When the annals of hi-fi history are written, I think the Wilson Audio WATT/Puppy deserve a page or two for their excellent performance, unusual longevity and impressive sales success. They are claimed to be the most successful high-end ($10,000+) speakers ever made, after all.
Wilson Audio was founded in 1974 and originally focused on modifying turntables and producing high-quality records. It wasn’t until 1981 that the company made its first speaker, the huge WAMM (Wilson Audio Modular Monitor) – a complex, multi-enclosure assault on the high-end of the speaker market.
Article continues belowWilson wanted his new portable monitor speakers to “speak the same language as the WAMM”, and while accepting the limitations imposed by their compact dimensions of 34.6 x 28.1 x 41.9cm (hwd), it’s fair to say that the original WATT succeeded in that task.
WATT stands for Wilson Audio Tiny Tot. This two-way design used a port-loaded 16.5cm doped-paper cone mid/bass mated to a 25mm fibreglass inverted-dome tweeter. Nothing too unusual there. However, its enclosure design tackled the issues of rigidity and resonance control with considerable conviction.
The WATT’s distinctively shaped tapered enclosure, with its avoidance of parallel sides, inherently discouraged the buildup of internal standing waves. Add braced mineral-loaded polymer panels lined with high-loss bituminous damping and mass-loaded by strategically placed 19mm lead alloy slabs into the equation, and the result was a wonderfully solid and quiet structure.
Despite a jaw-dropping price of $4200 in 1986, the WATT proved a hit, delivering exceptional insight and resolution for the time. But the speakers also created an issue for the company. The WATT was a small speaker, so the low-frequency extension was necessarily limited.
The official specification quotes a low-frequency reach of 58Hz. This was fine for the nearfield monitoring they were originally intended for, but fell short of a full-range performance when used conventionally in more usual domestic situations.
Owners of the original WATT would pair it with third-party subwoofers to extend its low-end reach, but the variability in results persuaded Dave Wilson to offer an in-house solution. The Puppy woofer system was born in 1989.
The Puppy was designed so that the WATT sat on top. That first-gen version was built of laminated MDF and was 61 cm high. Take its grille off, and you would find a pair of 20-cm polypropylene drive units. An internal crossover would accept the signal from the amplifier, filter the lows and feed the mid and higher frequencies to the partnering WATT.
The combination worked a treat, and a legend was born.
A design that has evolved with consistency
Over the years, the appearance of the WATT/Puppy remained relatively unchanged. However, under that familiar facade, each new generation enjoyed improvements to every aspect of their design in a bid to push performance standards ever higher. That continuous development journey came to an end in 2011, when the WATT/Puppy (then in Series 8 guise) was superseded by other models in the Wilson Audio range.
However, a 50th anniversary is a big deal. Noticing that there was still plenty of love for the WATT/Puppy, Wilson Audio decided to bring it back in 2024 to celebrate that landmark birthday.
This wasn’t some nostalgia-driven act. The new speaker, officially called The WATT/Puppy packs all the driver improvements, new material technology and design advances made during the previous 13 years. Price? A substantial £42,998 / $41,500 / AU$72995 per pair.
Though a touch bigger than the original, this new generation remains a relatively compact model for what is essentially a full-range speaker. Each channel stands 105 cm tall and weighs in at a vertebrae-straining 72.6 kg.
The new WATT is still a two-way design but now sports a 25mm silk-dome tweeter with an 18cm paper-pulp composite midrange. The partnering Puppy still features a pair of 20cm bass drivers, but now those too use paper-pulp diaphragms rather than the polypropylene of earlier generations. As before, the crossover – now made with custom components – is housed in the Puppy and connects to the WATT through umbilical leads.
While there is little significant difference in the general shape of the speakers, much has changed in the enclosure’s materials. Over the years, Wilson Audio has developed a range of proprietary mineral-loaded phenolic resin composites for use in its speaker cabinets. They have names such as X-Material, V-Material and S-Material.
There isn’t much precise detail about the specifics of each one, but the company’s engineers use a combination of them to tune the density, rigidity and hardness characteristics of various parts of the enclosure as desired.
Take a look at the WATT/Puppy’s specifications, and the sensitivity figure of 89dB/W/m might suggest that this speaker is easy to drive, but that its impedance characteristics are demanding. A powerful, top-quality amplifier is a must if you want to get the most out of them – and those don’t come cheaply.
These speakers are also demanding of how they are installed. Wilson Audio has a detailed and comprehensive setup method that is best carried out by a trained dealer. Given the complexity, value and weight of the speakers, leaving the initial installation to the experts makes practical sense too.
This latest generation of WATT/Puppy features trickle-down time-alignment adjustability that optimises image focus at the listening position, and that takes experience to set properly.
