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

Dealers must love selling them!  $28K speaker with a 2.4 ohm impedance, so you have to buy a $15K amp to drive them.

Ohhhh, I bet Wilson isn't happy.

I'm glad to see Danny changed his hair style. He used to look like my aunt. Beard and all...

@thecarpathian 

I'm glad to see Danny changed his hair style. He used to look like my aunt. Beard and all...

ROTFLMAO

Ha, yeah, he's cleaned up a bit.

Isn't this a "review" by a competitor who mostly criticizes the design choices made by Wilson for the Watt/Puppy?  There is no such thing as a set of perfect design, so that any choice necessarily involves compromises.  If you optimize one thing, something else is not so good.  Is the choice of connecting the two woofers in parallel necessarily worse than connecting them in series?  One way lowers impedance and makes the woofers a more difficult load, but the other way reduces efficiency.  The bottom line is how something sounds with the gear owned by prospective buyers. 

While I am  not a big fan of this speaker, a lot of people like it and they voted for it with their wallet.  There are MANY other speakers, both cheaper and much more expensive that I like even less, and many that I like more.   That is how it goes and this is less a review than a personal discourse on one builder's preference on design.

I like this guy and GR Research but he has one oar in the water and one oar out. He sells kits that measure and sound better for less money than the products he trashes. So he is a salesman for his product….

Does anyone know if there has ever been a pair of speakers sent to him that he couldn't improve? Just says "nothing to be done here, it's perfect".

I'm not bashing Danny, I know he makes quality products. Just curious if he's ever sent anything back with no mods necessary.

Does anyone know if there has ever been a pair of speakers sent to him that he couldn't improve? Just says "nothing to be done here, it's perfect".

I've seen such videos, I think. But they're rare. They could be instances of honesty on his part or just a way of ensuring that the other criticisms seem more justified.

Bottom line, these videos are just his professional opinion, anyway. Others will disagree and then how does one decide between them?

In the end, I look for the economic incentives for these guys. How does it benefit them to say this or that? Are they selling more of their stuff with these views? Are they attracting viewers with their "bad boy" schtick (oh, Mikey...)? Are they building confidence in their objectivity as a reviewer? It's pretty hard to know how the bread gets buttered. 

I believe with Krell , Dan Agostino amp or Mark Levinson amp are the right amp for the Wilson watt puppy.

Haven't watched yet, but I really like this guy. I watched his how-to video on soldering before I re-did the crossovers in my Maggies. He is an asset to the audiophile community. 

Think about this though, on top of your day job, and moderating your own sub-forum, you start a You Tube channel. You want plenty of hits, and you have initial intentions to provide great communication to watchers, and respond to every comment. And then you get successful, and it provides you with some income, wonderful! And then you get really successful- After 1 day he already has 575 comments! How would any sane person find the time to read and respond to them all. 

Ohhhh, I bet Wilson isn't happy.

I'm glad to see Danny changed his hair style. He used to look like my aunt. Beard and all...

He is very fit for a guy his age (runner/athlete, trains like spring chicken, etc). Audiophiles in his age group should atleast pick that up and get healthier even if they don’t care for his diy kits.

I just want to point out that Wilson was making very different speakers in a different market then than now.

Not that I’m a fanboy or could even really justify their prices, but when we look back at vintage speakers we are looking back at different times and tastes.

Vintage Infinity, Focal and B&W all can easily be criticized by a DIYer/modder. Troels Gravesen has also done a few rebuilds (Yamaha, Snell) but sticks more to the facts.

While it's easy to critique these vintage pieces now, it's also good to remember that they were actually what was considered successful. 

I’m not saying don’t mod, but be gentle on the reputations of the original designers.

I must agree with one poster on that vid. Those speakers remind me of a 50 year old trash can or maybe modern day DaleK.  Prefer the more classic designs , think Dynaudio Contour series ...

I've heard the Watt Puppy 8s on several occasions and thought they sounded wonderful each time I heard them. May not have been my first choice in speakers, but they still sounded very pleasing to my ears.  Me personally, I've always relied more on my ears than reviews from whoever.  Happy listening.      

I believe VERY LITTLE of what Danny has to say! He's a competitor of other speaker companies and loves to bash them like he has the best products in the world! I have absolutely ZERO respect for the guy!

This reminds me of modern political campaigning.

90% of your campaign is spent telling the world what an idiot the guy you're running against is and 10% is used to tell the people what you are offering as an alternative.

I briefly owned Danny’s Super V loudspeaker a few years ago. While I never warmed up to the coaxial full range driver, the OB bass modules produced the finest bass I’ve ever heard in my room.

I believe VERY LITTLE of what Danny has to say! He’s a competitor of other speaker companies and loves to bash them like he has the best products in the world! I have absolutely ZERO respect for the guy!

Why don’t you have ZERO RESPECT for the unsatisfied customer who packed up his Willy Puppies and shipped it to GR Research for getting it improved?

Why do you keep misdirecting your ZERO RESPECT at the wrong guy in this lil transaction? He is just fixing design flaws and other inadequacies because there are a bunch of disgruntled owners shipping their speakers to him. Those unsatisfied/unhappy speaker customers should be on the receiving end of your ZERO RESPECT, i should think.

How dare these guys who paid the 28k be unhappy with Willy Puppy?? How dare?? eh?

Upgrading component parts for better sonics is nothing new. Using words like “disappointment” and “issues” insinuates that it was originally designed as flawed which is grossly incorrect.  

Danny had very good things to say about the Goldenear BRX.

