Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Alignment and optimization
I asked Daryl Wilson about break-in: "We found playing any Wilson Audio loudspeaker for 25–50 hours gives 90%–95% of the 'break-in' time and the sound is very close to what it will be when fully settled. Further subtle and nuanced changes in the sound will be noticed after about 100 hours. A system is fully broken in after about 150 hours. The differences in sound between a system that has 50 hours break-in time and 150 hours break-in time is very small."

After delivery and a basic install, here to my usual arrangements, and then after some moderately extended initial trials, the speakers were allowed to temperature-equalize and settle while playing a variety of music over a range of powers. To facilitate experimenting with positioning, I left the speakers on their castors. I did some preliminary listening with the WATT/Puppies in my usual calibrated room locations for a few days but became concerned about some excess upper bass, while the lowest octave, 20–40Hz, lacked authority.

To begin with, my normal seat position was retained while further experiment with positioning continued for the enclosures. However, it became apparent that there was a clear disjoint between my target sound quality, in particular uniform bass tune playing down to 35Hz, which this presently wheeled WATT/Puppy could not satisfactorily address, despite extended interaction. While satisfactorily solid in the upper bass, the low bass was not fully weighted, while bass tunes were considered to be significantly uneven. The speakers ended up nearly 2' closer to the front wall than is customary, and for optimum stereo this required that my listening seat be moved 18" forward in compensation. I was aiming for uniform, extended, agile bass with deep, well-focused imaging and a broad soundstage. The bass was now well extended to 35Hz, also rich and informative, if not quite upbeat, perhaps still a little too reverberant. On rock, the full measure of pace and whip-crack syncopation was somewhat diluted.

To my good fortune, the master aligner of Wilson speakers was in town for the Hi-Fi News Show in September 2024. Beyond the call of duty, given his arduous show commitments, Peter McGrath traversed Greater London in the rush hour to find the time to calibrate my W/P system, here resetting the physical alignment and optimizing the locations in my room using his own master recordings supplemented by my reference tracks. He essentially concurred with my most recently calibrated positions, those which had differed from my customary coordinates more than I had expected. With the speakers still on wheels, we began some first-order positioning adjustment for image focus, crisper transient definition, and a more evenly extended bass. And only then did Peter commence the famous iterative interactive fine-tuning of loudspeaker and listener placement.

I have experienced this process many times now, and originally with David Wilson. But unquestionably Peter is also a master. Almost singularly with Wilsons, the subjective gain in quality can be surprisingly large. Could this perception be in part due to undue subject-operator interaction? Discarding this thought, and with continued repetition of familiar tracks, Peter worked with me to optimize timbre, focus, image depth, bass uniformity, and extension.

(I remain mildly surprised at the significant change of speaker locations from those I find customary, also the corresponding shift for listener location, as compared with most other loudspeakers I have assessed in recent years.)

And we were still using those primitive castors. Now it was time to fit the engineered Paws that are provided as standard with the WATT/Puppy. Here the performance gain was, and remains, substantial, and many would be very happy at the result. After careful leveling, further adjustment, fine-tuning of angle and azimuth, at this point I found that all areas were improved but especially dynamic impact, focus, and transparency.

The sound
With these install details in place, I could now better appreciate the many qualities on offer. Clarity was undoubtedly exceptional, while soundstages were presented on a generous, almost cinematic scale, filled with detail, and showed no hint of distortion or strain, at least up to my 600Wpc/4 ohm limit. Given the W/P has above-average voltage sensitivity, calculated sound levels were peaking at an impressive 112dBA in-room with no sign of mechanical overload. While it may rank as a junior in Wilson's "separated box" range, it punches well above its weight, easily capable of driving larger spaces. And that usefully high voltage sensitivity is certainly realized in practice, leading to an impressive dynamic range.

Sounding notably uniform in frequency balance, the Wilson's coherent driver ensemble is easy on the ear, from the outset smooth-sounding and well-blended. Yet when explosive percussive information arrives, this new Wilson can certainly crack the whip. While this 4 ohm amplifier load is certainly not the most difficult I have encountered, towards its maximum rated power of 200Wpc into 4 ohms (and this was loud!), I suspected that my Naim NAP 250 was showing signs of mild dynamic compression when feeding really heavy, deep bass. I was confident that more was possible. Accordingly, I swapped in a Constellation Revelation 2 stereo power amplifier, specified at 300Wpc into 8 ohms and 600Wpc into 4 ohms. (This Constellation amplifier is justly acquiring something of a reputation for power and quality, if at two to three times the price of my Naim. My thanks to UK distributor Absolute Sounds for the loan.)

And there it was: a majestic, seemingly effortless sound power from this combination with greater low-frequency control and an expanded dynamic range. (The volume/ loudness had not been increased; I had done a calibrated like-for-like substitution of the amplifiers.) Now seemingly unlimited in maximum loudness, there was no sign of timbre hardening or compression from loudspeaker or amplifier at near-implausible extremes of loudness; conversely, delicately spotlit classical trio sections at natural levels were well drawn.