Top-class partnering electronics are a must
Any speaker at this level positively demands a top-class system. All my listening takes place at the London-based offices of Absolute Sounds, the UK distributor of Wilson Audio. The reference system used for testing consists of components also distributed by Absolute Sounds.
It is a formidable system, with a high-class digital front-end of an Antipodes Audio Oladra music server feeding a dCS Vivaldi trio of Apex DAC, Streamer/Upsampler and Master Clock. Audio Research is responsible for the amplification, and it comes in the form of a Reference 6SE preamplifier driving a pair of Reference 330M mono valve power amplifiers. The cables are Transparent’s range-topping Magnum Opus, and all the equipment is supported by Artesania racks.
A quick totting up of the prices gives a system cost in the ballpark of £425,000 (roughly $573,000+), with the cables and supports accounting for around half of that. Note, that price doesn’t include the speakers.
Admittedly, the setup is massively expensive, but it is also typical of the kind of system the WATT/Puppy could be partnered with.
Listening session
I have only a few hours with the speakers and am listening to an unfamiliar system in an equally unfamiliar environment. What follows should be considered as a first impression rather than a proper in-depth analysis of the WATT/Puppy’s abilities. The music I play is a mix of the hi-res files stored on the Antipodes Oladra music server and those available from the Qobuz streaming service.
The listening room is a good size, at around 2.5 x 4.3 x 7.5m (hwd), though I would expect the WATT/Puppy to be equally happy working in larger spaces. The speakers are well out from the back wall and carefully angled in towards the listening position.
Wilson Audio has worked hard on the time alignment between the drive units, and the WATT’s firing angle can be adjusted to focus the sound at the listening position. There is even a nifty spirit level built in to make this easier.
That might sound like a lot of fuss, but it really works. My first thoughts are of a solid and impressively precise soundstage where every sonic element and instrument is locked in position. The presentation is expansive, extending well beyond the speaker enclosures, including in the depth perspective.
Playing music such as Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar OST shows off the WATT/Puppy’s ability to deliver a huge scale on appropriate recordings, coupled with an astonishing sense of authority.
The WATT/Puppy’s dynamic reach is exceptional, going from quiet to loud effortlessly with the music demands. There is little sense of strain or hardening when they are pushed to high volume levels. It helps that these speakers sound composed and controlled at all times, with musical complexity holding no fear for them. Every instrument and sound has a place, and that stability doesn’t waver.
Now, a pair of 20cm bass drivers is hardly slumming it as far as low-frequency reach goes, and in the room we’re using, they deliver plenty. I listen to a variety of bass-torture tracks such as Massive Attack’s Angel and The Battle from the Gladiator OST, and marvel at the WATT/Puppy's low-end grip and agility.
Bass notes are full bodied but remain wonderfully articulate and balanced. Given a larger listening space, though, I can see the benefit of opting for one of Wilson Audio’s bigger (and more expensive) models to extend that bass reach and authority further.
Tonally, the WATT/Puppy sound seamless. There is a lovely top-to-bottom consistency to their handling of the frequency range, and a good balance overall. As I work through my range of music, it is hard to miss the passion and clarity of Stevie Wonder’s voice on Pastime Paradise or the intricate rendering of instrumental textures on that recording.
The same applies to the delicacy and sheer level of insight offered on Ólafur Arnalds' understated Found Songs set. While the WATT/Puppy is more than happy to thump out bass and play at high volume levels, its ability to deliver more subtle music has to be savoured. The image scale becomes more intimate, with dynamic nuances communicated well.
Overall detail levels are as good as you would expect, with every instrumental strand laid out in front of the listener to inspect. However, and rather pleasingly, the WATT/Puppy also allows the listener to sit back and simply enjoy the music. These speakers don’t sound overly analytical to my ears and still put the music and the performance first.
However, their exceptional level of clarity does put a spotlight on the system electronics and recording quality, so if anything isn’t right or up to an appropriate standard, these speakers won’t hide that fact. Transparency is a double-edged sword after all.
I have been told that the WATT/Puppy is currently the best-selling Wilson Audio speaker in the UK. Having been lucky enough to spend a few hours in their company, I completely understand why. They fully deserve their legendary status.
This is not a proper What Hi-Fi? review, and that’s why there is no star rating. Our reviews are all carried out in our custom-built, dedicated test rooms with known reference systems. Those reviews take many days to complete, and we try to cover all bases as far as installation and system matching are concerned.
Sometimes, it is not practical to test a product in our facilities due to practical constraints or system-matching requirements. That applies to the Wilson Audio speakers here, and that’s why we decided to listen to them at the offices of Absolute Sounds and use their high-quality in-house system. So this isn't a full review, more of a first impression and a deep dive into the engineering to give us a taster of what the product is capable of.
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Read our review of the Wilson Audio Duette II speakers
