Wilson Audio TuneTot Review (high-end bookshelf speaker)

[rkt31]

Asr has made it lot easier by maintaining a list. Now people having extra cash to throw away can easily buy a poor measuring expensive products from that list.

 

[Pearljam5000]

That is a market!

Jewels are used on everything, why not on speakers? Someone missing a trick here

B&W uses a *diamond * tweeter
So it has already been done

 

[Killingbeans]

I think Accuton is also making a diamond midrange?

 

[sarumbear]

B&W uses a *diamond * tweeter
So it has already been done

I see the joke but I meant diamonds around a tweeter, opals around the mid and rubies around the woofer with the brand logo in 20c gold

 

[Sokel]

I see the joke but I meant diamonds around a tweeter, opals around the mid and rubies around the woofer with the brand logo in 20c gold

The company recruited by Bugatti to provide these ultra exclusive speakers is Accuton, and it has a helpful explainer of the benefits of using diamond as a material for reproducing high-frequency sound.

Bugatti's $2.6 million supercar has diamonds in the speakers

This isn't madness, this is Bugatti

www.theverge.com

 

[Eggs Ackley]

Diamond :: Thiel & Partner - accuton

The ratio of weight to stiffness is unmatched. The internal sound speed unrivaled. The diamond membrane not only looks very elegant, it also shows considerable advantages compared to conventional membranes.

accuton.com

 

[sarumbear]

The company recruited by Bugatti to provide these ultra exclusive speakers is Accuton, and it has a helpful explainer of the benefits of using diamond as a material for reproducing high-frequency sound.

Bugatti's $2.6 million supercar has diamonds in the speakers

This isn't madness, this is Bugatti

www.theverge.com

You are missing my point completely. I am not suggesting precious stones for sound quality to be used on the cones. I am suggesting them to be used on the enclosure!

From an analogue watch analogy, it’s diamonds around the watch facia, not the rubies in the mechanism.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

You are missing my point completely. I am not suggesting precious stones for sound quality to be used on the cones. I am suggesting them to be used on the enclosure!

From an analogue watch analogy, it’s diamonds around the watch facia, not the rubies in the mechanism.

Steady on Sarum, owners of this type of kit may well like to come here and "sneer" at us sensible folk but surely, they wouldn't want to appear ostentatious !

 

[sarumbear]

Steady on Sarum, owners of this type of kit may well like to come here and "sneer" at us sensible folk but surely, they wouldn't want to appear ostentatious !

My idea is not for the owners of those devices. It’s for the manufacturers who sell mediocre products at outrageous prices.

You see, I’m on topic

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Nope, they would just add the price of the diamonds, to the outrageous price!

 

[sarumbear]

Nope, they would just add the price of the diamonds, to the outrageous price!

That was my point! That means the value of the speaker will be disconnected from its quality, like this one on review. At least then nobody can say they are expensive for what it is

 

[fineMen]

That was my point! That means the value of the speaker will be disconnected from its quality, ...

Which implicates that the diamonds on the baffle were needed to ask for the exaggerated price. They ask for the price even without the diamonds attached and as I've heard to some success. How come?

Today's expectations regarding the "stereo effect" are so outrageous, that people would rather chose a fake high fidelity speaker than a decent one. In a row of more or less compromised similar speakers the Wilson Audio Tune Tot stands out. That alone makes it desirable. It might not be as good either, but there's still promise.

All the other are disappointing, because they only show how humble, and to some degree bothersome the stereo as a technology performs. It is not that kind of effortless virtual reality as many people think.

With the Wilson Audio Tune Tot we have "big bass", namely very high harmonic distortion which kind of transforms the low tones to higher registers. The real bass notes, that are actually missing here, are substituted by the overtones--a well known effect from human physiology. Add the huge hump at 100Hz for some heft.
We have a clean midrange, once the bass is muted. That is the case with "female voices" and other rubbish of a test program. Possible by the raw drivers' merits.
We have slightly lifted treble for in-Your-face clarity, again covered by good driver material.
We have muted presence for plush smoothness otherwise.
We have out of phase radiation which emphasises immersion, width and sheer spectacle in the stereo department.

Only that the speaker will annoy everyone on the long run. But, then it stands at home on an expensive pedestal presenting, even for the few wealthier people, say a month's net income. What to do? Still believe in Your good investment choice, but listen at lower volumes, as to compensate for the unnerving faults. For many the case would be closed then for a while.

From my perspective as a DIYer, not knowing anything, the Wilson praise is crappy hoax from all those magazines in question. And, may be opposed to You, I don't feel pity about the said audience anyway.

