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4

Introduction

Congratulations on purchasing your Wisdom Audio system. It incorporates many 
design features designed to give you decades of pleasure and performance. 
Many of these design choices are uncommon among loudspeaker manufactur-
ers, and bear some explanation. See the following section entitled “Description” 
for more information.

Our unique driver designs and our emphasis on achieving  real-world perfor-
mance 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 is a bit more involved than connecting 
a common set of loudspeakers, which is why we insist that our dealers perform 
the installation and calibration of the systems. We know that the extra effort 
(particularly as regards setting up the SC-1 System Controller) yields vastly im-
proved results.

About this manual

This manual focuses on the loudspeakers themselves. In order to fully under-
stand the system, we recommend you also review the manual for the SC-1 
System Controller, without which these speakers will not perform correctly. 

While we expect your local Wisdom Audio dealer to take care of the setup and 
calibration of the system, we still recommend that you at least briefly review this 
and the other manuals (SC-1, SA-series amplifiers) to understand the system’s full 
capabilities. 

Your Sage L150i loudspeakers are specifically designed to avoid the compro-
mises inherent in conventional speaker designs. The active crossover and room 
correction circuitry in the SC-1 is essential to the speakers’ proper operation. In 
addition, the SA-series amplifiers are specifically designed to meet the needs of 
the unique bass system of your Sage L150i speakers. It is truly a “system” design, 
and not merely a collection of loudspeaker drivers in a box.

Please register your system

To register your warranty, please complete the form at the following address on 
the internet:

http://www.wisdomaudio.com/registration/ 

Doing so will ensure that there will be no delays should you ever require war-
ranty service. If accessing the internet is inconvenient, you can send a copy of 
the sales receipt (showing your name, address and the products purchased) to 
the address shown in the North American Warranty section of this manual.

Wisdom Audio does not and will not ever share its mailing list with other com-
panies. Nor do we expect to contact you frequently, since you are buying a 
product that should last a lifetime. However, we would like to be in a position to 
contact you should a software update become available for the system control-
ler (as an example). 

Lastly, please keep your sales receipt in a safe and easily found place. If you do 
not register your purchase with the company, it is your only proof of warranty.

Summary of Contents for Sage L150i

Page 1: ...Owner s Manual Sage L150i L150m Biamplified Planar Magnetic Hybrid Loudspeakers ...

Page 2: ...talling the L150i 9 Unpacking Installing the L150m 11 Room Acoustics Placement 13 Start With the Room 13 Rigid Walls 13 Speaker Placement 14 Left Right Speakers 14 Center Channel 14 Surround Speakers 15 Subwoofer Placement 15 Room Treatment 16 Professional Acoustic Design 16 References 17 Optimizing the System 18 Care Maintenance 19 North American Warranty 20 Twenty Year Warranty 20 Obtaining Serv...

Page 3: ......

Page 4: ...other manuals SC 1 SA series amplifiers to understand the system s full capabilities Your Sage L150i loudspeakers are specifically designed to avoid the compro mises inherent in conventional speaker designs The active crossover and room correction circuitry in the SC 1 is essential to the speakers proper operation In addition the SA series amplifiers are specifically designed to meet the needs of ...

Page 5: ...of the film The ratio of available force to the moving mass is huge which means that the diaphragm does exactly what it is told noth ing more nothing less Free from compression 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 ev...

Page 6: ...te 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 Sage L150i speakers radiate sound as a line source The sound moves into the room as an expa...

Page 7: ...r to get comparable 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 pl...

Page 8: ...an also biamplify a full range loudspeak er driving the woofer separately from the drivers that handle the midrange and treble frequencies Your Sage L150i is such a speaker designed to use separate amplifiers for the woofer and the planar sections of each loudspeaker Since each channel of the amplifier is delivering current into its load only over a limited range of frequencies several forms of di...

Page 9: ...e module Note that the two Uni Grip frames for the L150i are not interchangeable due to differences in the pattern of threaded holes used to attach the planar and woofer speaker modules to the frame of each Uni Grip Pay close attention to the labeling on each which indicates Planar Section Top or Woofer Section Top respectively In most cases the planar magnetic section of the L150i will be inside ...

Page 10: ...nd 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 8 Using assistance to hold the speaker modules away from the wall connect all three speaker wires planar magnetic section plus two woofer section speaker cables to the connectors a...