I bought a set of KLH m5 before the price increase, Danny looked at a pair and he was impressed with them but did put together a kit. Didn’t buy as I’m pleased as is. I also found a preowned pair of Wilson og Sabrinas for half cost of new very pleased. Happy listening. 

There are a ton of neurotic, and insecure, folks in the hobby that will never be happy, and there will always be audio professionals to accommodate them.

+1 williywonka

@willywonka +2

Mike

I don't begrudge Danny for such videos. This is how his business model operates. From what I know, his main source of revenue comes from selling DIY kits and not upgrading speakers from other manufacturers. So why does he do it? Because it establishes his reputation in the industry as a cut above the other riff raff like Wilson, B&W, etc. The message being conveyed is that this guy knows his shit, he is a better designer than those idiots at Wilson. The halo effects helps him sell his DIY kits. It's a brilliant business strategy whether we agree with him or not.

Never really heard a Wilson speaker that I liked.

I don’t think he know what he’s talking about.

The cabinets are no longer made of Corian though that’s what he said.

He make a huge deal about the tweeter and midrange sharing a common cable out of the crossover so that the tweeter has to go through a 220 mfd cap, which he po poo’s to no end. But when I look at the picture of the speaker’s backside, I see separate mid and high sets of cables out of the woofer cabinet. So why would he think the tweeter goes though the big cap?

He doesn’t know how Wilson does the woofers and didn’t bother to read the Stereophile article that clearly notes that both woofers are in parallel along with a 20 ohm resistor.

BTW, I put a 30 ohm resistor in parallel with the 18" JBL woofer of my speakers.  It smooths out the response tremendously.

Hmm.. I posted something a few mins ago. There was nothing offensive in my post. I see that it has been removed.

Was it about his hair?

I bet it was...

No, I'm totally surprised. It did not contain anything that violated the policy to the best of my knowledge.

Seems legit to me.  Yes, he has a business and promotes it.  Don't have to watch or buy.

@deep_333 ,

"He is very fit for a guy his age.."

What a coincidence! So is my aunt...

I have to say, a waste of time. Yeah, little conflict of interest going on here. Wilson designed a speaker differently than he would, not a big surprise. I have heard different Wilson speaker for decades. They sound great and are consistent in there sound. They are not for me... but I completely understand why they have such a huge following... because of the way they sound... not how they chart on paper or connect their filter. 

These are great speakers (I have heard many iterations of them) and it is reasonable that someone is going to power them with a high end audiophile amplifier capable of dealing with their impedance. 

I'd feel really bad if anyone saw this video and did not go down and hear them before writing them off.

Danny Hates every speaker that arent his. I dont trust that guy at all. He is tryin to sell upgrade parts. Wilson is a well known high end brand. The audacity to think he can fix them is hilarious

Isn't this a "review" by a competitor who mostly criticizes the design choices made by Wilson for the Watt/Puppy? 

No, it is not a review.  An unhappy Wilson owner sent the speakers to Danny.

That is how it goes and this is less a review than a personal discourse on one builder's preference on design.

So would you drop $27K on a choppy FR and accept that as a design preference?  The bad FR was duplicated by another respected reviewer.  That Wilson FR is not even close to what is considered industry standard +/- 3 dB.   

A Frequency Response curve shows if a speaker is accurate.  That curve is a mess and could not even be deemed a ":voicing" choice.

@arafiq 

Hmm.. I posted something a few mins ago. There was nothing offensive in my post. I see that it has been removed.

Well I'm curious. Maybe it was a technical glitch. Try it again and see if it gets removed again 

Didn’t they stop making the WP-8 more than a decade ago?  

I'm not of fan of this guy.  While he may have decent products himself, spending his time slagging off competitors to create hype is a shabby way to do business.

@deep_333 I'm not necessarily talking about THIS incident! I'm talking about many other ones over the years!

@paqua123 +1

I really didn't want to love the WP8 but I did. That being said;

I wonder if the owner had adequate amplification and befitting room treatment? 

Reviews of the rarified air top audio gear pieces we often get reviews like a car guy complaining that the Ferrari just isn't as fast 0-60 as his Dodge, ergo: Dodge is better. 

move along, nothing to see here, clickbait

This is an infomercial masquerading as a hifi enthusiast video. If you have the cheese to buy these speakers, you shouldn't try to drive them using a 100 wpc (insert name) receiver bought from Best Buy. Your in a different league now. People don't listen to frequency response curves, they listen to music. This guys whole thing is to criticize someone else's work. Why I wonder there are no samples of music we can listen to? As a musician I can tell you, I've never played a gig or concert where we showed the sheet music or charts and never played a note. This whole video was a waste of 18+ minutes.

@mclinnguy I sent a note to Tammy (admin) and she has reposted my original message. If you scroll up you can read it :)

BTW, I have a friend who drives his Wilson Alexia 2 with high end Audio Research amps and preamps. Very few systems can recreate the live event, e.g. jazz clubs, as his. He has worked hard on all aspects of his audio chain and the results are astonishing. 

For anyone considering a Wilson Audio Tune Tot though I encourage you to look at Fritz as a better sounding and more affordable alternative.

@arafiq 

Oh you are lucky, I would have banned that for sure. 

I also had something strange yesterday- I typed a semi-long response in a different thread, and I hit the post button on the bottom, and it disappeared and I got a 'log in using 2 factor authentication" pop up on screen. Sometimes strange computer issues happen. Of course I couldn't refresh or go back and retrieve the message and had to re-craft it.

In the future I hope I remember to save the whole message before posting. 

I’m surprised she reposted while still leaving s@“t in the post. I’ve had s@“t deleted for less than that, lol….