Wilson Audio Specialties The WATT/Puppy Loudspeaker

Photos: Paul Miller, except where noted

Since the original WATT/Puppy concept kicked off in the late 1980s, there has been a 40-year evolution leading to the latest version reviewed here. The loudspeaker's price in 2025 is around $40,000/pair compared to the original's $8000. While inflation alone would have lifted the price to $25,000/pair, the current price takes into account the many technological and design improvements. While remaining physically separable, the upper "WATT" (Wilson Audio Tiny Tot) component, namely the head unit of the latest design, can no longer be run as a small full-range loudspeaker in its own right. This is because the mid/treble crossover, which was originally in the WATT, is now relocated to the lower "Puppy" section. Certainly, that original two-box "full range," strongly sculpted WATT/Puppy stack radically broke the mold in deviating from those rather plain, coffin-shaped tower loudspeakers that were popular in this category.

The late David Wilson originally created the WATT as a shelf-mount studio monitor to help produce his recordings. At the time, this compact two-way promised near–state-of-the-art sound quality, especially transparency, indicative of very low self-noise. This quality also helped to maximize dynamic range and contrast. Later, David used the WATT as the foundation for a three-way floorstanding design by matching it to a low-frequency system (the Puppy), which also stood in as a physical platform for the WATT. This idea became reality in the successful W/P line of bass augmented systems (footnote 1).


Left: first WATT prototype "White Dwarf" (circa 1985); right, 50th Anniversary WATT (circa 2024 (Photo Wilson Audio Specialties)

The original three-way WATT-Puppy led to an enduring series of related Wilson Audio designs, culminating in the spectacular Chronosonic series including the flagship XVX, which I reviewed for HiFiCritic magazine in 2021 (footnote 2).

Why release yet another WATT/Puppy now when Wilson has broadly similar models already in production in the shape of the two-box Alexia V and Sasha V? CEO, Creative Director, and son of the founder Daryl Wilson explained that recently evolving research had pointed to an innovative set of design and technology solutions. He realized this work could be leveraged with advantage to create a smaller, more competitively priced version, if very closely related to the existing Alexia. Mildly downsized from the Alexia, with additional development it could then form the basis for this long-planned introduction.

The new WATT/Puppy celebrates Wilson's "50th Anniversary." Had the W/P naming convention had been continued it would be called the WATT/Puppy 9, but so radical are the design changes that the new loudspeaker is now simply dubbed "The WATT/Puppy." Right on target, it turned out 20% less costly than the current Alexia V, which costs $67,500/pair upward. And when compared with the latter's 244lb (111kg), the new WATT/Puppy is a mere 161 pound (73kg) stripling, yet it offers the same exacting build quality and finish while incorporating many of the Alexia's advanced components and technologies. And the evident enthusiasm Daryl has shown for the WATT/Puppy legacy is impressive. He has specified some of the best currently available ingredients for this celebratory project.


Daryl Wilson told me that the cast-metal 50th Anniversary medallion was only included with the WATT/Puppy loudspeakers that were shipped during the company's 50th anniversary in 2024.

Put simply, the WATT/Puppy series is a powerful, stacked, two-box floorstanding loudspeaker promising an extended frequency response, realistically high sound pressure levels, and a natural timbre.

Unusually for this industry, it comes with a considerable degree of adjustability allowing for fine-tuning on installation, helping to account for variables within the audio system, including the power amplifier technology, audio cables and their run length, and the room. There are very detailed instructions in the manual for the precise placement of both loudspeaker and listener within the local acoustic. With versatile alignments included, it has an unusual measure of adjustability to aid optimization for different systems and environments while also noting that it makes the design something of a moving target, not least when attempting to precisely nail its performance.

Design philosophy
I have owned many WATT/Puppy systems over several decades, experiencing at first hand the policy of incremental improvement. Trying to distill the essence, I have enjoyed high standards for dynamic contrast, timbre, and resolution with exceptional image focus, a particular result of the pyramidal form of the upper enclosure. This aspect also promotes a more uniform power response, better matching the reference axial output with the in-room balance.

I asked Daryl to highlight the differences between the WATT/Puppy and the Sasha V.

"The original WATT had an internal two-way mid-treble crossover, while the low-frequency section was contained in the bass enclosure. For the latest iteration, all the crossovers are contained in the woofer base, as with the Sasha. The biggest difference between The WATT/Puppy and Sasha V would be the overall footprint and size of the enclosures. It would be easier to talk about the similarities between these two loudspeakers than the differences. All of the drivers are the same between the two. The proprietary materials used throughout the enclosure (X, S, and V-Material) are the same. Even the bespoke crossover components are almost identical. (Crossover topologies are optimized for each system of course.) One of the design objectives of The WATT/Puppy was to distill the performance of the Sasha V into a smaller form—a form with iconic lines and a deep historic connection with Wilson Audio."

