I bought these speakers to replace my B&W 801 Series IIIs. The rest ofthe system is a Krell KAV 300cd, KRC 3, and FPB 300 with MIT interconnects
and cables. I liked the B&W 801s a lot, but they tended to congeal when
presented with large orchestral music, and they had a somewhat ponderous bass.

I had been shopping for replacements since last spring and had
auditioned the Egglestonworks Andra, Thiel CS6, Aerial Acoustics 10T, B&W
Signature 30, Vandersteen V, and the B&W Nautilus 801. I found that
none of these other speakers could begin to approach the resolution of the
WATT/Puppies or the WATT/Puppies ability to materialize performers out
of thin air.

Are they worth the price? I know some people who consider spending over
a $200 for a sound system to be foolishness. It certainly would not
be worth it to them. However, if you are willing to spend this kind of
money on speakers, I have yet to hear anything that approaches the
WATT/Puppies. I find them to be truly magical.

I recently got to listen to a pair of watt/pupps in the same room as some dunlavy sc-III's. Look, folks, the Wilson's upper-midrange oriented balanceis not revealing, it is terribly colored. No-go. (The dunlavy's, on the other hand, have to be a landmark in lack of tonal coloration.)

I heard the Wilson Watt Puppies in 96. I did not like the at all.. For one thing, They were way to foward sounding. They Bass was very boomy. Plus the speaker sounded a little thin. I have a canton 701 speaker for 1500$ modified. I replaced the canton tweeter with scanspeak 9300. I also replaced the internal wiring. I"m using Tara Labs Quantam 3plus. This cable is amazing for a 100 dollar cable. Its very smooth sounding. This speaker blew away the Wilson Watt Puppies. My friend brought over his Watt Puppies and was shocked that my cantons sounded better. If you want a great speaker. Try to Dunluvy 4 or 5 speakers. There tremendous. But if you want the ultimate speaker. Listen to the Esp speakers. These speakers are amazing. They sound so perfect. get back

I was in the market for $3000 speakers when I took a casual listen to the Watt Puppies on my way to listen to speakers I could afford. I had never heard speakers with such clarity and soundstage with such a small footprint, and I had never heard of Wilson Audio other than in passing; I chose not to read reviews of speakers but rather trusted a few wellknown CD's with music from Carmina Burana to Joni Mitchell and my ears. After 6 or 8 hours of listening and trying to persuade myself and my checkbook that the Martin Logans were just as good(and they were very good) I walked out with the Watt Puppies. I did feel dizzy for a week or so everytime I thought about the price, but I got better each time I turned up the volume. Are there other speakers as good? Almost certaintly. For less money? Probably. Companies who will be around to upgrade 10 years from now? Who knows? I can't really justify spending $18K for speakers any more than one can justify any of the extravagances we take for granted in this very rich country. Let's face it though, George Lucas and Chesky records could certaintly have anything they want, and they choose Watt Puppies. If you don't like them, go buy a used car instead:).

I do not own nor Should I afford the Watt/Puppy. However I will likely own the Dunlevy 4 or higher soon. I listened the the Watt in DesMoines last month, expecting to hear the problems often related to this speaker. It was a smashing demo. It must be extremely setup and component sensitive, because it was everything you would expect from such an expensive speaker system( the set up used middle road Audio Research gear). Mark Ulmann is correct. The rest of you who hear bass thumps, forward presentation and no stage have got some real or imagined problems in your system and/or between your ears. Perhaps they were sitting on a trampoline? Still too much for me to justify, but I am glad I heard them. It further sanctions- Listening for yourself. Fi giving them a mediocre review for a 18k speaker and all the good/bad press Wilson receives emphasizes the need for auditioning and I would think a white paper from Wilson to help counter the negatives.

Ive Heard these speakers properly set up and driven. Spectacular imaging dynamics. Expensive for most. I had a pair of 801#3 krell ksa 250 audio quest cables ariston rd110 grace arm and cartridge. the wilsons are much better in imaging coloration ect.

I listened over and over to these horrid little monsters at a dealer's showroom with all the best equipment. They wanted them to sound good because they wanted to sell them, and I wanted them to sound good after all the hype I heard. Get real: these turkeys are designed for people with damaged hearing. Nasty fact is going to concerts and cranking your beloved system will bust those delicate structures in your inner ears. Hey, next time go stare into lasers... it's equally intelligent. Somebody was bound to realize that a speaker had to be tuned for the sense impaired, and the watt fills the bill. Agressive, snarly, a crossover that mangles phase relationships, bass response like vanilla custard. as grotty as you can get for serious money.

