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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

ezra_s

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I just purchased a mixer to make Pizza dough. It is from Italy and costs $1,800. When it arrives, I will judge it on what kind of dough it makes, not how much more expensive it is than a mass market mixer.

Anything can mix and make pizza dough, the trick is in giving it the shape afterwards!! :cool:
 

DWI

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This is what genelec buyers listen too. See graph below. Perfect measurements....but in room? A big dip at 100Hz. Picture comes from Genelec themself.

Much beefier? Revel has 5mm linear travel, the TuneTot 6,5mm. You listen to those full power to make that a difference? Designs isnt flawed. Amir mentioned "TuneTot also had deeper and cleaner bass response than the M106. Overall, I preferred the TuneTot over Revel."
This speaker surely is a niche speaker. Their target buyers will not put sound absorbing material in their room. It is designed for a specific setup. I dont know if Amir adjust the spikes for the measurement distance. I doubt it, if setup like intented I dont think any EQ is needed.
I bought Wilson and my room is full of sound absorbing material - lots of Acoustiwall, Soundbloc board, before you get to furnishings.

What specific set-up are they designed for? They would be fine in a small office or a small to medium sized room.

What is a Wilson target buyer? I'd love to know and if I (our my wife, who chose them) sit in that particular box.
 

MrHifiTunes

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That's in room-response. In a free-field/anechoic type setting the Genelec's are essentially flat, while the Tunetot has a massive 6db hump at 100-120hz, and an almost -5db dip around 2500-3000khz. Show me the Tunetot's "actual" average in room response.


If that's the case, why'd they state the average in-room response is 65-25khz +/- 3db? Either they're liars or incompetent.
With their lift at 115Hz the in room response will show a less deep hole in that region. Where you see the -5db dip? In room response in that region is as flat as can be. Don't look at on and off axes individually.
 

617

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Can somebody tell me how much in parts goes into one of the $10,000 speaker sets? Leaving aside the cabinetry.
The drivers Wilson uses are pretty typical high end quality units, presumably custom spec, from ScanSpeak, Focal and SB Acoustics. They also do some modifications, which adds to cost. Parts cost is not a big part of the cost of these speakers, or indeed any high end speaker.

To give you some perspective, the woofer is something like a 5" SS Revelator, which you can buy for around $200, and the tweeter I have no idea about but is probably a flat faceplate silk scanspeak unit; the most expensive unit is the old D2905/9700 which is again around $200. Presumably they get some kind of discount, call it 20%, and you're looking at around $640 for drivers. Add another $600 for a very complex crossover using esoteric components and you're looking at maybe $1340 in parts.

The costs for Wilson add up due to all the other stuff though; they pot their crossovers in black epoxy, they probably use nice thick PCBs, their ports are custom machined, the terminals are super high end units. Wilson knows how to create the impression of value to audiophiles.
 

ferrellms

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The drivers Wilson uses are pretty typical high end quality units, presumably custom spec, from ScanSpeak, Focal and SB Acoustics. They also do some modifications, which adds to cost. Parts cost is not a big part of the cost of these speakers, or indeed any high end speaker.

To give you some perspective, the woofer is something like a 5" SS Revelator, which you can buy for around $200, and the tweeter I have no idea about but is probably a flat faceplate silk scanspeak unit; the most expensive unit is the old D2905/9700 which is again around $200. Presumably they get some kind of discount, call it 20%, and you're looking at around $640 for drivers. Add another $600 for a very complex crossover using esoteric components and you're looking at maybe $1340 in parts.

The costs for Wilson add up due to all the other stuff though; they pot their crossovers in black epoxy, they probably use nice thick PCBs, their ports are custom machined, the terminals are super high end units. Wilson knows how to create the impression of value to audiophiles.
Not to mention the expense of paying advertisers, shills, and show fees.
 

heflys20

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With their lift at 115Hz the in room response will show a less deep hole in that region. Where you see the -5db dip? In room response in that region is as flat as can be. Don't look at on and off axes individually.

The estimated in room-response shows the 115 db peak is still there. The 2500hz-3000 dip is also still there. It just goes from -5db to about -3db due to early reflections. Compare that to the estimated in-room response of the similarly priced 8351b for instance.
 

nc42acc

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Just curious out of the 23 pages of responses has anyone had the opportunity to hear any Wilson speaker in a system?
 
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jtwrace

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Just curious out of the 23 pages of responses has anyone had the opportunity to hear any Wilson speaker in a system?
Yes, the first post of this thread the NFS has and that's all that matters.
 

