Wisdom Sage C150i, Owner'S Manual

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The magnetic structures employed in the Sage Series woofers are significantly 
stronger than is commonly available — more than twice as powerful as typical 
woofers, in fact. In addition, our voice coils are larger and capable of handling 
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 C150i 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.