Wisdom Audio Sage Series P38 - Manual (Page 5)

5
Description
Your Sage loudspeakers take advantage of several critical technolo-
gies 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 most of these technologies cannot readily be found else-
where, we will take the time to describe them in more detail than
would be necessary for more conventional designs.
Planar magnetic panels 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.
The motive force is provided by a “voice coil” that is printed on the film, which
is suspended in a strong magnetic field provided by neodymium magnets
behind and in front 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; nothing 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 even the smallest
signals, yet is robust enough to handle enormous ones.
• The fact that heat does not build up in the voice coil (as it does
in conventional dynamic drivers) means that the load seen by the
amplifier does not change at high power levels.
• The pleating of the diaphragm allows greater excursions than are
otherwise available to small planar magnetic devices, further en-
hancing the driver’s ability to respond to dynamic program mate-
rial.
When you become accustomed to the sound of your new Sage P48 speakers,
conventional speakers sound a bit bland and lifeless.
More reliable The “voice coil” in the planar magnetic driver is spread out over a large, flat 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 favor-
ably 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