Wilson Audio's "Remastered" WATT/Puppy
avid Wilson pioneered many innovations in modern loudspeaker design, and his most successful, based on units sold and influence to other speakers, is the two-box configuration of the WATT/Puppy: a two-way monitor (which Wilson designed for on-location monitoring of his own recordings) on top of a separate two-woofer bass cabinet. There were eight different iterations of the original WATT/Puppy from 1986 to 2011. These utilized a variety of materials, and each iteration pushed the boundaries of what was achievable in loudspeakers at the time. Wilson Audio calls its new WATT/Puppy ($38,500 per pair in standard finishes) "remastered." It is constructed of a combination of the company's proprietary high-tech materials: X-Material for overall structural integrity, S-Material for midrange coupling to the front baffle of the WATT, and V-Material for the top of the Puppy, serving as a vibration sink and damping interface. The new WATT/Puppy uses Wilson's 1" Convergent Synergy Carbon silk-dome (CSC) tweeter with carbon-fiber rear-wave chamber originally developed for the Alexx V and also used in the Alexia V and Sasha V. Also carrying over from those speakers is the 7" AlNiCo QuadraMag midrange driver. The dual 8" cellulose-composite woofers are the same drivers found in the Sasha V. The WATT/Puppy uses a new copper version of Wilson Audio's proprietary AudioCapX-WA capacitor; a similar version was unveiled for the Sasha V. These capacitors have been further refined with copper end-spray and gold leads, "ensuring," according to Wilson, "that high-frequency micro-details are rendered with exquisite resolution." The new WATT/Puppy's sensitivity is rated at 89dB, and its minimum impedance is 2.87 ohms at 86Hz. The new WATT's adjustable spike allows for the most precise alignment in the time domain found in any version of the WATT/Puppy. Also used is the Wilson Audio multi-connector binding post for both spade and banana speaker-cable connections. The WATT rests on a spike track directly installed into the Puppy's V-Material top plate, greatly reducing vibrations from the woofer cabinet to the WATT. An integrated bubble level on the top of the Puppy ensures easy leveling of the speaker during installation. Finally, throughout 2024, the new WATT/Puppy will carry
Wilson Audio's 50th Anniversary medallion, further connecting it to the company's long and
rich history. |
