source. Than you not need to spend 10k for a wrong calculated port.

 

[Gorgonzola]

Mind-boggling: how can such a speaker most charitably described as mediocre cost $10,000/pr.?? The color choices? The plutocrat-catering reputation of the maker?

That we're see is $600/pr. speaker in drag.

 

[GaryH]

Sean Olive used to have the Harman training program on his blog and I went through it and it is as extremely difficult as Amir says it is, so I definitely value his hearing impressions.

You might want to read this.

 

[Billy Budapest]

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.

The most intelligent comment of the thread.

 

[respice finem]

We need to knock the piggy bank panther's head off.......

Perhaps not. Piggy was too full, so it bought a pair. After seeing the test it shot itself - that why it's missing from the voting list

 

[wwenze]

The 3kHz point is interesting across all measurements

I'm used to seeing a dip there on sub-$200 speakers. But $10k?

 

[Billy Budapest]

These guys are Mormons right?

The company is based in Provo, Utah, but it is a stretch to assume the “guys” are LDS. More important, why the heck does it matter what religion they are?

 

[wwenze]

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

The way this is phrased gives me an idea...

Normally we can use EQ to fix, well, EQ errors, but have no way to fix directivity errors, right? Or no way to widen or narrowen the soundstage.

But is that really the truth? Year 2021 and we have enough atmos soundbars that can virtual speaker here, project soundstage there, surely some of these technologies can be used to emulate different directivity?

 

[Steve Dallas]

@amirm , did you prefer these to the M106s with the Tune Tot EQ'd, and the M106 not EQ'd? I think this distinction is very important to help readers understand your recommendation of a speaker with such poor objective performance--especially considering the price.

 

[Vini darko]

The way this is phrased gives me an idea...

Normally we can use EQ to fix, well, EQ errors, but have no way to fix directivity errors, right? Or no way to widen or narrowen the soundstage.

But is that really the truth? Year 2021 and we have enough atmos soundbars that can virtual speaker here, project soundstage there, surely some of these technologies can be used to emulate different directivity?

I think with passive speakers directivity is pretty fixed by the driver choice , baffle design and crossover implementation. Active Dsp speakers are different to some degree.

 

[wwenze]

I find the situation analogous to power cables if we do not consider price and measured performance and just look at pure subjective performance for the conclusion, and it scares me.

"But power cables don't bring measurable differences." I know, but let's assume the performance of a speaker can be broken down into parts. For more money, you can improve the bass/size ratio. You can have better tweeter or crossover. You can have better directivity via a waveguide or something. Or, you can have gold cables inside the speaker, or a very nice lacquer finish. And when your current level of performance is at that of a <$200 speaker, instead of spending it on other things, you spend it on... "being itself". To me that is no different from spending the remaining $9800 on power cables.

 

[HiFidFan]

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.

From just a quick glance at these, I wouldn't expect that. I mean physics matter, there are 2 small transducers and a port. What passive speaker in this configuration, at any price, can offer true full range performance?

I'm not defending the TuneTot and IMO it's GROSSLY overpriced, but let's not expect too much or fool ourselves. The fact that this speaker is not full range are the least of its issues.

 

[tubesguy]

"around US $10,000 (varies due to color)."

I might be interested in these in a cheaper color.