Introducing TuneTot
hen a pair of Wilson Audio speakers arrives for review, it's an event that follows a predetermined script. First comes e-mail saying that the speakers have shipped, followed by a phone call from the freight company -- UPS and Fedex need not apply -- to arrange delivery. Then a semi tractor-trailer shows up, and the driver and I push as few as two and as many as seven wooden crates, with the essential aid of a pallet jack, up my driveway, placing them on my covered front porch. A day or two later, John Giolas and perhaps one other person from Wilson Audio arrive, and we set about unpacking the speakers and wheeling them (each is so heavy that it's shipped on casters) into my house. Luckily, my listening room is right inside the front door; unluckily, the threshold of the front door is elevated, so we have to use the top of the largest crate as a ramp to get the speakers through the doorway.
This is what has happened with every Wilson Audio speaker I've reviewed, save for the Sabrina, which still required help but arrived in heavy cardboard boxes instead of stout wooden crates. So you can imagine my surprise when a pair of Wilson TuneTots arrived not only unannounced but carried up my driveway -- by my UPS guy, no less. This fact alone made me wonder what Wilson had wrought, but lifting the box, which felt like it contained cannonballs, proved that a pair of Wilson speakers was still inside.
What is TuneTot? Well, the first thing to know is that it was designed under the oversight of Wilson Audio Special Application Engineering (WSAE), which is a division of Wilson Audio that creates products to solve specific installation or in-use issues. In a very real sense, this goal has been with Wilson Audio from the very beginning -- the WAMM and WATT were designed not as the future audiophile classics they would become, but as tools for Dave Wilson to use in making his perfectionist recordings. With TuneTot, the goal is just as practical: to create a speaker that will be used in non-traditional venues and thereby spread exposure to audiophile-quality sound. Like all other current Wilson speakers, it is the product of obsessive attention to time-domain coherence, the careful choice of drivers and the use of advanced cabinet materials. TuneTot is the smallest Wilson speaker, but it remains a Wilson speaker to its very core.
The TuneTots come packaged together in a box that is a feat of engineering itself. In addition to the speakers, it includes the setup hardware and documentation, all in form-fitting foam. One especially nice touch is the inclusion of graphics that show exactly how to repack the speakers and accessories.
If ordered, the TuneTot's cosmetic accessories arrive in a second box. À la carte choices are taken to a new level. With TuneTot, you only pay for what you want, including cosmetic trim pieces and even grilles. In terms of cost, TuneTot in standard colors is $9800 per pair, with upgrade colors adding $700. The ISOBase, the optional platform that goes underneath the speakers, costs $2100 per pair. The TuneTot Ring, which covers the screws around the periphery of the woofer (presumably for use without the grilles) costs $649 per pair. The grilles are $299 per pair. With TuneTot, Wilson Audio has also engineered a true launch event. In addition to rolling out TuneTot today, May 10, with corresponding written coverage and videos, Wilson has ensured that its North America dealers have TuneTots available for audition beginning today, and some dealers are even stocking them, so you can buy without having to place an order and then wait. Cash and carry, in other words. There you have it -- the quickest and easiest unpacking
of a Wilson speaker I've been part of, by far. I'll have much more to say about setting up
the TuneTots in my cluttered office, which will be more difficult than unboxing them but
also more rewarding. |
