Wisdom Insight Speaker line

Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
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Pacific NW
I have been pleasantly surprised by the sound quality I am getting from the Wisdom Insight speaker line in a small lounge HT system. The Insight line has internal crossovers so you do not need to have all of the controller electronics. Simpler and cheaper but I have found they provide a lot of bang for the buck. I never hear much about this brand so thought I would throw it out there. This lounge is effectively an alcove where we threw a wraparound sofa and a 63" Runco TV. Great for sports or TV. Most of my movie watching is in a Wilson theater room I posted about previously. This room is great for sports and movies if the kids have taken over the theater. I put this system in while remodeling the entire house so was able to install the three P4s for LCR and the P2s for surround along with the two S55i subs into the walls so really clean. All of the equipment is in a closet behind the TV. If anyone is considering inwall options for HT....by all means consider the higher end wisdom models (this is What's Best Forum) but if you are looking for great quality and reasonable price take a look at the Insight line IMG_0017.JPG IMG_0018.JPG IMG_0019.JPG
 

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audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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I have calibrated a large theater with a Wisdom system and really liked the speakers. At the most recent CEDIA, I thought the Wisdom room provided the best and most immersive theater sound a the show.

Wisdom seems to fly below the radar for folks that participate on this forum.
 

bonzo75

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Feb 26, 2014
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I have calibrated a large theater with a Wisdom system and really liked the speakers. At the most recent CEDIA, I thought the Wisdom room provided the best and most immersive theater sound a the show.

Wisdom seems to fly below the radar for folks that participate on this forum.

They mostly demo in the MCH category, including with the datasat
 

audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
2,794
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Near Atlanta, GA but not too near!
I have recently calibrated another Wisdom room but unlike the others I have calibrated, this one included Line Source for all channels AND the room was properly treated. Sage Line 2's as LCRs (bi-amped) and Insight L8i for surrounds (not bi-amped). This turned out to be one of the "moments" in my audio life. While the home theater audio was easily the best I have ever heard, it was the music that stunned me. He is using a Trinnov processor to drive everything.

I have heard a lot of very high end music systems in my life (both as an industry employee as well as a hobbyist). Some of them created "mini moments" and some of them I get to hear regularly (at least until Covid got us). But absolutely none was able to do what this client's system did. It actually brought me to tears. I have never heard music reproduced in a home that had that affect on me. Song after song, and genre after genre, it was simply magic. Easily the cleanest, most grain free, distortion free, articulate vocals I have ever heard. There are lots of reasons for that, one being that they simply never get harsh as you increase the volume. And Line Source speakers load the room completely different than point source. And with the Trinnov doing the electronic crossover function, time alignment of the two vertical arrays in each the front speakers (each calculated separately) is literally PERFECT.

Listening to his system in 2.1 mode, it lacked the 3D dimensionality that an in-room set of speakers can provide (his LCRs are on the front wall). While all of the above adjectives still applied, it lacked "magic".

But once we enabled AuroMatic (with a number of very critical adjustments), I was simply taken to another realm. So much so that I have ordered his exact complement of speakers (plus Wides).

Some of you may remember Wisdom from the early 2000's as they had 2 channel systems at CES. I thought each time I heard them, they were on the other side of "sucky". While they still offer in-room solutions for many of the speakers, they have been successful with their "architecturally friendly" approach. Here is a photo from about 2002 when they demonstrated at CES the $1,000,000 stereo in a gigantic auditorium that sounded like garbage- no matter where you sat.
Stereo.jpg


I know 99.9% of the members here are all about listening to music using two (or 2.1) speakers. And until this revelation, those systems offered the pinnacle of the music listening experience for me as well. But listening in a room with all line source speakers (all using Planar Magnetic Drivers), defines (to these ears) a new level of music immersion that I did not think was possible.

I can not wait to get my new system up and running am in the midst of making some serious room mods to accommodate this change. My speakers are supposed to ship at the end of this month.

