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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
 
I have received some other posts that I believe have been removed before I could respond still complaining that this is spam, advertisement, etc...

If you look at when I joined this group it was in May 7, 2017. Boy I sure played the long game to start a simple advertising thread!!!??!?!

I just didn't feel I had anything really exciting to post regarding my experience with a speaker until now. I get the weekly recap on Friday from Audiogon and just click on the topics that interest me. Sometimes nothing grabs me and I just delete the email. Sometimes almost all of the threads interest me.

I enjoy the group and plan on continuing. I have also refrained from posting once or twice in the past because these things can become a HUGE time suck. I am more than happy to help those that I can via email. If you live in LA I would be happy to come by and help out as well. But I am usually SO swamped with work that any free time I do have I spend with my family. 

I knew when I started this particular thread there would be some flack - It's fine and I enjoy the discussion. I don't enjoy insults to me or those I work with for well over 25 years in this industry. 

Thank you to all here who are interested in discussing, debating without resorting to ignorant attacks.

Best,
Drew
snbeall
63 posts
 
drewde,

I have salivated over Wisdom Audio for years. Decades actually. The closest I came were some BG Radia 520dx made by Bohlender Graebener at the turn of the millennia. BG manufactured the planar units for Wisdom, started by Graebener when he left BG. Unfortunately BG did not survive the death of Bohlender. Wisdom carries on the tradition and elevates it.

That you have experienced Meridian 8000’s and moved on says something about your point of reference. Meridian is where I personally went following BG. I am now dabbling w/Thiel, but would leave them all for Wisdom. If I could afford it! 
You ask about amplification. Unless something has changed, the Wisdom universe is similar to Meridian. It is all intended to work together as a system. Their speakers are all active - in the sense that there is no internal passive crossover. They require a preamp/processor/active DSP crossover unit and are bi or tri amped depending on the model. Although you can probably substitute your own power amplification stage. I would strongly suggest the Hypex of Purify modules based D class multichannel amplifiers. You’re going to need a lot of channels of amplification and these do it not only efficiently but with best specs.

The inwall or on wall nature is I believe their strongest attribute. Especially as it goes for movies. I find large in room speakers - which to provide the best sound must necessarily be out in the room- to be very distracting.

They are a complex system and not unlike Meridian require a good and experienced dealer/installer to get the best result. Although with your background along with support from Wisdom, and plenty of $, you should experience Nirvana.

Good luck. 
Ag insider logo xs@2x
jayh
63 posts
 
I think this may very well be the post I have enjoyed the most to date.
Thank you, sir!
snbeall
63 posts
 
Take a look at VTV or Apollon for US based makers of multichannel Hypex or Purifi based amps. You could have them customize exactly what you want - 500 watts for bass, 250 or 125 for tweeter sections, etc. But you’re probably gonna need to use Wisdom’s SC2 and/or SC3 preamp/crossover which are proprietary and equalized for the speakers.
drewde OP
53 posts
 
@dukeofdoowop
I have too have a less than stellar setup for audio! It is what it is!

Well if the DX is low overall, I would simply start by raising the center channel around 3dB. This should make an immediate improvement. If you add some mild compression you might find things falling into a much more comfortable place for you and others.

I don't know for sure, but it is possible that if we adjust the center channel level manually (within the preamp) it might turn off Audyssey. Hmm.

According to the manual, you should be able to see on the front panel if the DYNAMIC EQ and DYNAMIC VOL are lit up - hence engaged.

You should be able to adjust these settings directly from your remote. I couldn't find a way to attach photos so if you look on your remote the #9 key will have DYN EQ/VOL  above it. By pressing this it will change the settings accordingly:
1.DYNAMIC EQ: OFF
   DYNAMIC VOL: OFF

2. Dynamic EQ: ON
    Dynamic Vol: Heavy (most compression)

3. Dynamic EQ: ON
    Dynamic Vol: Medium

4. Dynamic EQ: ON
    Dynamic Vol: Light (least amount of compression)

5 Dynamic EQ: ON
   Dynamic Vol:  OFF

This should easily and quickly adjust these setting from your remote without having to dig deep into the menu settings and try a setting that might help you.

The #8 on your remote will get you directly to the channel level settings. There you should be able to scroll down to the Center channel and hit select it and bump it up 3dB. 

My only concern with this adjustment is whether it will disable you Audyssey calibration or not. Hopefully not, but I can't say for sure as I am not familiar with this preamp I couldn't find the info in the manual as to what it might do.

As for you speaker setup in a room 30x15 I guessed 10' heigh for ceiling and doing a quick look using REW software. (https://www.roomeqwizard.com)
Your one subwoofer in the corner is actually a reasonable spot based on your room dimensions and your listening position. One sub is actually always difficult to get the smoothest curves and it shows you will have significant bumps at 37.7Hz, 52.9Hz 67.5Hz, but assuming you using the Audyssey crossover at 80Hz the dip I see at 107 Hz shouldn't be a problem. Audyssey should have made the appropriate EQ adjustments to tamp down the bumps.

Of course the best instrument we have is our ears! These tools help us get a good idea of what is going on, but listening is the ultimate test!

Let me know if this helps.

Like I said - I would definitely tweak the system you have before feeling the need to buy new speakers!





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