Using some previous reviewers' terminoogy, these 'turkeys' seem to be quite fussy with regart to their company. It's of great importance that what is 'between your speakers' (hifi gear) and 'between your ears' (i.e. you, and your ability to 1)properly arrange the system and 2)value its sonical qualities fairly, at least for the purpose of this review) is near to perfection, and if there's nothing 'between your ears', then Puppy is definitely not for you. Deep down, you can change the gear , but you can't fix your ears, can you ?So, back to our bulls... I heard these strange looking things twice in different setups, the cheapets of which was about 35k worth (with speakers) including ThetaDigital Miles, AudioResearch LS25, same brand mid-priced 100wpc power amp and Siltech cables; the other one comprised Krell kps-25s and a pair of Krell 650m (any questions ? :) yes,it's totally off the ground price wise ). Music was vocal/instrumental jazz (Diana Krall, Patricia Barber).
Sound... well, with so much money on the table you would expect some serious stuff, and with Puppies you get more than one. As if there's nothing ahead of you except for music, so real that you can't stop listening... I'd probably stop here with my excitement not to look funny like a crazy lover talking about his first love and leave it for you to judge. But on the serious tone, I would say that these speakers are outstanding and if you can afford them with a proper accompanying gear, go fo it. Don't feed it crap, be patient and you'll get more than you are looking for.

2 friends and I were out and about looking for a new amp in the many 2nd hand stores here in the Kong, and came across a Levinson No. 27 that we wanted to demo. We hooked up the Levinson to 3 different pairs of speakers, one of which were the Wilson's. (all listening was done with a Nakamichi reference cd player as the source). While we were all listening for the quality and characteristics of the amp, the 3 of us were in awe of the Wilson's! We threw a lot at these speaker combos (from Miles Davis, to house, to DeAngelo, to Sting, to classical) and the Wilson's handled everything extraordinarily well. While I've never A/B's the Wilson's to any of the Dunleavy models, I have had the oportunity to do some critical listening to the Dun's, and I simply did not walk away with the same feeling as after having listened to the Wilson's. With the Wilson's everything was done correctly...they were very transparent/ open/ controled bass and had fantastic soundstaging. While their MSRP is quite high, they were $5,000 used and they are on my hit list. Audio gear is obviuosly a game of preferences and expectations, and I can understand that due to the high price, some expect these to be the "be-all, end-all" for speakers....but (as is the case with every piece of branded gear) these speakers are not going to give eveyone the same listening pleasure. With all that said, I cannot in any way see how these speakers (even relative to their MSRP) could receive a 1 speaker review. For their market value 2nd hand I give them a 5, and for their MSRP I'd go with a 4 (but c'mon, what buyers who are looking to spend $15K + on speakers are price conscious?!?!?!) BTW, the Levinson performed very well and was also a steal at $1800--SOLD.

I listened to Watt/Pupies on several occasions, and felt that the way they sound varies greatly according to the type of music you listen to.
Source: An old "Montreux Jazz Fest." recording (33rpm Vinyl)
[pre-amp:NAGRA PL-P][amp:NAGRA VPA] [cables:?].
Result: True to life. Warm. Cozy. Stunning. (where are the musicians ?) Brass instruments sound incredibly lifelike. I had never, ever felt so many emotions while listening to a recording. The kind of emotions that make you feel that money is no object.

Source: 16 bits, 44KHz CD. "Carmen-Fantasie", Anne-Sophie Mutter, Wiener Philharmoniker, James Levine. Deutsche Grammophon 437 544
[d/a:Elgar][pre-amp:NAGRA PL-P][amp:NAGRA VPA] [cables:?].
Result: Had never heard a violin sound like this. A.-S. Mutter as if she were there. Stunning.

Source: 16 bits, 44KHz CD. "Mahler Symphony no.1", Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, James Judd. HMU 907118
Note: This recording is exceptional in clarity, dynamics, depth...
[d/a:NAGRA-D][pre-amp:NAGRA PL-P][amp:?? mos-fet] [cables:?].
Result: I my completely subjective opinion, Track 4 "Stürmisch bewegt." sounded well below what one would expect from Watt/Puppies. The instruments' sound covered each other. Details were lost, or rather blurred. It felt like the bass stumbled on the intricate complexity, richness and sometimes awesome power of the sound.
I then percieved a strange, rubber-like coloration in low frequencies (aprox.<250Hz) that I hadn't heard while listening to Jazz, or chamber music.
Note: Hard to tell whether the amplifier (Mos-Fet) was up to the task. The short story is: Beware of complex symphonic patterns.