It is unfortunate that you would be hard pressed to find a dealer with the right complement of Wisdom speakers in a properly treated space and using Auro with some very specific adjustments such that you can hear what I am hearing.

I have been listening to 2 channel music using Auro for a very long time now (with my all Triad speakers), once I learned the tricks to keep it from sounding so "processed". And while I loved the presentation, I was not delusional enough to believe It sounded better than Magico's or any of the other very high end speakers, properly set up in a properly treated room. But it did sound more immersive. But with what I heard a few weeks ago, I would suggest for those who might choose to investigate, and are willing to use a Trinnov processor and part with ~$60,000 MSRP for the minimal 7 speakers (starting price), you might just be surprised.

So if any of you wind up in Atlanta (I'm east about 80 miles, which translates to somewhere between 90 minutes and 375 hours depending on Atlanta traffic), and have nothing better to do with your time, give me some advanced warning. I am not naive enough to think everyone who could hear what I heard will become a convert - particularly if you have been a 2 channel person for a long time. But it might at least open you to some new ideas.
 
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audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Near Atlanta, GA but not too near!
Update to the above. I spent 4 months rebuilding the front half of my room (actually mostly having it rebuilt) to accommodate a move to an all Wisdom Line source set of speakers, identical to what my client has. All I can say is "WOW". Movie watching has dropped off the radar and virtually all of my time has been spent listening to all kinds of music. Because the room is still used for movie watching, I chose to place the L&R speakers in a wall and free up the space in the room. After months of listening and tweaking, I am way past more than satisfied with the results. Yes, I most certainly gave up depth of the listening field, but all that I gained was far more than worth it. If one were so inclined, one could use one of the Wisdom in-room options and have their cake and eat it.

There are lots of reasons that these speakers deliver as they do: (a) line source and the benefits of that technology; (b) the PMD technology where the "driver" involved weighs less than the air it moves; (c) no passive crossovers involved (all active, bi-amped); and (d) from about 450Hz to 20K, no crossover at all.

The Wisdom Audio regional sales manager came by, and spent 4 hours listening to music and left, pronouncing that in the almost 30 years he has been in the audio business (Wisdom, Harmon, etc), it was the best and most realistic music system he had ever experienced. A good friend came by who owns Magicos, Spectral, highly customized room) and made only two comments (not overly expressive): "WOW" when he heard the first portion of a female vocalist (with whom he was very familiar) and "I most certainly understand why the Wisdom guy spent 4 hours listening".

And another guy came by and posted on another forum the following:

"This weekend I had an invite from audioguy (Chuck) to hear his new Wisdoms. This is Chuck's latest & final ;) rendition of his reference HT room and setup.

Over many years, my own response to music demos is very much an emotional thing. For the sake of describing what I heard, I'll also try to describe the characteristics of what I heard.

Chuck played a variety of songs & artists as well as 2 songs that I brought with me that I knew very well and would give a sense of dynamics & presence. The music included:


  • famous female vocalists like Diana Krall, Maria Carey, Jane Monheit, Celine Dion
  • several male vocals, like Chris Rea & an a cappella group named Straight No Chaser
  • electronica from Deadmau5 and another one I can't remember the name of
  • jazz instrumental & big band
  • and excellent Eagles song, Hole in the World (both studio & concert) showcasing their superb harmonies
  • a song composed by the late Jaco Pastorious, one of jazz's top known electric bassists, from a tribute album by bassist Brian Bromberg
  • Ensemble drum percussion song from a Sheffield Labs recording
  • the stairwell kick-but mayhem scene from Atomic Blonde
and my 2 songs:
  • Spies, a fusion jazz group, that starts very low and builds to a crescendo in blaring horns
  • House of the Rising Sun, a minimalist recording done slow, blues fashion by a husky voiced female vocalist on the audiophile label Opus 3.