Purité Audio

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Are there any really fine measuring ‘high-end’ loudspeakers Magico perhaps, Revel…
Keith
 

jtwrace

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Jason how the hell are you? Why so angry this morning? Are you referring to Amir? I was asking a legitimate question.
I'm grrrrrrrreat! Not angry at all, sitting here in 80*F weather. I was providing a legitimate answer. :)
 

nc42acc

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I'm grrrrrrrreat! Not angry at all, sitting here in 80*F weather. I was providing a legitimate answer. :)
Hey I am coming down your way in February. Back to Wilson speakers. I think Amir was being very kind in his review. The Wilson line must increase in terrible sound quality as they move up in price.
 

MrHifiTunes

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The estimated in room-response shows the 115 db peak is still there. The 2500hz-3000 dip is also still there. It just goes from -5db to about -3db due to early reflections. Compare that to the estimated in-room response of the similarly priced 8351b for instance.
What distance from the Back wall is the in room response calculated? Because change in distance will have dip at different frequency.
 

MrHifiTunes

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I bought Wilson and my room is full of sound absorbing material - lots of Acoustiwall, Soundbloc board, before you get to furnishings.

What specific set-up are they designed for? They would be fine in a small office or a small to medium sized room.

What is a Wilson target buyer? I'd love to know and if I (our my wife, who chose them) sit in that particular box.
Look at their website. They mention themself that it is
I bought Wilson and my room is full of sound absorbing material - lots of Acoustiwall, Soundbloc board, before you get to furnishings.

What specific set-up are they designed for? They would be fine in a small office or a small to medium sized room.

What is a Wilson target buyer? I'd love to know and if I (our my wife, who chose them) sit in that particular box.
Their manual say on a shelf or desk. They state that they put a lot of effort in the design to deal with all the nasty reflextions. They also said : Wilson provides precise yet simple installation setup instructions Best to check those.
 

MZKM

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Im not presuming anything. Look at their website. It is designs for reflective rooms.

The marketing department rarely cares what the engineering department has to say. This speaker could be designed to be listened to in a cornfield (no boundary gain at all other than the ground), it still could have the same photos.
 
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DWI

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Just curious out of the 23 pages of responses has anyone had the opportunity to hear any Wilson speaker in a system?
Curiously, me, I'm listening to them at the moment.

The costs for Wilson add up due to all the other stuff though; they pot their crossovers in black epoxy, they probably use nice thick PCBs, their ports are custom machined, the terminals are super high end units. Wilson knows how to create the impression of value to audiophiles.
When I buy a consumer product, whether a toaster or a car, I don't break it down into parts costs. Like most other products, audio is priced relative to perceived competition and brand value and is usually perceived to fit into a certain price point, and the product designed accordingly.

I don't know if I'm an audiophile or not, don't really care, but my wife certainly isn't. She hates audio equipment. We do go to a lot of music together. She chose Wilson speakers, for both looks and sound, over the other brands generally considered wife-friendly.
 

jcb

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The drivers Wilson uses are pretty typical high end quality units, presumably custom spec, from ScanSpeak, Focal and SB Acoustics. They also do some modifications, which adds to cost. Parts cost is not a big part of the cost of these speakers, or indeed any high end speaker.

To give you some perspective, the woofer is something like a 5" SS Revelator, which you can buy for around $200, and the tweeter I have no idea about but is probably a flat faceplate silk scanspeak unit; the most expensive unit is the old D2905/9700 which is again around $200. Presumably they get some kind of discount, call it 20%, and you're looking at around $640 for drivers. Add another $600 for a very complex crossover using esoteric components and you're looking at maybe $1340 in parts.

The costs for Wilson add up due to all the other stuff though; they pot their crossovers in black epoxy, they probably use nice thick PCBs, their ports are custom machined, the terminals are super high end units. Wilson knows how to create the impression of value to audiophiles.
Considering the production cost, very low production volume and likely 15-25% discount off the MSRP you’ll easily get nobody’s getting filthy rich off this speaker. That cabinet also costs serious money, I’m not a fine carpentry journeyman, but if you asked one to build you a cabinet like this it’s probably close to four figures a piece.

Problem is the performance, if this performed like most mass market $1000 dollar speakers I don’t think the complaints would be that bad.
 
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DWI

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Look at their website. They mention themself that it is

Their manual say on a shelf or desk. They state that they put a lot of effort in the design to deal with all the nasty reflextions. They also said : Wilson provides precise yet simple installation setup instructions Best to check those.
I never looked at the Wilson website before we bought the speakers. I had heard several models before, but not the ones we bought. I preferred a larger pair, but the wife did not like them. Wilson dealers deliver and set up the speakers for you. I have moved them to a different room and my dealer is due to come back and check the positioning, but they seem fine to me.

My dealer had the Tunetot in quite a large room, on stands. My wife does not like speaker stands, one of her reasons for rejecting the Focal Utopia Colour EVO.
 
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