 

[Vacceo]

The whole "magic" thing, attached to electronics or speakers, to me, is nonsense. The "magic", if it exists, should be in the source and all the tricks to record it. The gear's only purpose is to give us whatever is in the source, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[AdamG]

Gentleman, let’s try, as difficult as that may be, to stay on Topic. This is after all an Official Review Thread. I thank you for the herculean effort in advance. Now go cool off and rehydrate after that workout.

 

[DWI]

whether people can afford them or not is irrelevant to the fact that they are poor value for money.

If you want a small stylish speaker in maroon or navy blue to match the colour scheme of your office, kitchen or apartment, then it is not poor value for money.

There seems little point reviewing a product like this if you ignore the metrics most likely to be relevant to its customers. It’s a bit like measuring a $2,000 Hermes scarf based on its thermal properties alone. You’d do better at Walmart for $30, but not as stylish.

 

[test1223]

The interesting part of this speaker review is the high subjective rating with eq, despite or because of some not perfect measurements.

IMHO some of you are also wrong with the assumption that only and always a linear flat frequency response and directivity will sound well.

The reduction in beaming at about 2.5kHz is maybe a key point with this speaker. The differences in perception of direct sound to diffuse sound due to the head related transfer functions is a hint that not always a flat line is the correct tonal balance of a speaker. Especially if the direct sound to (diffuse) reflection ratio is usual.

The designer of the highly regarded ME Geithain studio monitors also said that the directivity in this frequency range has to be adjusted differently according to the listing distance. Otherwise a recording don't sound natural with a speaker.

The ideal bass room curve has to be adjusted according to the distortion level, the amount of vibration at the listening position and the reverberation time.

The listening level and the level at which the recording was mixed is important if a loudness characteristic of a speaker sounds better or worse...

Therefore I think some judgements are way to narrow minded of such a speaker which sounds subjectively good. The human hearing is heavily none linear and we only got one mix of a recoding...

 

[DWI]

As we all know, the audiophile market is dominated by the ideal that "if it cost more it must sound better".
The little boy's club of print and web media hang together to promote this line of thinking and insure a prosperous market of very high margin products.
Sadly so little that is written/reviewed today can be trusted to honestly inform the consumer of the truth.
Fact is that its a very corrupt reviewing chain at most places.

Just a lot of presumptions. I buy speakers in what I imagine you consider to be the audiophile market. In my personal experience more $$$ definitely not always better. Lots of considerations, like general sonic presentation, the size of the room they are for, how they look, how big they are, how deep they go, any fatigue, etc. one of my key criteria is how speakers sound at low volume, which some very expensive speakers do terribly.

I can’t imagine there are many people naive enough not to understand the game that goes one with consumer audio magazines, but likewise ASR’s review of the LA90 amplifier came out on the product launch day and Topping use the review for their own website publicity, so there was clearly coordination there. I hope ASR got paid something. That’s just how the world works, the grown ups in the room will see it for what it is, it’s not corruption. If Topping advertised in Stereophile they might get some reviews. You don’t have to read the reviews or buy based on them, I certainly don’t. My issue is that they tend to be incredibly tedious and I don’t have the patience for them.

 

[CtheArgie]

@DWI , so you are accusing @amirm of something that he hasn’t disclosed?
You just love to throw grenades using flowery language.
Why are you here?

 

[Vintage57]

Just a lot of presumptions. I buy speakers in what I imagine you consider to be the audiophile market. In my personal experience more $$$ definitely not always better. Lots of considerations, like general sonic presentation, the size of the room they are for, how they look, how big they are, how deep they go, any fatigue, etc. one of my key criteria is how speakers sound at low volume, which some very expensive speakers do terribly.

I can’t imagine there are many people naive enough not to understand the game that goes one with consumer audio magazines, but likewise ASR’s review of the LA90 amplifier came out on the product launch day and Topping use the review for their own website publicity, so there was clearly coordination there. I hope ASR got paid something. That’s just how the world works, the grown ups in the room will see it for what it is, it’s not corruption. If Topping advertised in Stereophile they might get some reviews. You don’t have to read the reviews or buy based on them, I certainly don’t. My issue is that they tend to be incredibly tedious and I don’t have the patience for them.

Your likely to be a conspiracist would be a good guess

 

[Billy Budapest]

ASR’s review of the LA90 amplifier came out on the product launch day and Topping use the review for their own website publicity, so there was clearly coordination there. I hope ASR got paid something.

Reviews are often embargoed by manufacturers until after product release dates. Manufacturers don’t need to pay reviewers to embargo their reviews until products are released. Instead, if a reviewer breaks their promise to embargo a review, then the manufacturer will never send them a pre-release product again. That’s motivation enough to comply. Nothing fishy about this.