Wilson Watt Puppies 50th year Anniversary model

I’ve heard the new ones on several systems- Moon and Boulder. It’s the first Wilson Speaker I’ve lusted after;)

I felt the same way when I heard them with Mac amplifiers

Previous iterations did not strike me the same way,

I do have them, set up with the Moon 791/761. I cannot compare them with previous WWPs as I haven’t heard them. But my own experience was simple -- and pretty mind-blowing. I was in the market for a pair of B&W 802D4s to go with the Moons, and auditioned up the B&W food chain starting with the 805s. At the 802s I switched over to the WWPs and (this is admittedly subjective) I was blown away. There was no coming up that rabbit hole without the WWPs so here they are, singing as I write this. They are pretty amazing. I should qualify things by saying that I have a very long run of ethernet cable going to the 791, and plan to either create a short fiber moat or simply add an Etherregen. I can report back if you're interested (though probably it's not too relevant to this discussion).

I listened to B&W D4 801s and 802s (and Focal and Sonis Faber) and to my ear the WWP bested them all. All were Mac driven.

What speaker cables are you using?

Hi @ritter06 sorry I missed your post: Analysis Plus Black Mesh Oval 9.

Cheers. How did you decide on those? Try any others?

I have had the 50th anniversary edition Watt/Puppy for about 3 weeks.  I am using them with Ayre MX-R amplifiers.  These replaced Wilson Sophia 2s that I used for over 15 years. 

At the time I got the Sophia 2s I listened to the then, just released, Sashas and the Sophia 3 and thought that they were not an improvement over the Sophia 2s.  I have been looking to upgrade for a few years but never found anything that I enjoyed enough to make a change.  The Watt/Puppys are the first Wilson's I thought sounded enough better to justify a change.

When I auditioned the 50th anniversary edition of the Watt/Puppy I really liked them from the first song.  I then auditioned them with my electronics and I was hooked.  Now that I have listened to them for 3 weeks I like them even more than the auditions.

I have a very long run of ethernet cable going to the 791, and plan to either create a short fiber moat or simply add an Etherregen.

@debrajray  You could use something like a Wi-Fi extender or many people here use the Eero Mesh system so you can run a short Ethernet cable from that to your system, and it’s certainly cheap to try. 

Hi @ritter06 I did have a set of Analysis Plus cables (not the Oval 9s) on another system and I’ve always liked them. I’ve also used Chord Shawline X cables in the past. All good stuff. The Oval 9s sounded better --- I had switched to them before the WPs so I could fortunately register the "marginal contribution" of the cables alone. Whether the whole package is optimal God only knows but it sounds just great to me.

@soix I have to say that I am old-school enough that I am still anxious about drops on WiFi. I actually have an entire mesh of Eero Pros, though there are thick walls in my apartment and (for boring historical reasons) I am going literally from one edge to the other: internet entry and Roon core (MacMini) at one end, the Moons/WWP on the other. What I did do was terminate the ethernet at a TrendNet switch, changed to fiber optic and ran that into an Etherregen with a short patch of ethernet out its B-port and into the Moon 791. It did make a discernible difference probably because my ethernet run is so long. I was very happy with the sound before, and even happier now.

(Also very happy to share details about the exact fiber optic setup.)

That said, I should probably bite the bullet and see if an Eero extender with ethernet out can do just as well. Ah, rabbit holes.

One thing I will say about the WWPs. They are significantly directional speakers. I do have a sweet spot in my living room where the music is transformative. But I am not always in that sweet spot and I would say that there is a very well-defined drop-off as you move away from it. It’s still fantastic music, but --- how shall I put it? --- the WPs kind of tug you back to that one location. It can be slightly irritating sometimes, but look, these are seriously audiophile speakers and I guess I am not *that* serious an audiophile to stay rooted in one place ...

I have to say that I am old-school enough that I am still anxious about drops on WiFi.

@debrajray  I don’t think using mesh would be Wi-Fi but rather over power lines so may not be as susceptible to dropouts, and many report it sounds much better than Wi-Fi probably because it bypasses the Wi-Fi receiver in the streamer.   Anyway, since you already have the Eero it would sure seem worth trying just to see.  Personally I’d be interested in what you find if you do try it.

@soix I will do this and report back when I find some time. However, unless I am completely mistaken, the Eero mesh does run over wifi (and not power lines, unless you use an adapter, and I am even more suspicious of those). Of course you can daisy-chain eeros together with ethernet, but then we're back to ethernet anyway.

Anyone else with experience of Eero mesh over long distance for audio? The big advantage, of course, is that WiFi would not carry electrical noise.

@debrajray  Yeah, you’re probably right but still might be interesting. 

My new WWPs are on their way. I was thinking of Shunyata cables but the dealer persuaded me to go with Transparent. That’s what I auditioned them with so I’ll start with these.

@debrajray - my 801’s were somewhat annoying directional as well- 6” left or right made a difference, so I just sat where they sounded best and tried not blink or sneeze. 

@ritter06 They will be amazing. And I’ve heard Transparent at a dealer. The whole package should sound great; let us know.

PS which Transparent cable did you get?

I use Transparent Ultra Gen 6 on my main system. They are outstanding. Once my system got to a high enough level, this is the only brand I use and have spent literally hundreds of hour comparing and contrasting interconnects and wires. They are exactly what they are supposed to be, transparent. For lessor components brands like Cardas and other brands are great choices, DHLabs for budget. But for top notch components, Transparent... or the very highest level of Nordost. 

Ultras. Should have them in a couple of weeks. 

@ritter06 great! I'm envious (but hopefully for my wallet not envious enough :-)). @soix I tried out the mesh in different ways and started a thread on it as it is kind of off-topic here: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/wifi-vs-ethernet-revisited ---  --- any responses welcome.