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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
Post removed 
drewde OP
53 posts
 
@tvad EXACTLY!!!

I use that example all the time! A scary movie ceases to be scary without the sound! And that is the more obvious ones. The subtle stuff that we do affects people just as much but isn't as in their face.

Sound is at least 50% of the movie going experience!!!

Best!
graphicalone
4 posts
 
Fun discussion. Good luck with all this. I have a few professional sound friends, one at the Ranch in Marin, another in post at the Presidio and one freelance but mostly involved in documentary filmmaking for TV. I love to listen to them discuss mic placement. I'm a physics guy, so I understand the science, but the art of what you do is special.

To your question about in-walls, I bought a pair of L-85s from Noble Fidelity a few years ago. The speakers are superior to most in-walls under $1000/pair, imho. I never expected them to match my previous setup from Dick Sequerra, but I needed something in the ceiling and frankly, they sound really great for things like organ music when paired with my old M&K sub. Problem with in-ceilings is that they're in the ceiling and with Covid, we're all working from home and every room is filled, so speakers in the ceiling are also speakers in the floor and that's a non-starter. Also, the reason I reference the organ is because in most places with an organ the sound is up, so an in-ceiling speaker makes sense. But for a Yo-yo Ma cello solo, the sound comes from the wrong place. The Noble Fidelity owner was great to work with and the product is quality. And they're in Reno. My kids actually prefer the Nobles to the On-wall Maggies I replaced them with, but I think that will change as I get the Maggies better dialed in.

I still have an M&K Volkswoofer, probably the same model you bought in 1980 - wasn't that demo that M&K did back then phenomenal? If you saw their roadshow, they'd setup the sat/sub combo and play a jazz recording with no noise. The initial cymbal crash would knock you out of the room because everyone was used to the sound of the needle on the record before the music started. I didn't like the satellites; they were too bright for me,  but the sub was amazing used with various of Sequerra's setups. I've always lived in small houses (San Francisco Victorians), so I don't buy huge speakers, but I love the beauty.

G
msorr
2 posts
 
From the intro I was expecting a story about Avantgarde.  Bought a used pair of Unos about 10 years ago.  Amazing then. Still amazing now.  30 watt Cary valve amp enough for rock concert levels in the living room. No audible distortion at any level. 😃
optimize
164 posts
 
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.

Glad that you found your speakers! 👍

When you are in the industry and do sounds for film and have that for a living.

I just maybe misunderstanding what "reference level" means. Feels like a strong buzz word to me.

What I think the definition of reference level is for me or what I have learned.
It is when you have your home cinema receiver in volume with dB scale and going from ~ -100 dB up to full volume at 0.0 dB (some may go over to the positive side)

So I were told that reference level were full volume 0.0 dB?!

Now I am only a simple 2ch guy, but are you guys playing at 0.0 dB most of the time?!

Yes I know it is a side note but I get curious when this word "reference level" is thrown around because it sounds cool to say or actually people blast away at 0.0 dB all day long?


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