WISDOM Sage L75i Bi-amplified In-Wall Line Source Coaxial Planar Magnetic Loudspeaker Owner’s Manual
- June 6, 2024
- WISDOM
Table of Contents
Owner’s Manual
Sage L75i Bi-amplified In-Wall Line Source
Coaxial Planar Magnetic Loudspeaker
DOCUMENT CONVENTIONS
This document contains general safety, installation, and operation
instructions for the Wisdom Audio Sage Series L75i Speaker. It is important to
read this document before attempting to use this product. Pay particular
attention to:
WARNING: Calls attention to a procedure, practice, condition or the like
that, if not correctly performed or adhered to, could result in injury or
death. CAUTION: Calls attention to a procedure, practice, condition or the
like that, if not correctly performed or adhered to, could result in damage to
or destruction of part of or the entire product. Note: Calls attention to
information that aids in the installation or operation of the product.
Introduction
Congratulations on purchasing your Wisdom Audio system. It incorporates many
design features engineered to give you decades of pleasure and performance.
Many of these design choices are uncommon among loudspeaker manufacturers and
bear some explanation. See the following section entitled “Overview” for more
information.
Our unique driver designs and our emphasis on achieving real-world performance
account for the “system” approach taken. These are not speakers that are
simply connected to speaker wires and promptly forgotten. We recognize that
setting up a Wisdom Audio system can be a bit more involved than connecting a
common set of loudspeakers, which is why we recommend that our systems be
engineered and calibrated by Factory Personnel
Your Sage L75i series loudspeaker are specifically designed to avoid the
compromises inherent in conventional speaker designs. There are no passive
crossover components inside the speaker. Instead, there are direct connections
from the amplifiers to their respective High-Pass and Low-Pass drivers and an
external active crossover is used, such as the ones inside of our Wisdom SA-
DSP (Digital Signal Processing) Amplifiers. It is truly a “system” design, and
not merely a collection of loudspeaker drivers in a box. Please contact us to
learn which products/amplifiers/ surround processors outside of our DSP
Amplifiers will work with our speakers and subwoofers.
Info@wisdomaudio.com
Overview
Your Sage Series L75i loudspeakers take advantage of several critical
technologies to deliver a level of performance that has never been available
in a loudspeaker that intruded so modestly on your living space. In fact, this
level of performance has rarely been attained, regardless of the space and
budget at one’s disposal.
Since several of these technologies cannot readily be found elsewhere, we will
take the time to describe them in more detail than would be necessary for more
conventional designs.
Our planar magnetic drivers use an advanced, thin-film membrane to move the
air. This film can respond instantly to the smallest detail in the signal. It
has vastly less inertia than traditional “cone & dome” drivers, so the signal
is never blurred in any way. One of the most remarkable things about the sound
of well-designed planar magnetic speakers is their lack of thermal or dynamic
compression.
There are several reasons for this:
- The lightweight diaphragm responds quickly to even the smallest signals yet is robust enough to handle a great deal of power.
- The voice coil is laid out at and is exposed to the air on both sides; the large resulting surface area dissipates heat extremely quickly and efficiently.
- Since heat does not build up in the voice coil (as it does in conventional dynamic drivers), the load seen by the amplifier does not change at high power levels.
When you become accustomed to the sound of your new Sage Series L75i speakers,
conventional speakers sound a bit bland and lifeless. You may also discover
yourself hearing details at even modest levels on the L75i that were
previously inaudible even at loud volumes on more conventional speakers.
The “voice coil” in the planar magnetic driver is spread out over a large, at
an area that is exposed to the open air. As such, when a huge transient comes
along, any heat that is generated is immediately dissipated. This compares
quite favorably to other designs in which the voice coil is buried inside a
massive piece of metal, where the heat has effectively no place to go.
The excellent heat dissipation of these drivers makes them remarkably
reliable. Planar magnetic speakers can handle a great deal of power without
undue stress or audible strain. In fact, for a given size, they can handle
many times the power of a traditional dynamic driver.
