Duette Series 2 - Design

 Duette is a unique product in the audio world: a loudspeaker engineered to provide state of the art audiophile performance in installations typically anathema to good sound, namely when the speaker must be placed near a wall, either on stands or in a bookshelf or cabinet. Now Duette Series 2 further refines and perfects that objective, with features such as a new stand with an integrated crossover, new cabinet design and bracing for better resonance control, and tweeter technology derived from Alexia. The designers and engineers responsible for Duette Series 2 illustrate these features in this in-depth video introduction. 

Drivers

Duette Series 2 benefits from the myriad technical innovations introduced at Wilson Audio since the introduction of the original Duette over six years ago. For instance, the new tweeter utilizes the rear wave damping technology developed for the Wilson Convergent Synergy tweeter first employed in Alexandria XLF and subsequently in Alexia.

Custom Platform

Based on feedback from how our customers were actually using Duette, with Series 2 we decided to forgo the original’s freestanding option and focus on a speaker designed solely for near-boundary installations. Conventional audiophile wisdom holds that placing a loudspeaker near-wall or in a bookshelf inevitably compromises performance. Our determination, however, was to demonstrate that near-boundary placement need not engender sonic compromise. Duette Series 2 is engineered to provide similar levels of soundstage depth and detail, harmonic expression, and dynamic contrast as our floorstanding speakers.

Awards

Audio Excellence
2016
Stereophile Recommended Components 2017
Stereophile
2017
Recommended Components 2017
2017
RH’s Best of Show - Best Sound (Cost No Object)
2018
Recommended Components - Fall Edition
2018
2018 Recommended Components
2018
JM’s Best of Show - Best Sound (Cost No Object)
2018
NG’s Best of Show - Best Sound (Cost No Object)
2018
Recommended Components: 2019 Edition Loudspeakers
Stereophile
2019

Reviews

Duette series 2 Review by Andrew Quint
The Absolute Sound
Duette series 2 Review by Art Dudley
Stereophile
Duette 2 review by HIFiNews
HIFiNews
Duette Series-2
The Absolute Sound
Duette Series-2
Hi-Fi+
Duette Series-2
The Speaker Shack
Wilson Audio Duette II
What Hi-Fi?

Duette Series 2 Technical Specifications

Released: 2013   
Retired: 2020

Drivers

Woofer
8 inches (20.32 cm)
Tweeter
1 inch (2.54 cm)

Enclosures & Materials

Enclosure
Rear Ported, X- and S-Materia

Measurements

Sensitivity
92 dB @ 1W @ 1 meter @1 kHz
Nominal Impedance
4 ohms/minimum 4.35 ohms @ 160 Hz
Minimum Amplifier Power
20 watts per channel
Frequency Response
33 Hz—21 kHz +/- 3 dB Room Average Response [RAR]

Overall Dimensions

Height
18 1/2 inches (46.99 cm)
Width
10 1/2 inches (26.66 cm)
Depth
16 1/16 inches (40.82 cm)
Duette Weight Per Channel
45 lbs (20.41 kg)