The Smallest Wilson
TuneTot is the latest product from the Wilson Special Applications EngineeringTM team. While its name pays homage to the first WSAE product, it is a modern technical tour de force designed to offer the timbral beauty, dynamic nuance, soundstage resolution, and transparency—all the hallmarks of Wilson loudspeakers design culture—but do so in environments that are hostile to all of those qualities.
 
TuneTot is the smallest and least expensive Wilson, but it would be a mistake to see it as an “entry-level” offering. TuneTots are lovingly fabricated and assembled by the same group of talented craftsmen who build the WAMM Master Chronosonic, using exactly the same processes and techniques. Its cabinet and driver technology are derived directly from Alexx and Sabrina. Finally, each TuneTot that emerges from Wilson is held to the same rigorous, industry-leading manufacturing tolerances as its larger siblings, ensuring each TuneTot is as technically and musically accurate as the reference prototype. You hear precisely what Daryl Wilson heard in the final design.
 
From the inception of the first Wilson loudspeaker, it always has been understood that the time domain is a critical factor—if musical authenticity is the goal. With TuneTot, the challenge was twofold: Isolating the active loudspeaker from its environment and providing adjustable correction in the time domain. Wilson’s engineers cleverly combined both needs into a single solution. TuneTot utilizes austenitic stainless-steel spike hardware that was designed specifically for TuneTot. The spike system also acts as a mechanical diode, draining unwanted energy out of TuneTot. One of the two pairs of spikes is fully adjustable in terms of length. The adjustable spikes are installed in either the front or the rear of the loudspeaker, depending on the installation height of TuneTot. The adjustability of the spikes changes the rake angle of TuneTot and accurately facilitates time-domain adjust- ability. Wilson provides precise a simple installation setup technique that allows TuneTot to be corrected in the time domain for each installation.
 
An Enclosure Only Wilson Could Design
Custom composites have several advantages over single-element materials, such as aluminum. Since composites are constructed from several different constituencies, each element can be uniquely optimized for a variety of design characteristics—such as acoustical damping and rigidity. Performance factors that are mutually exclusive in single-element materials can be individually addressed in composites. Just as is true for all Wilson’s, TuneTot’s enclosure was analyzed and reanalyzed using its state-of-the-art Laser Vibrometry system in order to optimize enclosure-wall thicknesses and the strategic implementation of the proprietary composites. With this precision instrument, WSAE engineers are able to readily detect even the tiniest enclosure vibrations—at the level of billionths of a meter. The process aids the engineers in their search for the ideal combination and geometry of the composites for the cabinet. TuneTot is constructed from two Wilson proprietary composites—the proven combination of Wilson’s X- and S-material.
 
Wilson’s engineers didn’t stop there. Perfectly rectangular enclosures are inexpensive and easy to build but suffer from music-destroying internal reflections generated by parallel walls. TuneTot’s enclosure is asymmetrical, ensuring no two internal surfaces are parallel. Inspired by technology from the Alexia Series 2 and the WAMM, TuneTot’s cabinet additionally features a complex internal reflection management system.
 
ISOBase
When the TuneTot is mounted on a resonant surface, such as a wood desk or sideboard, the ISOBase is ideal. It is an interim platform that is placed between TuneTot and the surface below. In this application, the ISOBase dramatically reduces spurious interaction and mechanical resonances generated by the loudspeaker. The ISOBase utilizes a sandwiched series of constrained layers constructed from Wilson’s proven proprietary composites and some newly developed polymers. In these types of installations, a polymer designed to provide optimal damping is the preferred material to interface with the resonant surface below. ISOBase offers unprecedented levels of decoupling and isolation between TuneTot and the structure upon which it rests. It is available in five different paint colors and four metal-hardware choices.
 
The latest member of the TuneTot Ecosystem
Wilson’s Special Applications Engineering division introduces the latest member of the TuneTot Ecosystem—The TuneTot Stand. The design team engineered it from the ground up to seamlessly augment TuneTot’s beautiful lines. The primary design objectives were extraordinary stability and ultra-low resonance, and a platform that facilitated the proper alignment of the baffle for the time domain.
 
A custom-machined, solid billet of X-Material serves as the column riser. It is extremely inert and massive. X-Material, now in its third design iteration, is unique among composites for its remarkable combination of dampening characteristics and rigidity. The column is painted using our WilsonGloss process and is available in a range of colors to match or complement the TuneTot. 
 
Configurable
The top plate is machined from 6061-T6 aluminum. The plate features bolt holes, which accommodate the hardware for TuneTot’s secure attachment to the Stand. The resulting X-Material/aluminum interface is exceptionally stable and critically damped. Transient response and dynamic contrast, mandatory objectives for any Wilson loudspeaker, are preserved and enhanced as a result.
 
Optionally, the TuneTot Stand is configurable with the ISOBase, which further enhances resonant control. The ISOBase securely bolts to the TuneTot Stand. The combination of The Stand with the ISOBase provides a level of musical performance no other stand can match. Additionally, the ISOBase allows TuneTot’s rake angle to be adjusted in relation to the listening position, which facilitates more accurate alignment of the time domain for most installations.
 
The bottom plate is also machined from 6061-T6 aluminum. Spikes can be installed into the bottom plate for greater stability on carpeted floors. Both plates are available in either black or clear anodize.
 
The TuneTot Stand was engineered both for musical accuracy and architectural beauty. Both measurably and musically, TuneTot Stand's performance far exceeds aftermarket alternatives.