SAGE C20i
WISDOMAUDIO.COM
4
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 C20i
speakers,
conventional speakers sound a bit bland and lifeless. You may also discover yourself
hearing details at even modest levels on the
Sage C20i
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 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 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
