Very few loudspeaker builders carry the pedigree of big, bold, beautiful speaker design like Carson City, Nevada based Wisdom Audio. Tom and Debi Bohlender started the company in 1996 as they began to build speakers for dedicated audiophiles. They carefully designed systems that combined planar and dynamic driver technologies, combined with excellent cabinetry and gorgeous wood finishes. Hard to believe but their very first designs, known as the “Adrenaline” loudspeakers (the M-50, a monopole design and the D-75, a dipole), were actually sold out of the back of a Ford F-350 pickup truck for $20,000! (You can probably make up your own story about what you can buy from the back of a pickup truck for $20K. Lord knows I have.) But 280,000 miles and at least five sets of tires later, Tom and Debi moved into their current manufacturing and design facility in Carson City, Nevada. Today, Wisdom Audio is one of the most admired loudspeakers companies in the business. Their product offering is composed of three lines: the “Adrenaline Series” (which also includes a home theater line), the “Infinite Series,” which includes the cost-no-object ($600K!), 160 inch tall, 3,800 pound “Infinite Wisdom Grande” system, and now the “Neo Series” (Keanu Reeves would be so proud).

The “Neo Series”
In 2003, Wisdom Audio developed the Neo Series loudspeakers, in an attempt to bring a more affordable product to both the two-channel and multi-channel marketplace. The Neo Series incorporates Wisdom’s drivers into a point source speaker design and also offers a modular in-wall system with accurate signal reproduction for every audio environment.

I first saw and heard the NS27 as part of a end-of-the-show-day home theater demo in the Wisdom Audio room at HE 2003 in San Francisco. Their room featured a system of all Wisdom Audio components including a pair of mono amps and digital source components. Everything was connected with cables from an exciting new company called Soundstring Cable Technologies. The guys from Soundstring were enjoying showing off these new Wisdom speakers, which were painted a really cool looking metallic blue. They threw on a DVD demo disc and proceeded to show the speakers ability to play at ear-numbing volumes and reach subterranean bass levels with movie soundtracks. These things had a great big bold look and an even bigger, bolder sound. At the time, I was told that they were primarily designed for home theater but were still refined enough for music.

Like all Wisdom speakers, the NS27s have been engineered from the ground up, using components that are designed by Wisdom. They use a 24” planar driver  and a 3” planar tweeter (photo right) combined with a 12” downward firing woofer (the same woofer used in the more expensive Adrenaline series). Despite their monolithic size these are very efficient speakers that can be driven by even modestly powered amplifiers such as the Opera Audio Consonance A120 hybrid integrated amp.

David Livesay
During the 2005 CES/T.H.E. Show, I visited the Wisdom Audio room and found myself engaged in a lengthy yet pleasant conversation with Wisdom’s amiable David Livesay. We talked about all things audio but mostly about all of the wonderful things that the Wisdom speakers are capable of. Now I’ll admit that I have been a huge Wisdom fan since I first saw their ads for the original Adrenaline speakers nearly a decade ago. But their systems have always been largely out of my price range so my appreciation of them has always been via show demos. So I was thrilled when I heard that the NS27s were intended to be Wisdom’s attempt at a more affordable speaker … well at $11K it was a nice try anyway. But I had already reviewed a few speakers in that price range so I wouldn’t have to muster up too much courage to ask for a pair to review. But my conversation with David took an even more interesting turn as it was revealed that we both used to work for the same company, Amoco Oil (now unfortunately known as BP). It turns out that Livesay used to manage the implementation of Amoco’s first computer based network called PROFS (professional office system). This extended our conversation even more to the point that I almost forgot about what I was really after. Then suddenly, I was drawn to a nearby room where I heard one of my favorite recordings, Eva Cassidy’s Live At Blue Alley. To my delight, the system was comprised of the NS27s being driven by the excellent Edge Electronics G3 integrated amplifier. I was amazed at the level of midrange transparency that such a big speaker could achieve and a more than fair amount of bass added to the music’s sense of realism. I finally asked Livesay about the possibility of reviewing a pair and to my surprise, he easily said, “sure.” That made the show for me.

