It Costs How Much? Another look at the Tone Tot by Thomas J. Norton

[hifitommy]

let us remember history.  dave wilson did not intend his line of work would be speaker manufacturer, he was a recording engineer with his own record company who made his own monitoring speakers, the WATT (wilson audio tiny tot).  visitors to the studio requested him to make them a pair repeatedly and they paid the price because of their quality and robustness.

 

the WATT needed the bass to be full range so the PUPPY became the woofer section and a great number of those systems (WATT/PUPPY) sold in ever increasing updates and sounded best with Jadis tube electronics.  they would play back live levels of music producing a VERY pleasing sound.  

 

dave paid Americans on American soil decent wages including health insurance and personally installed the speakers for a large number of customers.  his products went all the way up to ~ $225k and now even higher with the newest WAMM.  they aren't easy to make sound good but when they arrive at that point (with careful placement and selection of ancillaries), they are nothing short of delightful.  

 

they are worth the money for those that afford them and the accompanying lifestyle is usually commensurate with their cost.  

 

i live at the opposite end of the food chain and yet i can still have a more than relevant sounding system.  magneplanar MMGs, Freid Model RIIs from 1975, and Spendor S3/5s with a Rythmik sub suffice to fill my bill.  ELAC speakers would do nicely if i didn't own the others.  would i buy wilson audio speakers?  YUP.

[hifitommy]

i hear a lot from others about the cost and value of products that are costly like the Wilsons.  mostly from those who are ignorant of the actual details of why such products are costly to begin with.  i will say that the largest and priciest of the wilsons are visually ugly to me but from a sonic perspective, among the most beautiful.  

 

it takes a lot of effort and expertise to make the largest ones sound right, but when the setup and configuration of the system are right, you are in for the audio treat of your life.  i don't have the financial clout to find out what they sound like in my own abode so i have what i CAN afford.  at that, many people think MY system is ludicrously pricey.  

 

so say what you will but realize that you may be exhibiting your own ignorance to those in the know.  

 

...hifitommy