Wilson Watt Puppy, which version?


I am thinking of getting into the WIlson line with the Watt Puppy's. I have heard a few before in showrooms and I enjoyed them. I can not afford a new one, so looking at the previous ones there were several versions produced over the years. Can anyone explain the differences and if there are any "sweet spots" in the line up. ie is every newer version better or was there a point of diminishing return with the introduction of newer versions? I am trying to stay under 10k for a used pair. Thank you
vdosc
Wilson 5.1 can sound terrific. Easy job to switch out the interconnect between the crossover and Puppy enclosure which can produce a much cleaner lower midrange.

One warning: Wilson international dealer support can be terrible. I've been trying for two months to buy a set of correction resistors listed as a standard option. UK Wilson importer has so far not even managed to get them on order. ~Wilson US cannot supply direct because of their dealer contracts so rather than just pop them in a bag and mail them, they are happy to see customers like me move away to other manufacturers because of Wilson's poor overall service.

With the service point in mind, if you are outside the US, take care with older Wilsons because parts are impossible to get hold of.
Only one of the above posters addresses the primary weakness of the WattPuppy, and only does so indirectly - up through and including version 7, the speaker used a Focal tweeter that suffers from an audible resonance in the mid-treble, and this makes these speakers sound fatiguing to many people. The version 8 and Sasha use a different tweeter that is much smoother. This problem has been widely written about - I suggest that you go back and read the Stereophile reviews of the various versions of the speakers, and especially, John Atkinson's measurements in those reviews.

I think the WattPuppy 6 and 7 are great speakers, don't get me wrong, and I seriously considered buying a pair of 7's, but the dirty tweeter is the main knock against them, and it is a legitimate criticism. Not to pile on, but the midbass hump, the low impedance in the bass, and their phase performance tend to be the other complaints - these issues remain with the 8 and the Sasha. They do many things extremely well, however, and it's important to judge them on the totality of their performance, which, overall, is excellent.
Raquel, I'm fairly certain that the Wilsons still use that nasty tweet-- sourced from Focal...an 'inverted titanium dome'. Rings like crazy and gives me a serious headache. Which of course drives my hubby a little crazy also..;0)

Why DW cannot hear past this thing is a little surprising, but it is not a very expensive driver and I wander if he bought up a large lot and wants to use them up....Can't think of any other reason a sane man would put this thing in his speaker?
Custodian - I feel for you and the poor support in the EU. Here in the States my experience with both my local dealer and Wilson directly has been terrific. It surprises me they don't have better support over there. Have you heard anything about support in Asia? I think they do well in Asia in terms of sales?

Raquel, there is (can be) the midbass hump. I think this contributes to the difficulty in setting them up. Is the tweeter perfect? No, and if one isn't careful in all regards the speakers can sound overly bright. But along with this, I think its important to recognize the things the tweeter does do so well.

The Wilson sound is a specific sound for specific tastes and not everybody will or should like them. But I have learned long ago that a product that measures perfectly doesn't always sound good and one that doesn't measure perfectly - doesn't necessarily sound bad.

I find the Wilson sound to be energetic, activating, exciting. I have owned SET systems and other systems without Wilson speakers, some very good, some great sounding. But there is just something about the Wilson sound that in the end, I keep coming back to. While not for everybody or what a lot of people are seeking, but for me and others like me (ie. my tastes and goals), the Wilson sound is exciting, energizing, etc. . . I never get bored with their sound and find myself more engaged with Wilsons in my system that others.

Poorly set-up, they can sound bad - to me that is there biggest weakness. Few other speakers that I have owned respond so strongly to miniscule changes in placement and positioning. But once in place they are wonderful IMO.

I had a pair of Duettes for a while, I like their external cross overs and the ease in changing the resistors to taylor the sound. It would be nice if the W/P had the resistors so accessible for the same purposes.
The short life of the WP8 had everything to do with its performance - the improvement over the WP7 was tremendous that Wilson wanted a NEW name rather than the implication of incremental benefits which the "8" version may allude to. In short, the WP8 is closer to the SASHA than the WP7.
Upgrade1394---you are mistaken. the short life of the 8 was due to the Magico V3 which was a better speaker at a lower price.
Both of these statements are baseless, but hey, it is the 'net.