Wilson tiny tots


Hi,

I just purchased two used Wilson tiny tots.    I do not have an amp yet.   I would like to have two channels connected to the TV.     My music, these days is through YouTube and I would love to play movie sound through the two Wilson’s.   Can you connect an amp through optical or HDMI directly to the TV then out to the speakers?   what amp do you recommend

 

I’m looking to spend $2000 or less.   As you can see I’m an amateur don’t be afraid to give a lot of detail.  
 

thanks

craig 

craigdemling

Wilson’s usually require good amplification which is driving some of the comments. If your TV has an optical output then get an integrated that has a built in Dac so you can use that. You’ll just need to configure the TV output to down mix multi channel sources to two channel.

If you have to use HDMI then you are looking at an AVR. 

@hiendmmoe 100%

@craigdemling

Aren’t the Tots like $9k?? your gonna need some decent gear to level up with and justify their existence.

Sadly I’m so green I don’t know if you guys are joking or not.   My TV is a QLED 86 inch with all the major connections.   I was playing music through a sound bar.   The Wilsons were a deal I couldn’t pass up.    Can I go TV direct to amp to speakers?  If yes, what amp should I use. 

As I recall our OLED does not have anything but HDMI and some USBs for attaching storage disk.

if there are RCAs then you just need an amp, if it is HDMI then you need something else. Like @mrteeves suggests.
So that is step #1 … as @hiendmmoe mentioned.

 

Sadly I’m so green I don’t know if you guys are joking or not.

I am not joking.
But it does seem odd to consider a $70 amp.

We are running a Lyngdorf as the AVR/AVP, which likely falls outside of your budget requirement.
The $70 amp was tried for surround channels and it is pretty good.

I am not sure what an AVR or AVP costs, but after looking sound bars we went AVP—> amp —> speakers.

I would suggest looking for what connections are on the back of your OLED as step #1.
If no RCAs are present then integrated amps etc. are not going to do the job.
If there are RCAs then “you’re laughing”.

 

Aren’t the Tots like $9k?? your gonna need some decent gear to level up with and justify their existence

Some of the $9K cost is in the brand name.

I think that the speakers are 8 ohm nominal, dropping to 6-1/2 worst case, and 84/dB sensitivity. So they are going to need some power, and they are not know to play very low in frequency.

An AVR/AVP with a sub output is might give some “down the road” upgrade options.

It is likely going to take some work to figure out how to integrate them in/
 

My recollection of the Tiny Tots was that they were a location monitor made by Dave Wilson to monitor his recordings.  They were described as (1) ruthlessly revealing with a somewhat rising treble, (2) difficult to drive (they went below 1 ohm at 2 Khz) and (3) severely lacking in bass (I think they cut off at about 50 Hz or so).  One reviewer (John Atkinson) implied that they offered a vision of heaven but also a glimpse of hell, as I recall.  Another said they desperately needed a woofer (much less a subwoofer), which is why when Wilson started marketing them seriously, they designed the Puppy woofers to go with them.  Before that I recall a lot of people paired them with Entec subwoofers, which doubled as a stand for them (that's how I heard them years ago).  

I think it will be difficult to get the best out of them from a receiver, but if you can get one that can drive very low impedance loads, I suppose it could work for a HT system.  I think Audiotroy is right, though, they will work best with a quality integrated.  In any case, if you just want the Wilsons for dialogue from movies it would be OK and probably better than a soundbar, but I doubt that you'll get much bass from the soundtracks without at least a decent subwoofer crossed over in the mid-bass region. 

Just my two cents, but if you check the Stereophile archives I think you'll get a good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the speaker.

Just so I understand, you did say "tiny" tots, right, not "tune" tots?  Tune Tots are a current speaker; Tiny Tots (WATTs) date back to the 1980s.