The $27,900 disappointment? Wilson Audio Watt Puppy 8 issues.

I think you are missing the real point when describing design flaws with certain speakers. It is not an issue of the quality of the amp or what type of load the amp can drive. The simple fact is that lower impedance speakers are harder to drive, result in more distortion and quite possibly prevent the speaker from sounding as good as it could if the impedance were higher. 

Wilson built its reputation years ago when they really had something special when compared with other speakers of the time. They do some things very well for a dynamic speaker. They also seem to ignore other very important aspects of design which back you into a corner concerning amplification. They have never been on my radar due to what I consider to be bad engineering and design decisions. 

Wilson speakers utilize some wonderful ideas and the execution is often very good. However, I think a case can be made they dont sound nearly as good as they could. Now that they abandoned that awful tweeter they sound better. The problems with Wilson speakers could be considered bad engineering and design.

Once again this thread veers from Wilson to if you are a Danny fan or not. 

I liked his points because he pointed out illogical design elements. That is, aspects which make no sense and cant be good. 

Thanks for making the point of the Wilson detractors. It isnt about what is good for the salesman. 

Oh and I see Merlin mentioned. Judd from Joule modified his personal Merlin speakers ever so slightly. I believe to tame the tweeter a bit. Compare the retail prices on the Wilsons vs the Merlins. I think it fair to expect less compromises (design flaws) with the Merlins.

It is a very nice system, but if it were me I would pair the Wilsons with a really good S.S. (high $) amp to see what you get and what you give away. There is no way that a speaker that dips like the Wilsons can work ideally with tube amps. To me a glaring problem in a good speaker line.

Well I have owned Adcom amps and they never were high end. Good value to be sure. There is no advantage to low impedance speakers on either S.S. or tubed amps. Sure you get more power on low impedance loads but you also get much more distortion and most likely the nasty type. I have never talked with a mfgr. of S.S. devices that didnt say their gear sounded better on higher impedance loads. It is a flaw and a flaw which isnt necessary. I wouldnt expect Wilson to admit this since this seems to be a common thing with most if not all of their speakers. Problem is the best I have ever heard the Wilsons sound is with tube gear and lower watt tube gear to be exact. Of course when they turned it up things went to hell in a hurry. 

An amps ability to drive lower impedance loads has no relation to the amps quality. 

No one with expensive high quality speakers would drive these with cheap electronics. This isnt the issue. The issue is if Wilson can achieve the same quality of sound making the speakers higher impedance with a more refined curve. As it stands Wilson is excluding a great number of amps on the market because they cant drive lower impedance loads.

I should add that Wilson has been very successful to date with some idiosyncratic performance issues so I cant blame the son for not changing much on the new designs. Thank goodness he changed the tweeter.

Well I think this is not surprising. Those who are attracted to this sound buy the speakers and those that arent dont. 

Great how did the demo sound?

Absurd thought that because you can drive a $ 20K plus speaker with cheap electronics you would. As if this would be a reason to not make a speaker easy to drive.

Many of you are showing a fundamental misunderstanding of how most amps react to low impedance speakers. Low impedance is never a good thing. Yes can make a good sounding weird curve/high impedance speaker which sounds good, but why would you. You seem to think that enormous thought goes into every aspect of speaker design. 

Remember that when David Wilson started building speakers, no tube options were available or at least in favor. 

I meant weird curve/low impedance speaker. Sorry!

So you mention a demo which you didnt hear. I guess because Dave did this demo we should assume the sound was excellent. C'mon show us a bit of respect!

Yes sarcasm from Mulv., but not very clever or applicable. 

Yes I agree with you. There seems to be some commonality between many of the very expensive floor standers in not only impedance but also in the material used to make the drivers. I am considering getting  250W transformer coupled tube monos to explore the possibility that I can work around some of the limiting factors with hard to drive speakers and tubes. Beating the speakers into submission with lots of tube power. I would love to explore S.S., but the only amps of this type I can listen to are all over $ 50K, except perhaps for the Trilogy amps. 

Thanks for discussing and not taking a more aggressive approach. Notice I have never said Wilson made bad speakers.

Well it may not be intentional but necessary given the drivers used and crossover design.