Looking for some Watt/Puppy 5 Advice

Todd, best advise is to call or email Wilson Audio customer support directly. At least that would be my starting point. Also, check the surround on the tweeter (very gently pushing it in) to see if the foam has started to split.

Everything is tight? make sure everything is torqued, and nothing is touching the driver in the back side. 

I thought when Wilson lost a resistor the driver quit working, a protection circuit, not part of the crossover, in a traditional sense.. Noise gives me pause.. Mechanical noise.. loose, blown or something touching... Just a guess.

Regards, happy hunting..

toddburke: 
Having had a Ref 110 with WP 7s and thereafter a Ref 150 and now Ref 160 monoblocks, I can advise that the biggest difference in how the WPs responded to amplification was my move from the Ref 110 to the Ref 150 (not even the SE) in which I later installed KT 150 tubes.
With the KT 150s or the KT 120s, the Ref 150 added body to all images and slam to the bottom that made the Ref 110 sound wispy in comparison. You might want to consider a used Ref 150 as a very cost effective trade up in amplification in the future. The difference was quite profound.

Thanks for the responses fellas. I’m going to disassemble tomorrow and check for physical problems / looseness / failing surrounds whatever. An email to Wilson is likely in my future :)

And thanks for the insight on your findings with the bigger AR Ref series amps. I’ll be honest, I’m a pro audio guy and having spent a couple decades with my head between studio monitors, I’m having a hard time keeping gum in my mouth with this setup....it’s a more resolving and just so much more musical a playback rig than anything I’ve heard as is. I’m sure the tree continues upward from here but I’ve climbed quite a height at the moment and still trying to catch my breath. Which is, of course, absolutely outstanding. 

You have great speakers and Wilson offers great support even on the older models. Find and fix the issue and you will be rewarded with many years of musical enjoyment. Keep us posted of what you find out.