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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

Showing 3 responses by mijostyn

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,175 posts
 
@drewde, I have heard the in wall line sources. Not sure which model.
They are good. I'm not sure the situation was optimal. If I were putting them in I would go to town reinforcing the wall. I would make a sound wall with 2 X 6 staggered studs' and I would mount the blue board with construction adhesive to prevent buzzing. I still would be inclined to use subwoofers. On a 16 foot wall I space 4 of them 5 feet apart. 
They are very dynamic and like any other line source they cast a large image which I prefer. They are not the last word in detail and transient response but they are better than most dynamic speakers for sure. With the right power they will go crazy loud. At normal loud levels they are effortless .  I assume they are part of a theater system? I would get a Trinnov Theater processor 8, 16 or 32 channels. It will provide your subwoofer crossover and help level things off. There are acoustic advantages of in wall mounting. You prevent early reflections off the front wall but you still have to deal with the side walls. Floor and ceiling are not a problem because they are line sources. So just the side walls need to be treated. 
I prefer line source ESLs but this sure could be the basis for a great system. 
What are some of your Movies?!

Mike
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,175 posts
 
Andrew, What kind of a system are you doing , 7.2? Multichannel class D amps are fine for the surround speakers. I would use amps like QSC PLX 3602 's for subwoofers (Class H) and I would use serious amps for the main speakers. These are all going to generate heat. Pass 600.8's or Parasound JC1+ would be fabulous. There is also Boulder and Constellation if you want to spend more money. 
If you want to lower distortion further you want to cross to the subwoofers higher up no lower than 80  Hz using a high pass filter on the main amps.
One subwoofer will not do it. My guess is you will need four. You like the line sources because they project power. You can not use them well with a point source subwoofer. You have to create a line source subwoofer to match correctly. My guess is you will need at least 4 to create the array.
You can't put them in the wall but they can be positioned on the floor right against the front wall where they will be out of the way. Please check out the Trinnov processor https://www.trinnov.com/altitude32/  This is a major cool unit and it has a great subwoofer crossover in it.
Please, what are some of your movies. I collect Blu Ray discs. I might have some already!
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,175 posts
 
Drewde, your subs have to be configured as a linear array or they will not project power like your line source speakers. You  can position individual subwoofers against the front wall on the floor under the screen at intervals of 4 feet or so. The higher you cross over the closer the subs have to be. 4 feet is perfectly adequate for crosses up to 100 Hz. The subwoofers will be function acoustically as one big driver all the way down to 1 Hz and project power like a line source. You can do the same thing with two towers but they have to be as high as your ceiling, and they take up vertical space possibly interfering with the screen. I do not like screens in front of speakers. If you look at my system page you will get the idea. If you want to lean more about subwoofers feel free to message me. I have been using line source speakers since 1980.
As far as processors go I would go with the Trinnov over StormAudio. I think their Room control is better. I am strictly two channel so I would go with the Amethyst but they have theater processors up to 32 channels. It is interesting that both companies are French. How you use the room control is different for theater than 2 channel. Some people never actually sit in a specific spot to listen, music is for the background only. If you do sit in the listening position and listen seriously you can usually store a profile for strict two channel use and switch back and forth. 

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