Because the conductor of a planar magnetic driver is essentially a long, thin
wire, it presents a purely resistive load to the amplifier. This is comparable
to the simple test loads that amplifier companies use when measuring their
amplifiers to show how terrific they are. As such, you can be assured that
your amplifiers will sound and work their best.
Authoritative, deep bass requires that you move a lot of air. We have chosen
to use dynamic woofers for the bass because they can provide excellent
performance at lower frequencies.
To get comparable bass performance from a planar magnetic design, you would
need to have a huge speaker that would be impractical in most domestic living
spaces. It simply makes more sense to use the best transducer technology in
each area of the reproduced spectrum. One of Wisdom Audio’s strengths is in
seamlessly blending these technologies — particularly important given the high
standards set by our planar magnetic drivers.
Of course, the dynamic woofers themselves must be rather extraordinary to
“keep up” with the planar magnetic drivers right up to the crossover
frequency.
Our woofers are different because they must be to do their job. Specifically,
we need highly dynamic, uncompressed bass (to keep up with the planar magnetic
drivers) that does not depend on a critical amount of enclosure volume (since
these speakers are mounted in your wall and use the space inside the wall as
their “enclosure”). These two design goals require rather extraordinary
attention to myriad details.
The motor and suspension system of these woofers, therefore, includes all the
critical damping required for optimal operation. (In most speakers, the
woofers depend on the air trapped inside their enclosures as an additional
“spring” to help them behave properly.) Technically, this approach is known as
an “infinite baffle” design. In practice, the volume of air behind the speaker
does not have to be infinite, of course. It just needs to be large enough to
not act like an acoustic “spring”. Recommended and minimum enclosure volumes
for the speaker are listed in the Specifications section and repeated on the
Dimensions page.
Many speakers include a mid-bass “bump” in their response to giving the
illusion of going deeper in the bass than they actually do. Unfortunately,
this “bump” makes blending them seamlessly with a high-quality subwoofer
almost impossible.
All Sage Cinema Series speakers have been designed to optimally crossover at
80 Hz, which is the most common bass management transition used to integrate
with subwoofer(s).
Line Source Speakers
Almost all loudspeakers radiate sound into the room as imperfect “point sources”. This means that most of the energy they put into the room expands as an ever-enlarging sphere, as though emerging from a single point in space. This results in a multitude of reflections from the ceiling and floor that can degrade sound quality.
By contrast, the Wisdom Series L75i speakers radiate sound as a “line source”. The sound moves into the room as an expanding cylinder, rather than as an expanding sphere as though from a vertical line suspended in space.
Line source speakers provide two significant advantages:
- Ceiling and floor reflections are minimized, resulting in greatly reduced interference, letting you hear more of the speaker and less of the room.
- The sound pressure level (SPL) throughout the room is much more evenly distributed, making it much easier to set the “right” volume, no matter where the audience is seated.
To achieve this highly desirable line source behavior, it is essential to have
a tall and slim driver. (Simply stacking multiple “cone & dome” high-frequency
drivers does not create a proper line source. Instead, it creates a series of
point sources, which end up interfering with each other). With Wisdom Audio’s
planar magnetic technology, it becomes possible to have drivers that are
extremely tall and slim.
Because of this shape, the sound (even at high frequencies) is distributed
uniformly across the width of the room from a driver that “looks” only less
than an inch wide acoustically. However, the sound is launched in a much more
directional way vertically. By minimizing early reflections from the ceiling
and the floor, the clarity of the system is greatly enhanced. This is heard in
both tremendous musical detail and in much-improved dialog intelligibility.
For more detailed information on planar magnetic drivers and the difference between point source and line source speakers please visit wisdomaudio.com.
Unpacking and Installing the L75i
The Wisdom Audio Sage L75i in-wall speaker is a substantial piece of
equipment. Please exercise caution when unpacking your L75i to ensure that you
do not strain yourself from its (perhaps unexpected) weight.
Caution! Do not attempt to lift your L75i while bending or twisting from
the waist.
se your legs for lifting, not your back. Always stand as straight as possible
and keep the L75iclose to your body to reduce strain on your back.