The WATT/Puppy concept could be described as a contemporary refinement of current technologies, utilizing class-leading low-coloration, low-distortion speaker drivers. These are neatly incorporated into Wilson Audio's heroic and historic two-part W/P enclosure build with short path and low-order, ideally musically transparent crossover filters. But seemingly there is another design aspect. It was never a classic "three-way," where bass, midrange, and treble sections are firmly divided over frequency at the usual textbook frequencies of 500Hz between the woofer and midrange and 3kHz from the midrange to the tweeter. The crossovers are typically implemented with second-order or higher-slope rolloff filters that introduce significant phase shifts. Some designers consider this latter approach results in subtle coloration and timing errors.

By contrast, the WATT/Puppy design may be viewed as a near full-range two-way bookshelf head unit, the WATT, with the bass enclosure output underpinning the remaining lower frequencies. The crossover to the woofers is set at 230Hz, which is an octave lower than is considered usual. To get some perspective, consider an octave of musical notes between 150–300Hz, while noting that the musically important note Middle C has a frequency of 262Hz. Choice of a lower-than-usual crossover point helps keep unwanted sounds from the bass system out of the midrange, here including middle C, allowing that refined ultrawide-band 7" ScanSpeak driver to anchor the notional center.

A similarly gentle filter defines the transition from mid to treble, here set at a surprising 1.3kHz, an octave lower than the industry's usual 2.6–4kHz range. This decision is made possible thanks to the exceptional bandwidth of the chosen tweeter, which has an output that extends right down into the upper midrange. An aurally seamless low-coloration, low–phase-shift transition between the drivers is the design objective, thus distinguishing this design from much of the competition by aiming for a more "natural" blended sound.

Such "non-textbook" system design may not measure as well as some competing loudspeakers, but measurements often fail to tell the full story as they can only represent a sampling of the overall acoustic output delivered to the room and listener. For sure, advanced methods such as the Klippel analyzer are most helpful for more accurate and consistent loudspeaker measurement, but these still cannot fully predict how a loudspeaker will sound in situ.

Wilson has enjoyed many years of experience with its separated-enclosure design approach. As before, the WATT mid-treble head unit is partially decoupled from the potentially energetic vibration of the powerful woofer system via three massive, self-aligning, threaded, locking, hardened steel spikes bearing on a substantial alloy plate which is bolted to the selected ultrahigh-density composite Puppy top panel. Vibrations from the upper section are thereby partially decoupled from the influence of the larger surface radiating area of the Puppy cabinet.

For the latest head unit, that impressive oversize rear spike is the key to adjustment and subsequent locking. It is used to optimize azimuth and thus, to some extent, the listener-arrival timing, particularly for the high frequencies, by fine-tuning their origins relative to the mid driver. It has a wide adjustment, which Wilson terms "time alignment"; this is possible, if over a fairly limited frequency range. The differential material interfaces between the two enclosures, including aluminum alloy and Wilson Audio's newest proprietary V-Material as the top platform, provide mild, non-hysteretic damping. This helps to lower the operating noisefloor while avoiding coloration-inducing resonances and related delay.

If particular difficulties are encountered in an installation, effective exploitation of the panoply of further possible installation settings are available, if rarely invoked, including subtle adjustment of both the bass-mid balance and the mid-treble balance via judicious substitutions of the calibrated protection-resistor values.

Wilson's inventory of synthetic materials used for the enclosure's panels, modified and filled structural polymers and resins, has long moved on from Corian, the marble dust-loaded acrylic chosen for the original WATT. The panels mostly comprise synthetic structural material of differing densities, stiffness, and mechanical loss, or self-damping.

These "materials" include "S," an epoxy-bonded composite optimal for the mid and treble driver baffles, and "X," a filled, cured phenolic resin with high damping. The latest "V" formulation is a further development with still better vibration control. Accordingly, the "V" option has been chosen for the heavy-duty Puppy bass system's top panel, which optimally mounts the machined alloy plate supporting the WATT assembly.

As a group, the Wilson-specified materials are consistently isotropic when required and although very hard, remain machineable, have essentially no grain or directional properties, and readily accept durable enamel lacquers for a very wide range of finishes. For the WATT/Puppy, in addition to five standard high-gloss colors which include GT Silver and Galaxy Grey, there are a further seven Upgrade finishes and 11 Pearl finishes in combination with seven grille colors. Finally, there is the modestly discounted "no grille option."


Footnote 1: Earlier versions of the WATT/Puppy reviewed in Stereophile were the WATT Series 3/Puppy 2, the WATT/Puppy System 5, the WATT/Puppy 7, and the WATT/Puppy System 8.—Ed.

Footnote 2: Michael Fremer reviewed the Chronosonic XVX for Stereophile in the May 2021 issue.—Ed.

COMPANY INFO
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ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
georgehifi's picture

I feel the Watt/Puppy format has lost it's appeal a bit, (gone past it's use-by date). 7's were the best for me long time ago now. It's ribbon or planer now for me in the HF, I think Wilson should start looking in that direction to breath some new life back into them.