My listening panel of Chris Bryant and Jon Honeyball also observed that with particularly upbeat material, fast-paced jazz, and modern pop/rock, the WATT/Puppies were perhaps understandably a little reticent. I suspect that such music genres are not its intended market. While bolder in rhythmic expression than many of its predecessors, this WATT/Puppy nevertheless feels more adept with big band, light jazz, folk, and large-scale classical program than the more frenetic, synth-based pop and rock of modern times. It also performed very well on smaller ensembles, string quartet, and piano. Focus was excellent, strongly indicative of coherence in timbre, texture, and frequency response, while sounding consistently sweet and free of grain or roughness. While comparatively relaxed in character, it proved very informative.

Stereo images imbued with ambience and convincing spatiality were well-populated by the performers. And with that air of refinement, it will also play as loudly as you could reasonably expect or want, energizing the reproducing space with impressive power and frequency range, striking impact, and very high resolution: grand piano was almost physical in its dynamic power and presence. I heard only subtle differences with the grilles fitted.

Vocals were top class, open, and articulate with notably clear diction and natural timbres, and realistically high sound levels were achieved without strain for either the loudspeaker or the listener. This Wilson could clearly drive larger spaces with ease. With evidently low distortion and a notably even output over frequency, aural fatigue was minimal even after extended listening sessions.

On LPs, the inherent quality of dynamic contrast brought older recordings to life. "Blue" on the Joni Mitchell LP of that name was rendered pure and expressive with excellent imaging. It all sounded very natural on this historic recording. Joni was also chosen for "The Beat of Black Wings" from Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm (CD), where a flowing, well-syncopated swing came to the fore, nicely satisfying my local audience.

Jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim Dollar Brand could stun on the Wilsons, commented my guest critic and jazz enthusiast Charlie Palmer, when I played The Pilgrim with its powerful dynamics with the big Constellation. This experience was close to live. With Dollar Brand's LP, Good News from Africa, the WATT/Puppies easily generated realistically live sound intensities. In complete contrast, we chose "Sunset (Bird of Prey)" from Fatboy Slim's Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. Here ex-Housemartins' sampling wizard Norman Cook reinvents the Doors single "Bird of Prey" from their An American Prayer. With Roon serving a CD-originated file from hard drive, the Wilsons exhibited a controlled explosion of explicit clarity, beat, and sheer sound power, though sounding more elegant and perhaps less rocking than it might.

Similarly on another audition with Chris Bryant and Jon Honeyball, here working with club dance material, the new Wilson was considered most impressive for impact and dynamic power but perhaps with some dilution of the bolder elements of rhythmic expression known to be present on these tracks. Here the Wilson leaned a little to steadier-paced classical music and folk than modern rock, and I include Coldplay in the latter category, though some may have differing opinions on this. Nevertheless, on Harry Connick Jr.'s We Are in Love (CBS 466736 2), a CD ripped to hard drive and accessed via Roon, the sound quality was undeniably stunning in timbre, focus, and presence on the track "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," with Branford Marsalis on sax; Peter McGrath enthusiastically concurred.

Streaming from the Net via Qobuz, the ECM 24/96 reissue of Arvo Pärt's Fratres with Gidon Kremer and Keith Jarrett proved captivating with the WATT/Puppies. I cross-checked with my 16/44.1 version ripped from CD, and this loudspeaker's fine subjective transparency readily illuminated the higher quality on the reissue—a mandatory listen to the end. I reached for Jean Guillou's recording on organ of Mozart Fantasy in F minor, K.608 (CD, Dorian). An old Ariston player was used as a transport and fed S/ PDIF data to my Naim ND 555 dual-supply streamer/DAC. The Wilsons succeeded in capturing much of the natural dynamics and the huge space of Saint-Eustache in Paris, nicely recreating the roar, growl, and physicality of the 32' pipes. The reproduced soundstage was massive, deep, and enveloping. And little change in sound quality was experienced over the review period, perhaps to be expected from capable drivers with inherently low distortion, and none could be heard even at realistically high sound levels.

Paws and Diodes
The speakers are supplied with Wilson Paws, which are augmented, spiked floor couplers that take over where plain threaded spikes leave off. With a much larger footprint to couple to the enclosure baseplate, the subsequent floor coupling is much improved, resulting in better bass definition and deeper stereo imaging. If, at some cost, Wilson's Diode upgrade should direct loudspeaker vibrations down to the floor. The Diode uses dissimilar materials, "V-Material," and metal alloys that are stacked and interfaced to absorb vibration while avoiding hysteresis, which can be an enemy of perceived rhythm.

As I had not experienced the Wilson Acoustic Diode footers, here was my opportunity. With the Acoustic Diodes replacing the Paws, this upgrade looked to be a no brainer, and there could never have been a better opportunity to test this product in a controlled A/B comparison. Would the newfangled Diodes succeed in icing the WATT/Puppy cake? While my room has carpet over thin hardwood floor panels that are bonded to many tons of concrete, I can report that the performance gain with the Diodes was impressive. Almost all sound quality categories were significantly improved: in particular, focus, image depth, low-frequency tune playing, dynamic contrast, and microdetail, a notable bargain in this context.

WATT's not to like!
Wilson Audio has scored yet again with its policy of continual improvement and refinement of a concept that I first bought into in the 1980s. Some four decades on, in its latest superbly engineered and finished form, the WATT/Puppy remains a major contender. While leaning more to classical than fast-timed rock music, its many virtues are plain enough: excellent stereo imaging, extended powerful bass, highly natural timbre, high sensitivity, class-leading dynamic range, and low fatigue, not to forget the value of that inherent adjustability for room matching which is embedded in this classic design.