September 17 - Wisdom Audio has extensive experience with hybrid planar magnetic speakers, but broke new ground with the Sage-series speakers it demonstrated at CEDIA 2007.  There will be five Sage models ranging from 15- to 95-inches tall, each featuring a combination of piston- and planar magnetic-type drivers, and each offered in three formats: in-wall, on-wall, or freestanding. And everywhere you look in the Sage models, you find evidence of fresh thinking and advanced—even exotic—technologies.

For starters, the Sage models feature what Wisdom terms “next generation planar magnetic thin-film drivers.� The drivers are powered by rare earth (neodymium) magnets that activate thin-film diaphragms that have been pleated using a “proprietary, high pressure process.� The result, says company EVP David Graebener, is a drive unit that provides “superior detail, outstanding dynamic range, and controlled directivity.�

Even the Sage’s piston drivers are different, featuring long, slim, constrained layer fiber composite “racetrack-shaped� diaphragms, each powered by four separate motor assemblies. At first glance, the pistons don’t seem to have enough surface area to produce adequate bass, yet they can and do thanks to long-throw motors and Wisdom’s purpose-built model SA-1 1000-watt bass amplifier, which really make those slim little woofers jump.

Going even further, Wisdom has designed the Sage models for use its SC-1 speaker controller (above) which provides electronic woofer-to-planar-magnetic-driver crossover functions and embeds—get this—a custom version of Audyssey’s, MultEQ XT room/speaker EQ system! A Wisdom spokesman told Playback and The Perfect Vision that the Sage woofers are best driven the Wisdom’s own SA-1 amp, but that planar magnetic drivers can be driven well by any number of high-quality amplifiers.

Wisdom played the in-wall version of the second largest Sage speaker for me, using both high quality music and film material, and the speaker demonstrated tremendous performance potential—this despite the fact that its custom Audyssey EQ system was not dialed-in at the time. Transient and textural details were finely resolved at all frequencies, while soundstages were deep and wide with performers appearing at precise locations onstage. Even without its EQ system in action, the Sage system was easily one the three best that I heard at CEDIA 2007.

Final pricing and availability were not specified, but company president Mark Glazier said the speaker system I heard, including the SC-1 controller and SA-1 bass amp, would sell in the low-to-mid $20k range.  

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