Page 11: ...mounting bracket that mounts to the wall is shipped attached to the back of the loudspeaker It is removed by pulling down on it relative to the end of the speaker that will be up when installed on the wall Please note that this guide assumes the wall surface is flat If not shims must be applied to the rear of the mounting bracket so that the mounting bracket is uniformly secured to the wall and fl...

Page 12: ...the center screw at this time as well 6 Using assistance while holding the speaker away from the wall connect both high and low pass speaker cables to the rear mounted connectors Pay close attention to connect the correct wires high and low pass to their respective speaker connectors while attending to proper polarity 7 Fix the speaker into the mounting bracket end clips and press down until you h...

Page 13: ...divisors Thus a room with dimensions of 8 by 16 by 20 would be quite poor since the dimensions are all divisible by a length of 4 and 16 is also multiple of 8 This commonality of dimensions results in large standing wave problems at low frequencies By contrast a room whose dimensions are 9 by 16 by 29 would be much better since none of the dimensions are mathematically related to one another There...

Page 14: ...e floating in space ex actly halfway between the speakers Goal 2 Smooth consistent bass Oft cited rules of thumb for smoother bass reproduction include both placing the speakers at different distances from the side walls vs the wall behind them and placing them at odd fractions of the room s dimensions e g fractions in which the denominator is an odd number like 1 3 2 5 2 7 etc But nothing replace...

Page 15: ...rom above In a 7 x system the surround speakers should be closer to 90 from the center speaker and the surround back speakers should be at ap proximately 135 150 from the center speaker This conforms to industry stan dards and ensures that you hear what was intended from a spatial placement point of view Too often the surround speakers are all behind the listeners cre ating a big hole in the sound...

Page 16: ...se of stereo repro duction you have a minimum of twelve first reflection points in your room that deserve some attention Unfortunately it is often difficult to do much about the ceiling and floor reflec tions even though they are arguably the most destructive The minimization of these reflections is one of the strongest arguments for the tall line source loud speakers that Wisdom Audio builds This...

Page 17: ...st acousticians Find someone who specializes in and has a great deal of experi ence designing home studios home theaters and the like Your Wisdom Audio dealer may be such a person failing that he she can help you find such a pro fessional References Books on Acoustics The Master Handbook of Acoustics F Alton Everest TAB Books Sound Reproduction The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and...

Page 18: ...listening area is optimized rather than optimizing only one location at the expense of others 3 Select an appropriate target Large and small rooms have intrinsically different traits The room correc tion software allows for these characteristics to be taken into account for superior results 4 Calculate the necessary room correction The software then uses the power of the PC to calculate the correc...

Page 19: ...d for the cloth to be wet merely damp is better In the case of stubborn or grimy substances that do not come off the textured surfaces easily use a clean plain pink eraser such as you might give your child for school work to remove the dirt Then finish with a soft cloth lightly damp ened with alcohol as outlined above Never attempt to clean the drivers themselves Caution Do not touch the surface o...

Page 20: ...in the event that the loudspeaker 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 this loudspeaker 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 respon sibility is assumed for an...

Page 21: ...ir the difficulty as quickly as possible A copy of the original bill of sale will serve to verify warranty status Please in clude 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 ...

Page 22: ...8 ohms nominal 6 5 ohms minimum Sensitivity planar section 97 dB 1w 1m Power handling peak 1000w Dimensions see appropriate Dimensions drawings Shipping weight bass section 90 lbs 41 kg Shipping weight planar section 53 lbs 24 kg For more information see your Wisdom Audio dealer or contact Wisdom Audio 1572 College Parkway Suite 164 Carson City NV 89706 www wisdomaudio com information wisdomaudio ...

Page 23: ...23 L150i Bass Section Dimensions ...

Page 24: ...24 L150i Planar Section Dimensions ...

Page 25: ...25 L150m Bass Section Dimensions ...

Page 26: ...26 L150m Planar Section Dimensions ...

Page 27: ...27 Notes ...

Page 28: ...m Audio Inc All rights reserved Printed in U S A Wisdom Audio 1572 College Parkway Suite 164 Carson City Nevada 89706 USA Telephone 775 887 8850 Fax 775 887 8820 WISDOM and the stylized W are registered trademarks of Wisdom Audio ...

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