At CES, Wisdom Audio introduced its new modular line-source loudspeaker systems, the Wisdom Series LS4 and LS3. Designed by a team directed by David Graebener of Wisdom Audio, these reference-level products are meant to feature extremely high efficiency and dynamic range. Their architectural industrial design by Ashcraft Design of Los Angeles make them ideally suited for today’s high-performance music rooms, upscale home theaters and professional post-production screening rooms, the manufacturer said.
The LS4 on display at CES
“Through customer feedback, we identified an opportunity to address both the ultra high-end audio market and installations for large theaters where high sensitivity and maximum SPL are critical,” stated Wisdom Audio president Mark Glazier. “We applied the cumulative planar magnetic transducer design experience of our team to create the Wisdom Series LS4 and LS3, resulting in a totally fresh concept, the most advanced speaker we ever made and, we believe, the best performing domestic speaker system available. They completely shatter all preconceptions about speaker performance and placement, while offering the uncompromising customer that prefers to see the speaker in the room a truly unique solution. These products truly amaze.”
Featuring Wisdom’s proprietary wideband planar magnetic line source technologies, the Wisdom Series LS4 and LS3 are comprised of newly designed individual modules, 20 inches in height, each incorporating two planar magnetic midrange drivers flanking a planar magnetic high frequency driver in a vertical line source configuration. The LS4 combination features four modules, with a total vertical line source height of 80 inches, ideal for placement on either side of a deluxe home theater’s large front projection screen, or as the left and right channels in a stereo configuration.
The LS3 includes three modules with a combined vertical line source height of 60 inches, making it an ideal center channel speaker. For a full behind-the-screen configuration, where the theater is to include a perforated, acoustically transparent front projection screen, designers and installers might opt for three LS3 configurations. As the LS4 and LS3 feature identical acoustical characteristics, in whatever configuration that might be employed listeners will enjoy perfectly matched sound across the entire soundstage.
Unlike conventional speaker systems that typically incorporate various combinations of cone and dome drive units, the Wisdom Series LS3 and LS4 models feature their newest planar magnetic line source drivers. A two-way system, each module features dual high efficiency and ultra-high output upper bass/lower midrange planar magnetic drivers that handle frequencies from 80 Hz to 750 Hz. From there, the high efficiency and ultra-high output upper midrange/tweeter planar magnetic driver covers the rest of the entire audible range, with flat response extending to beyond 20 kHz.
Compared to conventional loudspeakers, which often cross over from the midrange driver to the treble driver in the 3 kHz range (where the human ear has the widest dynamic range and therefore the greatest sensitivity to acoustical aberrations), Wisdom Audio’s wideband planar magnetic technologies provide the ability for the treble driver to cover a much wider range than is possible with a conventional tweeter, eliminating the audible degradation associated with conventional loudspeaker crossover configurations. As the systems are bi-amplified, there are no conventional passive crossovers employed, and the systems present a purely resistive load to the amplifiers, assuring power amplifier stability even at exceptionally elevated output levels. Internal wiring features cabling sourced from Transparent Audio, the industry’s most respected audiophile cable manufacturer.
The LS4 and LS3 are scheduled to ship in March for $40,000 and $30,000, respectively, per speaker.