Tall, Dark, and Handsome
When the speakers finally arrived at my house I knew I was going to have some major splainin’ to do to my better half. The speakers were brought into my garage on a wooden palette bound bind metal straps. The whole package stood about six feet tall and about four feet wide. Even though I already knew their size I faked shock and indignation … and I blamed Clement Perry. “I can’t believe Clement would have these folks to send me something this big!” I complained. She paused took a deep breath and then gave me … the look. Those of you gentlemen with spouses or girlfriends reading this know what “the look” is so I won’t go any further. Then she slowly walked into the house and calmly said, “I hope you don’t expect me to help you get those things into the house.” No, that job belonged to my buddy Craigy-G Fitzpatrick.

I had already put in a call to Craig who thankfully came by to help me unbox these behemoths and get them set up in my listening room. This proved to be much more of a chore than I thought because the grill panels which run the full height of the speakers on the front and both sides can easily pop out of the grooves that they slide into and putting them back in looks easier than it is. The units I received were furnished in a beautiful piano black. Their footprint is oval shaped and they stand about 53” tall including about a 1” thick top panel and bottom panel. Built into the bottom panel is a 12” underhung woofer with a massive 32lb(!) magnet. A single set of gold-plated speaker posts are located near the bottom-rear of the cabinet and heavy-duty cones with pointed tips finish off the NS27s elegant looks. In fact, once they were out of the boxes and set in place, their looks even met with the approval of you know who. “Ooh, those look nice. Can I put one of my plants on top of it?” The battle continues.

Music Maestro Please
Having just recently gotten back into vinyl, I find myself discovering all sorts of great music in used record stores and even at estate sales and garage sales. The latter is where I came across an unopened copy of Leonard Bernstein’s soundtrack to West Side Story [Columbia]. Bernstein’s orchestra performs track five, “Dance At The Gym” with a raw power that the NS27s convey nicely allowing the size of the soundstage and orchestral scale to sound realistically huge. The downward firing woofer tricked me into believing that a subwoofer was present even though I knew one was not. I previously spoke of the systems transparency when I heard it at the Show and it was made even more apparent while listening to Richard Beamer sing “Maria”.

Another soundtrack that I’ve long been found of is from the movie, Love Jones [Sony]. This is a modern-day urban love story that uses both contemporary and classic jazz performances as a backdrop. Case in point is Duke Ellington and John Coltrane’s “In A Sentimental Mood” which Lorenz Tate uses to seduce Nia Long. Trane’s melancholy sax has a holographic quality thanks to the NS27s planar drivers. Track seven is Trina Broussard’s cover of the late Minnie Ripperton’s classic, “Inside My Love.” This is the best performed of the newer tracks and comes through the Wisdom’s in a way that puts the musicians, not to mention Ms Broussard’s voice into the room. This is very engaging stuff and what makes our hobby worthwhile.

But least I not forget to mention that I did in fact watch some DVDs through these speakers and yes they do a marvelous job of rendering wonderful aural images. Particularly on Zhang Yimou’s House of Flying Daggers [Columbia Tri-Star] where each fight scene caused me to make some sort of involuntary spasm as daggers often seemed to fly right by my face. What really bolsters the films rather simple story of a tragic love trilogy is the breathtaking cinematography and an awesome soundtrack from Shigeru Umebayashi.

But please don’t get the wrong idea about these speakers these are not great home theater speakers that aren’t too bad on music, these are speakers that are imminently faithful to both music and sound.

Conclusion
The Wisdom Audio NS27s are unlike any other Wisdom speaker. They combine many of their larger more expensive siblings’ strengths, transparency, strong bass performance, and realistic stage scale, and does it in a physically and financially more manageable package. On top of all that, these things are flat-out gorgeous. Highly recommended!

Dave Thomas

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