Impressions of Imaging, Presence, Soundstage

With every single song, vocals & instruments, there's a palpable sense of "being in the room" presence that I've rarely heard in any demo and not to that degree. I've not really heard it to that degree with my own speakers by Magnepan; the Magnepans in my room seem to keep the sound much closer to or behind the plane and not as integrated.

The Wisdoms have some uncanny ability to project the soundstage forward from the plane of the speakers, with musicians in the room with you, giving the presentation a lot of realism. Keeping in mind these are in-wall speakers, that's impressive. I'm thinking the cylindrical wavefront allows this to happen. And PMD allows for the clarity and speed.

My sense was a integrated soundstage hovering in mid-air, 5 ft or more in front of the speakers, with precise imaging. Holographic comes to mind. Chuck loves adding Auro3D & certainly this will enhance the effect but even native 2 channel playback music hovered in front of the speakers in the same way, so it's intrinsic in the speaker design not the upmixing.

He's described this before in posts, but he had me walk to the center of the screen during a vocals song played as pure 2 ch. Get as close I can until the phantom imaging starts to fall apart. I got to 1-2 inches (I didn't want to put my nose in his screen!) before the vocals started getting phasey and sounded like coming from each ear - nearly 180 degrees of tight, cohesive projected soundstage - excellent for any speaker but amazing for an in-wall with no visible waveguides. Has to be line source design & PMD technology at work. I've owned Magnepan dipolar planar speakers with similar technology and mine don't do that. Once you get between them, you're in the null position before starting to pick up the backside rear waves. Not so with the Wisdoms. That's a first for me to hear that.

Dynamics

These speakers deliver! The Spies song Rite of Passage probably rivals some concert orchestra recordings with very soft passages at the beginning leading to a loud crescendo. Chuck's Wisdom setup produced the track with no distortion or harshness with the blast of horns near the end. The horns weren't biting either, as opposed to the Magnepans I've owned & played this song with - 1.6's, 3.6's and the flagship 20.7's. They can play loud but there's always that trumpet bite at very high volume, not so with his Wisdoms; they played that passage both loud & clean. I believe they could be cranked even higher and still be smooth :D There's also female chanting and some dialog in this song, all clearly reproduced.

Impressions of Clarity

Clean, clear vocals & instruments. Plucks of bass & regular guitars all clear as a bell, where you can hear the fingers at work on the strings. Piano notes the same, not mushy or veiled (starting to sound like an audiophile reviewer - ha!).

Bass Impact

No one-note bass. clearly hear each pluck, drum hit, and notes.

Chuck turned off his 8 Seatons during a song that had solid bass underpinnings and there wasn't that a huge difference. Sure it's freq dependent but even with a 80Hz Xover, they can reproduce solid bass & slam.

In-ceilings
I was amazed how good these sounded all by themselves used as LR stereo. Sound was projected downward & the 2 ch soundstage remained intact with great imaging between them. Clear vocals. As far as I can hear, if one wanted in-ceilings for stereo or LCR in a whole house audio situation, they'd be an excellent choice.

My Bottom Line

Over decades & up until now, there were about 3 speaker demos I've ever had that left a strong & lasting impression on me as something to aspire to in feeling of "they're playing in the room". Without hesitation, I'd always picked Soundlab e-stats as the one that I've tried to emulate with the 3 & 20 series Magnepans (much easier on the budget!). I now consider your Wisdoms as my other all-time best speaker experience. I understand why you fell in love with their sound.

Plus Wisdoms can do things that an estat or Maggie can't do: deliver 115+ dB peak levels.

Wisdom seems to have optimized the PMD & line source design so it excels for both music & HT.

Congratulations Chuck! And thank you for having me over yesterday and experiencing what you now have. All the work paid off. Very impressive speakers! I haven't heard anything quite like them for realism."


Thanks for reading. Here is what the LCRs look like installed in the wall.
 

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