Cheers George

celef's picture

I find all the superlatives describing this speaker tiresome and boring, i can not say if it is Wilson audio that feels old and passe or the reporter or a combo of them two

teched58's picture

Nothing against the talented Mr. Collumns, but the article is less interesting without John Atkinson's measurements comments, which one decodes eagerly as if reading Pravda in the 1970s.

How does a man who wants to purchase these speakers convince his wife? Or do only single men own Wilsons? (And if there was a divorce, would each spouse get one speaker?)

Ortofan's picture

... have a mancave and a prenup.

gbroagfran's picture

I heard the original Watts at DB audio in the 1980s. I thought they sounded terrible and bought a pair of Acoustic 2+2s. Then, I heard the Watt version 7 or 8 at Music Lovers in the 2000s. I thought they sounded mediocre and bought a pair of Quad 2905s. I now have SoundLabs and did hear the first pair of Wilson speakers I actually liked, the $375,000 model, earlier this year. They were pretty good, but not significantly better overall than the Soundlabs at 10 times the price. Wilson does not ring my bell, but I would be happy with the giant ones I heard this year.

georgehifi's picture

I much preferred my own made 10ft frame for Accousat 1+1's I concocted, with 2 X Kef-B1814 120lt subs 80hz< way over the W/P7 my mate had.

Cheers George

Glotz's picture

When you haven't heard the speaker and experienced Wilson's greatness in recent form. Their natural evolution of this speaker is simply assured by the level of quality the company puts forth all of the time.

I don't care how jaded one might be, the whole line sounds fantastic if one has the passion- and the cash. While they're not my favorite musical transducers, they are world class speakers and most would be hard pressed to hear where they have faults with any SOTA system supporting it.

Another in-depth, insightful review.

georgehifi's picture

Nobody here questioned that.

Cheers George

Glotz's picture

See my comment below.

Glotz's picture

I wasn't directing comments to you, but there were some statements made by 2 others that I found flippant and insulting. No one insulted them back either.

rschryer's picture

I heard them not too long ago at their Montreal launch and they sounded very very good driven by an all-Nagra system — transparent, bold, rich toned, with very good bass.

While listening to them play a variety of music effortlessly, I caught myself wondering how I might be able to afford them. That's the thing about these speakers — they sound great, they're Wilsons, and they're not stupid expensive. You could get a loan, use some savings, use a credit line, etc... These Puppies probably hold their value better than most speakers from other brands.

And while my desire to buy them started dissipating as soon as I hit the busy city street to return home, I do occasionally miss them.

georgehifi's picture

"And while my desire to buy them started dissipating as soon as I hit the busy city street to return home, I do occasionally miss them"

Yeah even though they still do it for me, the original magic's not there for me anymore. Like I said before they seem to be close to their use-by date now and need a revamp.
I think for starters a ribbon/planer tweeter? but the backwards slope on the Watt's front baffle would have to go, as those types of tweeter like to be close on ear axis and this then would give them a new/different look also.

Cheers George

rschryer's picture

I like ribbon/planar tweeters as much as the next guy, but could such a tweeter design possibly sound too soft on the Puppies? I'm inclined to believe the Puppies' drivers have been meticulously time aligned.

During my admittedly short audition of them, the Puppies sounded balanced across the board, with highs that sounded smooth and clean.

This may not be related to the subject at hand, but I think it's worth (re-)mentioning: Wilson Audio doesn't believe in, or do, trickle down technology. When the company improves on a part, regardless of what speaker they were working on when it happened, they'll implement that improved part in all their designs.

georgehifi's picture

"I like ribbon/planar tweeters as much as the next guy, but could such a tweeter design possibly sound too soft on the Puppies?"

Have a listen to the GoldenEar T66,Triton 2, 1 or Reference and see if that applies. Planers or Ribbon tweeters have faster dynamics, extend further, and don't have the "oil can" resonance a 1/2 an octave even less (maybe that what you like?) above our highest HF hearing ability that dome tweeters have, sure you can kill that with Ferrofluid or a Zobel Network but you kill the sound as well.

Cheers George

rschryer's picture

Sure, planars and ribbon tweeters are fast, and they also sound very natural and just a touch delicate—in my view. I'm not saying that in a negative way but to make the point that some things seem like a natural fit, others less so.

Maybe it's my gut instinct or my mental image of it, but when I look at the stocky WATT/Puppy, I have a hard time imagining a planar or ribbon tweeter perched at the top of it.

eliteautogear's picture

Wow, this was a great read! As someone new to high-end audio, I found the breakdown of the Wilson Audio WATT/Puppy really insightful. It’s amazing how much engineering goes into these speakers to create such a pure sound. I’ve been diving into premium sound systems lately—kind of like how Elite Auto Gear brings top-tier performance to cars. Quality matters, whether it’s in audio or automotive upgrades!

funambulistic's picture

Quality audio gear! You know what I don't like? Spam! Spam-spam-spam-spam - sing along with me!

beave's picture

Somebody call the spam police.

There needs to be a way to flag posts here.

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