@drewde You don't have to explain yourself to anyone on here about when and where or why you flew anywhere to do anything. Last I looked it was a free country and you can still purchase an airline ticket legally.
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
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
- ...
- 135 posts total
Your characterization of these speakers certainly sounds plausible. My Apogees are magnetostatic ribbon speakers (all magnets and ribbons) and they too can do it all. There truly are few full range ribbon speakers producers. Typically they are pretty expensive and they are quite sensitive in regard to component matching. It’s also difficult for a speaker designer to get their designs just right. An example was the Carver Amazings. Check out their Stereophile review. Its a good teaching in the complexity and pitfalls of speaker design (and they were actually hybrid ribbons speakers). My Duetta Signature IIs are as picky as it get when it comes to speaker cables and they want a lot of current to really shine across the frequency spectrum. I’ve got a beast of a single ended, dual monoblock in a single chassis BAT (Balanced Audio Technology) VK-600 with bat pack that produces a huge amount of current. Cheers! |
Andrew thanks for your wonderful post. That you found an end game speaker that happily lives in the 2 worlds is wonderful, my old Apogees were pretty happy playing in the 2 worlds when space was restricted but in building a new house I designed a dedicated music/theatre room and had the luxury of putting separate systems in .. as well as a couple of Guitar amps, though I ran out of room to put the PA in as well .. Lol .. like you I have been thru a sh#% load of speakers over 48 years. In the end its just about enjoying your new system, there is always a better system out there somewhere. Take care. Rosco |
whart - I am not at Pixar, but based out of one of the major studios in Hollywood. 75 rooms is counting all of the different editing, design, small QC rooms, etc. It is a guesstimate on my part, but realistic in my opinion. You are exactly spot on with regards to the home theater vs. purist audio comparison. Trying to find speakers that could do it all was my goal. I considered the Meyers Bluehorn speakers. Excellent speakers. However my tastes when I put my "purist audio" hat on is for something other than horn systems. I feel like with what I have demoed with the Wisdom speakers I can be happy with them doing double duty and not feel like I am making a compromise. I am not yet sure what amps I will use. Wisdom sells their own amps, but honestly I don't think I can afford them. I have been looking at the class-D amps from ATI. When I auditioned the speakers at the factory they used their own amps which are rated at 500w/ch @4Ohm. The ATI amps can deliver this as well and are more affordable. The other issue is of course that the particular series of Wisdom speaker I am considering needs bi-amplification. I am interested in the LINE source series, but they also make point source. One of the things I have noticed in the film industry |
- 135 posts total