Wisdom Audio Sage Series P20 - Manual (Page 7)

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more power than would be expected for a driver of similar size. Even the sur-
rounds that attach the diaphragm to the woofer’s basket (the metal frame) have
to be unusually rugged. Everything about the woofers has been optimized for
their intended application, which involves reproducing powerful, dynamic bass
from an extremely small enclosure.
Designed for biamplification People who have wanted to extract the highest performance from their systems
have known for a long time that driving each section of the speaker directly and
separately yields the finest results. Of course, this requires having a dedicated,
active crossover to divide the frequency range appropriately before the power
amplifiers, so that they can then drive the speakers directly. It also requires two
sets of speaker wires for each loudspeaker.
Biamplification makes use of two channels of amplification to drive different
portions of the audio spectrum. The most common instance of “bi-amping”
today is in home theater applications, wherein a dedicated subwoofer handles
the deepest bass, while the remaining audible range is handled by the various
front and surround speakers. But you can also biamplify a full range loudspeak-
er, driving the woofer separately from the drivers that handle the midrange and
treble frequencies. Your Sage P20 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 distortion are reduced as com-
pared to each channel handling the full range of musical information. Moreover,
since each amplifier is “direct-connected” to the driver for which it is respon-
sible, there are no passive component losses and the amplifier can control the
motion of its assigned transducer with far greater finesse and precision.
But perhaps most importantly, biamplification allows us to dedicate the amount
of high quality power required to deliver outsized bass from small enclosures. It
would not be practical or even possible to obtain bass performance on this level
without a dedicated amplifier driving the woofers solely and directly.
SC-1 System Controller In order to realize these benefits, an active crossover must accurately divide the
signal into the low and high ranges. The Wisdom SC-1 System Controller serves
that purpose, while also providing both system-specific equalization (to com-
pensate for the unusually small woofer enclosures) and sophisticated room cor-
rection to minimize distortions introduced by the room itself. The goal is simple:
to achieve consistently excellent results in the real world of the owner’s home.
After all, that’s all that really matters.