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Finally found THE SPEAKER!!!

I have been a HiFi guy starting at 12 years old with my father passing along the love. We would spend almost every weekend auditioning speakers looking to find the perfect system. We purchased many speakers over the years and they all had their pros and cons, but the trade off always seemed to be nuanced and delicate vs. dynamic and punchy. When auditioning speakers people would always ask what kind of music do you like to listen to? Rock, female vocals, classical, etc... We had/have eclectic taste and would listen to it all. Why could't a speaker just play all of it?!?! Anyway my love for music, sound, etc... became my profession as I am now an Oscar nominated Supervising Sound Editor with well over 150 movies under my belt.

For the last 5 years I have been looking for speakers that can play films at reference levels with all the detail and punch, yet when I want to listen to music can give that nuanced and detailed imaging, space, air, articulation without being harsh and fatiguing. I have listened to SO MANY speakers and spent hundreds of hours auditioning everything I could find. I would fall in love with something for music and then try play one of my films at reference level and it just never gave me the impact I was looking for. I get it - hard to move a lot of air and still be nuanced and articulate. There are some excellent compression drivers/horns that can do the impact stuff, but for me they always have that harsh edge when it comes to music. The flip side with dome type tweeters I have found things have to be pushed to the edge to try to give that theatrical impact. Looking for the quick transient response of an electrostatic, with the punch of compression driver type of system.

Then a dealer recommend I listen to some speakers from Wisdom Audio. I have to admit I was pretty skeptical at first. I read about these and it all sounded like marketing to me, but the dealer I was talking with said he was blown away by them. So I reached out to the company and setup a demo. They use planar magnetics which is not exactly new, but is very difficult to manufacture. I asked them to have one of my films available to listen to. I chose one that I knew extremely well that has a LOT of dynamic punch as well as subtle nuance. I live in Los Angeles and the company is in Carson City, Nevada. I bought an airplane ticket and I was off. I was treated to a tour of the factory and shown how the speakers were made. USA manufactured!! Then we spent a few hours listening to all types of music on different ranges of speakers. I LOVED what I was hearing with the music part of the audition. Then I asked to hear my film in their theater. I expected to be disappointed based on what I had experienced in the past. Then it happened... I heard the film play and it sounded AMAZING! These speakers could do it all!!! No compression, no fatigue, HiFi sound and still able to play theatrical film tracks as they are meant to be heard. In fact - better! I called my wife in disbelief that my search for "The Speakers" was finally over! I even called my father to tell him what I had just heard. It was the impressive! I remind you - I do this for a living!

Since we are undergoing a major remodel at our home, my wife expected that the family room was going to be filled with big speakers as she has become accustomed to living with me. With some of these Wisdom Audio speakers, they are actually designed to be flush mounted in the wall. I thought there is no way a wall mounted speaker could ever sound as good as a traditional speaker. I was so wrong!! So not only did I find the perfect speaker, but not big boxes in the room 3 feet away from any walls! My wife was thrilled.

If you have never heard speakers by Wisdom Audio you need to find a dealer where you can audition them, or fly to the factory for a private demo!

Best,
Andrew
drewde
drewde OP
53 posts
 
Soix -

In my design room I am using JBL 708 series speakers that have been tuned to match the sound characteristic of the main speakers on the dub stages in Hollywood. All of us in the business are very accustomed to the "JBL sound." It is what it is. When we are editing and designing our sound - we want to know how it will sound on the dub stage where the director will hear the film. Keep in mind we have maybe 75 plus editing rooms so economy is also a key player. Also with that many rooms, we are dealing with relatively small rooms so are in a "near field" situation. There is still a translation issue due to how the big / main theater speakers react vs. the quicker transient response of small diaphragm speakers. Especially when it comes to the compression driver/horns that tend to "sing" around the 2k range in the big speakers. 

That being said, when the score is recorded and mastered - it is always with a more HiFi type of speaker. Something we would want in our home to listen to music. It is very common to see the big B&W in the scoring room. ATC is another common one used.
drewde OP
53 posts
 
I had not planned on sharing my life, but... we are in the middle of a massive remodel of our home. We have been planning and saving for a long time. We unfortunately do NOT have a dedicated theater, but do a have a large family room that will serve as our theater and music listening area... as well as the... um family room.

Anyway. I have not yet installed the Wisdom Audio speakers in the room, but they will absolutely be the speakers I will use! I have made a few trips to Wisdom Audio now to audition and chose what will be the best fit for my needs and budget.

Due to my position and connections in my work I have been offered many other speakers at cost or for free! I am choosing to buy these Wisdom speakers because they are that good. 

drewde OP
53 posts
 
tvad - The 80" planar magnetics are amazing, but also out of my price range. They have many smaller speakers and I am looking at something along the lines of the Sage Line 2 to be installed in the front wall. My wife loves the idea of not having speakers on the floor.

That being said... the sage L75 is what I initially thought I would be getting, but the Sage Line 3 is what is installed in the demo theater and gives me the extra punch for films, plus the detail of the L75.
drewde OP
53 posts
 
Soix - Headphones. For work I have been using BT 990, 770 etc... for a while. The last couple of years I have been helping Sony develop some technology for editing/mixing with headphones which was recently announced:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/virtual-ces-sony-highlights-new-headphone-tech-for-r...

I am currently beta testing new headphones for Sony that will give the best experience with this new technology. The headphones are just stereo headphones.

My personal headphones are Focal Utopias.
drewde OP
53 posts
 
mwatsme - I have listened to all of the speakers you mentioned except for the GoldenEar SuperSat. I did audition the Golden Ear Triton series. Honestly none of these speakers did what I was looking for in terms of fidelity and dynamics.

I think you are confusing ribbon speakers with the planar magnetics used in the Wisdom Audio speakers. You need to move a lot of air to get dynamics. They look similar but are MILES apart.

Again - my hesitation in making the trip to Wisdom in the first place was based on my past experience with speakers that you mentioned. I too didn't understand the difference between the technology and only made the trip because the local dealer I am working with told me I should make the trip as it might be exactly the speaker I am looking for. He was right. 

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