Stereophile review of the new Wilson Watt/Puppy


I received my copy of the latest Stereophile yesterday and was curious to see what Martin Collums had to say about them, even though I would take it with a grain of salt, knowing that he had owned them in the past. He's still one of the reviewers that I consider to be most technically informed and balanced in his reviews.

I'm starting this thread because I want to know if others found his conclusions as confusing as I did. He says that the speakers have deep powerful bass, great detail, wonderful dynamic range, and are able to play very loud without breakup. 

However, after all of that, he concludes that they are better for jazz and orchestral and perhaps a bit reticent for pop and rock. This made no sense to me, especially for a $40.000 speaker. I am curious about the opinions of anyone else who has read the review. 

128x128roxy54

Listened extensively to a pair of Sabrina's with an Aurender A20 at the 2024 Fla. Expo. I really enjoyed how natural and easy this simple set up sounded. The rep there played many requests, classical, Jazz and Rock. I felt that the Sabrina's didn't miss a beat with any genre. Dynamic and alive. 

I too read the article. Really didn't spark any interest in me. If a speaker doesn't excite me from the get go, (like my Volti's do every time), I'm not interested. 

@roxy54 

Seems you’re reading in too much in this review, and the reviewer’s opinion is just HIS opinion which may not match other’s subjective preferences.

Also seems you already know the Wilson sound, but simply disagree with this reviewer’s conclusion.  Seems foolish to be bothered, are you expecting to agree with a particular reviewer 100% just because you agreed with him in the past?

Too refined for rock music.

If it is too refined for rock music, it needs a flamethrower before it gets tossed in the trash can.

@kennyc

If you read my original post you would see that my only query was if anyone else found his opinions about the speakers overall performance was contradicted by his later opinion that it wasn’t suited to rock and pop.

No one really addressed that of course. I became a thread about what members thought about the speakers and it's stablemates.

OP, the number of times we have read gushing reviews full of epiphanies for the reviewer...only to then discover months or years later that the piece that was reviewed has this and that flaw compared to the latest piece under review...is numerous times! 

Personally, when I read this kind of thing, I lose all respect for the reviewer.