There are three major pieces involved in a single L75i loudspeaker:
- the Uni-GripTM in-wall mounting system
- the high operating pressure bass module
- the planar magnetic midrange/treble module
Note that there is an “up” and a “down” to the Uni-GripTM for the L75i, due to differences in the pattern of threaded holes used to attach the planar and woofer speaker modules to the frame of the Uni- GripTM itself.
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Determine the area for the speaker installation and locate the cutout guide using pushpins to secure it in place. Ensure that the template is plumb using a bubble level or similar. Note: Make certain that there are no studs, plumbing or electrical conduit in the intended area behind the wall before you begin marking and cut- ting!
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Trace the outer perimeter of the cutout guide with a pencil or a utility knife.
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Remove the traced section of sheetrock using a keyhole saw, and clear debris from the edge of the hole.
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Push any insulation to the side.
-
Disassemble bezel/Uni- GripTM and place the supplied Allen head screws to
the side. Place the bezel in the wall cutout and insert the Uni-Grip clamping bar through the opening at an angle, working on one side first. Reinstall the Allen head screws with the supplied 3/32″ drill bit, securing both pieces to each other (sandwiching the wall between them), but do not tighten yet. Repeat on the other side. -
Using a level, adjust assembly in-wall cutout to ensure that the assembly is plumb. Tighten the Allen screws. Do not over-torque or strip these screws. The large clamping area of the Uni-Grip system does not require unusually high torque on the screws to be secure.
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Paint the bezel and grill as necessary, being careful not to plug up the holes in the grille. Note that the speaker modules are not mounted in the bezel and grille assembly at this time. They can be mounted later after all the paint is dry.
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Using assistance to hold the speaker modules away from the wall, connect both high and low pass speaker cables to the two connectors at the ends of the back boxes, paying attention to assign the correct band-pass and polarity to their respective speaker connectors.
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Insert the speaker/backbox assembly into the Uni-Grip frame and attach using the supplied Allen head screws and 3/32″ drill bit. Do not over-torque or strip these screws.
Making the L75i Connections
As with any system, you should make changes to the connections only when the
power is turned off to avoid any chance of inadvertently causing a problem
(such as a short-circuit).
Two sets of speaker wires are required for each Sage L75i loudspeaker: one for
the woofer (low pass) section, and a separate one for the planar magnetic
(high pass) section that handles the midrange and treble.
We recommend using heavy-gauge speaker wire, the gauge will vary dependent on
your speaker run length. Please consult an authorized dealer to determine what
gauge would be best for your application.
Connect the outputs of your Wisdom Audio SA-series amplifier to the
appropriate woofer sections, taking care to get both the channel assignments
and the polarity correct. Connect the positive (+) terminals on the SA Series
amplifier to the positive (+) terminals for the woofer on the loudspeaker;
likewise, connect the negative () terminals on the amplifier and the speaker,
respectively.
Next connect the outputs of your chosen amplifier for the midrange/treble to
the Sage L75i planar sections in a similar fashion, taking care with both
channel assignments and polarity.
Care and Maintenance
To remove dust from the front of your L75i, use a feather duster or a lint-
free soft cloth.
To remove stubborn dirt and fingerprints from the grille, we recommend
isopropyl alcohol and a soft cloth. Lightly dampen the cloth with alcohol
first and then clean the grille of the L75i with the cloth. Do not use
excessive amounts of alcohol there is no need for the cloth to be wet;
merely damp is better.
Never attempt to clean the drivers themselves.
CAUTION!
Do not touch the surface of the planar magnetic drivers, under any
circumstances. The thin film has been carefully pre-tensioned at the
factory; any subsequent contact can only damage it.
North American Warranty
Standard Warranty
When purchased from and installed by an authorized Wisdom Audio dealer, Wisdom
Audio loudspeakers are warranted to be free from defects in material and
workmanship under normal use for a period of 10 years from the original date
of purchase.
Furthermore, the transducers (“drivers”) in your Wisdom Audio speakers are
warranted to be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use
for a period of 10 years from the original date of purchase.
Harsh Conditions Use
Wisdom Audio loudspeakers are designed for installation and operation in
environmentally controlled conditions, such as are found in normal residential
environments. When used in harsh conditions such as outdoors or in marine
applications, the warranty is three years from the original date of purchase.
