Wisdom speakers - any thoughts?

[the professor]

Anybody have any experience with Wisdom speakers?

I remember listening to them at CES 2013 being bi-amped by D'Agostino amps and thinking they were very good audiophile speakers. But I haven't had a chance to listen since then.

It sure would be nice to have a top class system without speakers sitting 4-6 feet out into the room. My wife would love it for the living room/theater.

 

[hiro100]

Anybody have any experience with Wisdom speakers?

I remember listening to them at CES 2013 being bi-amped by D'Agostino amps and thinking they were very good audiophile speakers. But I haven't had a chance to listen since then.

It sure would be nice to have a top class system without speakers sitting 4-6 feet out into the room. My wife would love it for the living room/theater.

I've heard them several times locally and they have sounded both impressive and dismal. Most recently I heard them in a HT setup with the Datasta RS20i HT processor with McIntosh amplifiers. The Dirac acted as the active crossover for the Wisdom line array and subwoofers and Dirac EQ was engaged. It was really one of the most impressive HT demonstrations I've seen and blu ray concerts sounded terrific. Images with detail that seemingly floated in the air and was very organic and immerse experience. I heard the same setup with McIntosh HT processor and I don't know what it was but it did not sound nearly as good and very disjointed. I've also heard the big monster LS4's. In that particular setup (smaller room) it was really detailed but bright. Magnepan on steroids. I heard they recently have them shown in a bigger room biamping each speaker with a pair of D'agostino Momentum mono's!

 

[GaryProtein]

I always thought these were cool

Notice the short guy(!) on the stage next to them.

Yes, that is a 160 inch (13' 4") tall midrange/tweeter line array next to the woofer module. Good for listening rooms with HIGH ceilings.

http://www.wisdomaudio.com/products_grande.php

 

[laynesaddiction]

I heard one of their top line speakers at that time (Adrenaline series) about 10 years ago with Jeff Rowland amplification, a DCS digital front end, along with tons of high end cables, power conditioners, and room treatments in a now defunct audio shop. At the time I was greatly impressed with the speed, articulation, and transparency of the speakers. I also felt that they did a very good job on timbre and if I wasn’t happy with my speakers at the time (Apogee Duetta Signatures) and wanted to blow some cash, they would have been on my short list.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago where I heard some more recent Wisdom designs at an audio shop’s “Music Matters” event paired with D’Agostino electronics. While people looking for all of the “audiophile” bells and whistles might have liked the demonstration. To my taste I found the presentation un-musical and fatiguing even after a short time. I found this strange since I currently own the amplification they were using and have not found the D’Agostino amps/preamps to ever be unmusical (again, to my ears) with any other speaker (heard them with Magico, Wilson, Magnepan, German Physiks, Scaena, etc.). This led me to believe that it was either a very poor setup or the speakers just not jiving with my taste.

My wife and I went back to the audio shop a few days after the event and ran the same system with music we were more familiar with and both of us came away with the same perception: Sounds great out of the box and hits all of the right “audiophile” buttons, but to our ears just not musically engaging and fatiguing after a short time.

 

[GaryProtein]

I heard one of their top line speakers at that time (Adrenaline series) about 10 years ago with Jeff Rowland amplification, a DCS digital front end, along with tons of high end cables, power conditioners, and room treatments in a now defunct audio shop. At the time I was greatly impressed with the speed, articulation, and transparency of the speakers. I also felt that they did a very good job on timbre and if I wasn’t happy with my speakers at the time (Apogee Duetta Signatures) and wanted to blow some cash, they would have been on my short list.. . . .

That's because their Infinite Wisdom Grande (above) requires a minimum of 12 and up to 20 channels (with options) of amplification. That adds up to LOTS of cables!