The $27,900 disappointment? Wilson Audio Watt Puppy 8 issues.

I should add that Wilson has been very successful to date with some idiosyncratic performance issues so I cant blame the son for not changing much on the new designs. Thank goodness he changed the tweeter.

It’s the people who have never actually owned Wilsons who seem to criticize them the most. As an owner of the WATT/Puppy system all the way back to 1986 (Puppies came out in 1988), I found little to criticize other than an overly tight treble,  and congestion on big crescendos (Prokofiev's Scythian Suite could sound very bright on the first generation WATTs).

Otherwise, having lived with them for 12 years, I don’t seem to have heard all the "flaws" that so many others have. Funny, innit?? People who’ve heard a speaker for - perhaps - 10 hours total have more to say about them (and not positive comments!!!) than those who have owned it for decades.

Well I think this is not surprising. Those who are attracted to this sound buy the speakers and those that arent dont. 

No one with expensive high quality speakers would drive these with cheap electronics. This isnt the issue. The issue is if Wilson can achieve the same quality of sound making the speakers higher impedance with a more refined curve.

Sure. Let’s see all new Wilsons engineered for 8ohms and 90 dB minimum, so that any HT receiver can drive them. But why stop there? Let’s also spec their boxes much smaller, so it’s easy to ship and integrate into grandma’s home decor. Let’s lower all prices to $5K max, so even college students can afford a "top" Wilson. We’ll also redesign their voicing to show nice flat FR (for the ASR crowd) and stick it full of parts that (listed at full retail, of course) make it look like there’s very little room for profit atop the BOM. Wow! Now we have a Danny Richie speaker.

Why is anyone else trying to tell Wilson & its customers what they "should" care about in their design decisions? Again, good engineering starts with sorting out the "I don’t care"’s from the "I REALLY care"’s - and Wilson has clearly made an enduring name for themselves, in a crowded industry, with their choices in this matter. 

My sarcasm detector is chirping. It probably needs new batteries.