During the warranty period, any Wisdom Audio products exhibiting defects in
materials and/or workmanship will be repaired or replaced, at our option,
without charge for either parts or labor, at our factory. The warranty will
not apply to any Wisdom Audio products that has been misused, abused, altered,
or installed and calibrated by anyone other than an authorized Wisdom Audio
dealer.
Any Wisdom Audio product not performing satisfactorily may be returned to the
factory for evaluation. Return authorization must first be obtained by either
calling or writing the factory prior to shipping the component. The factory
will pay for return shipping charges only if the component is found to be
defective as mentioned above. There are other stipulations that may apply to
shipping charges.
There is no other express warranty on Wisdom Audio products. Neither this
warranty nor any other warranty, express or implied, including any implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness, shall extend beyond the warranty
period. No responsibility is assumed for any incidental or consequential
damages. Some states do not allow limitations on how long an implied warranty
lasts and other states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental
or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply
to you.
This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights, which vary from state to state. This warranty is applicable in the United States and Canada only. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, please contact your local, authorized Wisdom Audio distributor for warranty and service information.
Obtaining Service
We take great pride in our dealers. Experience, dedication, and integrity make
these professionals ideally suited to assist with our customers’ service
needs.
If your Wisdom Audio loudspeaker must be serviced, please contact your dealer.
Your dealer will then decide whether the problem can be remedied locally, or
whether to contact Wisdom Audio for further service information or parts, or
to obtain a Return Authorization. The Wisdom Audio Service Department works
closely with your dealer to solve your service needs expediently.
IMPORTANT: Return authorization must be obtained from Wisdom Audio’s
Service Department BEFORE a unit is shipped for service.
It is extremely important that information about a problem be explicit and
complete. A specific, comprehensive description of the problem helps your
dealer and the Wisdom Audio Service Department locate and repair the
difficulty as quickly as possible.
A copy of the original bill of sale will serve to verify warranty status.
Please include it with the unit when it is brought in for warranty service.
WARNING: All returned units must be packaged in their original packaging,
and the proper return authorization numbers must be marked on the outer carton
for identification. Shipping the unit in improper packaging may void the
warranty, as Wisdom Audio cannot be responsible for the resulting shipping
damage.
Your dealer can order a new set of shipping materials for you if you need to
ship your loudspeaker and no longer have the original materials. There will be
a charge for this service. We strongly recommend saving all packing materials
in case you need to ship your unit someday.
If the packaging to protect the unit is, in our opinion or that of our dealer,
inadequate to protect the unit, we reserve the right to repackage it for
return shipment at the owner’s expense. Neither Wisdom Audio nor your dealer
can be responsible for shipping damage due to improper (that is, non-original)
packaging.
Specifications
All specifications are subject to change at any time to improve the product.
- Number of required amplifier channels: 2
- Frequency response: 40Hz – 20 kHz ± 2dB relative to the target curve
- Impedance, planar section: 4.5Ω
- Impedance, woofer section: 3Ω
- Sensitivity, planar section: 95 dB/2.83V/1m
- Sensitivity, woofer section: 91 dB/2.83V/1m
- System impedance: 3.8Ω
- System sensitivity: 93 dB
- Power handling, continuous: 200w
- Dimensions: See appropriate dimensions drawings on next page
- Shipping weight, each L75i: 65 lbs. (29 kg)
For more information, see your Wisdom Audio dealer or contact:
Wisdom Audio
1572 College Parkway, Suite 164
Carson City, NV 89706
wisdomaudio.com
information@wisdomaudio.com
775-887-8850
L75i Dimensions
All PDF and DWG drawing files are in the RESOURCES section at the bottom of
each product page.
WISDOM and the stylized W are registered trademarks of Wisdom Audio.
Wisdom Audio, 1572 College Parkway, Suite 164
Carson City, Nevada 89706 USA
TEL 775-887-8850
FAX 775-887-8820
wisdomaudio.com
Sage Series L75i OM © 11/2021 Wisdom Audio, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed
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