Watt Puppy 8 vs. Zu Definition

I don't think the Watt Puppy 8s are available yet. Zu has no U.S. dealers. I doubt you'll find anyone who has really heard both in good circumstances.

Well this is a strange thread, gonna be some heat on this one...

In a good room with acoustic treatment, ceiling, floor and sidewalls at first reflection points the older wilsons sounded to artificial for me.. But I only heard a couple times, and really never spent time with them..

zu is a whole different approch and sound, nothing in the audiophile book really matches up to these speakers, advocates of the big name scan speak, seas, morel, focal etc... drivers will not like the fact that someone would believe a 10.5" driver with no crossover could do any justice to midrange like their 5" with a silk dome MTM array. But I owned Countless pairs of dynaudios, JM labs, Klipsch, B&W etc.. Nothing I found in the pricerange even remotley comes close to the sound of Definitions, but they are active speakers in the lower freq's and very high efficiency, so dynamics are very different than the blanketed audio standard designs, You better listen for yourself, as Price is the determining factor in this case, MY OPINION of course.... A 9000.00 dollar pair vs. 28,000 pair I am sure has some weight on what is warrents enough is enough? I can't say that Dollar for dollar either is a better speaker, I am sure they both have the same commitment and care taken to produce the audioband the way each is intended, which one is worth the hassel more to get the best electronics or performance out of them? That can never be answered for everyone on a thread like this...

2 Alien speakers to each other in terms of design and execution, you absolutley have to listen to either yourself and decide where each falls into this equation, because this thread will become Banter and pointless for anyone reading it that much I can pretty much let you know. Good products, bad over the top comments will be made. But the new wilsons are suppose to be very smooth and not as edgy and artificial as previous highs from my understanding so its worth a shot if you got the cash!

I heard the 8s at HE2006 this month. They sounded good but didn't really disappear. For some reason Wilson didn't acoutically treat the room except for behind the speakers. The Sophia IIs in the Brooks Berdan room were, in my opinion, much better and probably the sweet spot in the Wilson line. I didn't hear the big Zu at the show but did listen to the Druids which were very impressive.

Regards,

Wendell

Undertow: 'gonna be some heat on this one..." Further the fire if I may, if AW will exceuse my impoliteness.
Wilson versus Zu versus Tyler. But like THsaman points out the Wilson's are not out, but at least the older version can be used, and the Zu's have very limited distributorship, though we do have owners opinions to go by.
Man this should get interesting.

Tvad, to me, musical is simply a way to describe a listening experience during which you get goosebumps and then want to get up and run around dancing in your listening room.

Awiavac: "...a listening experience..." There is the trained ear, and the neophyte, and all grades of listeners inbetween. I'd say it takes me less time at present to determine what the character of the speaker is. Character meaning the 4 or 5 main important attributes in speaker voicing. Less time now because of the Seas I have. Pre-ownership of Seas', I need at least 2 to 3 hours to get the feel of a speaker. Honestly after being around so many speakers over the apst 30 yrs i can assume whether I'll like a speaker or not. Usually that is. Planars/ribbons I'm neutral on opinion. Its the cone that I've got a knack for. When I first took a Seas out the box for purposes of sending to a DIYer yrs ago, I said , ah now here's a driver. and so it turned out to be. Apologies to barge in on a Wislon topic like this. The B&W 602 sounded fine at the showroom, or somewhat OK lets say. But 2 yrs later all the weaknesses were fully exposed. man was I wrong, but was a learning experience.

I heard both speakers at the audio show in LA earlier this month. It's really hard to compare them both, especially given the different rooms, electronics (Zu had much more modest source and preamp on hand relative to the Wilson room) and short listening session. I really liked both and am guessing the Zus are much better bang for the buck. However, I did find that the Zu Definitions did not provide a presence at the bottom-end to match the Wilsons. the Zus excelled well in other areas but didn't have the presence of the Wilsons.

I heard both too, and want to hear each again. I am going through the same decision making process. Honestly, if the 8s were still 23-24k list I would lean that way as I own and love Wilsons. However, they aren't, and 30k is a much different pricing point to me.

The Definitions have better low end I bet than displayed at the show as the couch was in a room node. I asked because 4 10"ers on the back seem like overkill if anything and was told that. i hope to hear a pair soon at 213Cobra's house to hear a real life scenario.

KeithR

The Definitions have better low end I bet than displayed at the show as the couch was in a room node. I asked because 4 10"ers on the back seem like overkill if anything and was told that. i hope to hear a pair soon at 213Cobra's house to hear a real life scenario.

You owe it to yourself to hear them at 213cobra's home, Keithr. There, they will sound vastly better than at the show. Along with other areas of improvement, you will indeed hear all of the bottom end that was completely missing at the hotel, where IMO the setting only hurt the company's efforts to demonstrate the strengths of the speaker.

As to the other half of the question posed, my wife and I were stunned by the coherency and dynamic impact of the Watt Puppy 8's, which was the first time (of many) that I've heard Wilsons and come away thinking I could happily own them.