2. speakers
  3. 163523-97867

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 2 responses by musicaddict

musicaddict
370 posts
 
Thank you. I am lucky (and silently thank the architect from the 80s…)

The Raidho D2 has been described more as a ‘bottom up’ speaker, probably in part due to to a bass hump 80-160 or so. Once it is ameliorated (DSP) the pure clarity and liquidity and clarity if even greater. I think between neutral and laid back is fair. (Sometimes a fast, tight, deep bass confuses the idea of yin and yang.) The two 4.5” mid/bass drivers are fast and with rear port loading, very deep. Best is the sealed ribbon tweeter. The treble clarity of off the charts and it is a bit forgiving as it has never ‘hurt me’, still providing incredible detail.

No kidding here (ask my poor wife), I owned wonderful Dynaudio Sapphires with the (fairly) acclaimed Esotar II tweeter (and it’s possibly my favorite conventional dome tweeter, soft of course) but the D2s have revealed subtle new musical information, I had never previously heard, in almost every CD I own.

Video stuff is modest. In the 14x20 TV room we use Elac Debut 2.0 speakers, F5.2/C5.2/B5.2 , and an REL Storm III sub, Onkyo AV receiver, Panasonic BluRay/DVD and a smallish Vizio 55” monitor.

The 12 x 22 basement theater exists, but is not sorted for speakers. It is a JVC DLA-RS400 projector onto a 150” (1.78) fixed wall screen, a Denon AVR, and Panasonic BluRay. Speakers:  NHT old 2.5i floor-standers, dual 1.5s center, and NHT bi-polar wall surrounds. OR:  Martin Logan SL3 electrostatics with a ML Cinema center channel. I have two SVS SB-2000s (and one SB-3000) all just acquired. I originally figured using two SB-2000s for theater. Now I’m unsure of that.

Correction certainly can be a blessing or a curse depending on how it is applied. For me, and I don’t want to be a salesperson, but if my DSP unit quit I’d spend 3-5X its cost to replace it, if I had to. Nothing, aside from the D2s has made such a huge, extremely audible improvement in music in my system. I’d beg non-believers to try it before dismissing it…

I’ll be hanging around to hear future reports on the Wisdom install. Best!


musicaddict
370 posts
 
This is a very good thread. Thanks for your efforts, Drew, and others!

I am fortunate and happy to have my primary two-channel system separate from the TV room, or home theater downstairs. For me, that is a must. I really like seeing the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide directly behind my loudspeakers through my living/listening room windows. Having a theater in that room would be tough/inappropriate.

As for Class D amplification I think you are looking in the right direction. For two channel I've used tubes (rarely), but Class AB mostly up until I picked us a W4S STI-1000 integrated (claimed 560/1120w). You cannot hear anything out of the speaker when the system is on with no music input. The pre-amp and amp sections are stone-dead quiet, and clean and precise, with bass authority as well.

I run the STI-1000 with a pair of (used-to-me) Raidho D2 small floorstanders. Unless I had a lot more money these are my 'holy grail' of musical reproduction speakers for two channel. Scratch home theater for these; loudest peaks are only to the mid 90s, but plenty for me for musical listening, and they reproduce tight bass flat to almost 30Hz within limits.

(If I need it louder I'll high-pass D2s and add a sealed sub. I'll also mention that the STI-1000 may be considered neutral to lean, but it pairs very well with the Raidhos as they are more warm than lean; I've tried other power amps but keep going back to the the STI-1000's power section as well as the preamp, looping in the DSP unit.)

I feel room correction for bass response is a must if you ever want to hear how nice your speakers can sound (I still do not know anyone who has that dead-perfect listening space with zero corrections). The DSPeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 Dual Core, a DSP based room-correction and equalizer, has transformed a good system into one of even greater clarity and detail while establishing near pitch-perfect bass from 30-200 Hz.

If an avid audiophile hears the A/B with his/her room corrected for bass you'll never go back to the uneven bass most rooms provide. it was a night and day revelation, easily discernible to anyone with ears.


Thanks for all of the theater/movie information! I'm reading and digesting it all.



More to discover