Wisdom Sage L100i User manual

Owner’s Manual
Sage L100i
Tri-amplified In-Wall Line Source
Two-way Planar Magnetic Loudspeaker

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Table of Contents
Introduction | 3
Overview | 3
Unpacking and Installing the L100i | 7
Proper Planar Placement | 9
Making the Connections | 9
Care and Maintenance | 10
North American Warranty | 10
Obtaining Service | 12
Specifications | 13
Dimensions | 14
DOCUMENT CONVENTIONS
This document contains general safety, installation, and operation instructions for the Wisdom
Audio Sage Series L100i Speaker. It is important to read this document before attempting to use this
product. Pay particular attention to:
WARNING: Calls attention to a procedure, practice, condition or the like that, if not correctly
performed or adhered to, could result in injury or death.
CAUTION: Calls attention to a procedure, practice, condition or the like that, if not correctly
performed or adhered to, could result in damage to or destruction of part of or the entire product.
Note: Calls attention to information that aids in the installation or operation of the product.

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Introduction
Congratulations on purchasing your Wisdom Audio loudspeakers. They in- corporate
many design features designed to give you decades of pleasure and performance. Many
of these design choices are uncommon among loudspeaker manufacturers and bear
some explanation. See the following section entitled “Description” for more
information.
While we expect your local Wisdom Audio dealer to take care of the setup and
calibration of the system, we still recommend that you at least briefly review this and
your other manuals to better understand your system’s full capabilities.
You do not have to do anything to register your warranty for your Wisdom Audio
products. (Isn’t that a pleasant surprise?)
In the unlikely event that your loudspeakers ever require service, please contact the
dealer from whom you purchased them. Between their records and ours, you should be
all set.
However, please keep your sales receipt in a safe and easily found place. Should you
move or lose touch with your original dealer, it will serve as your proof of purchase for
warranty purposes.
Overview
Your Sage Series L100i loudspeakers take advantage of several critical technologies 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 several of these technologies cannot readily be found elsewhere, we will take the
time to describe them in more detail than would be necessary for more conventional
designs.
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.

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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 Series L100i speakers,
conventional speakers sound a bit bland and lifeless. You may also discover yourself
hearing details at even modest levels on the L100i 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 favorably 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
makes more sense to use the best transducer technology in each area of the reproduced

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spectrum. One of Wisdom Audio’s strengths is in seamlessly blending these technologies
– particularly important given the high standards set by our planar magnetic drivers.
Of course, the dynamic woofers themselves must be rather extraordinary to “keep up”
with the planar magnetic drivers right up to the crossover frequency.
Our woofers are different because they must be to do their job. Specifically, we need
highly dynamic, uncompressed bass (to keep up with the planar magnetic drivers) that
does not depend on a critical amount of enclosure volume (since these speakers are
mounted in your wall and use the space inside the wall as their “enclosure”). These two
design goals require rather extraordinary attention to myriad details.
The motor and suspension system of these woofers therefore includes all the critical
damping required for optimal operation. (In most speakers, the woofers depend on the
air trapped inside their enclosures as an additional “spring” to help them behave
properly.) Technically, this approach is known as an “infinite baffle” design. In practice,
the volume of air behind the speaker does not have to be infinite, of course. It just
needs to be large enough to not act like an acoustic “spring”. Recommended and
minimum enclosure volumes for the speaker are listed in the Specifications section and
repeated on the Dimensions page.
Many speakers include a mid-bass “bump” in their response to give the illusion of going
deeper in the bass than they actually do. Unfortunately, this “bump” makes blending
them seamlessly with a high-quality subwoofer almost impossible.
All Sage Cinema Series speakers have been designed to optimally crossover at
80 Hz, which is the most common bass management transition used to integrate with
subwoofer(s).
Line Source Speakers
Almost all loudspeakers radiate sound into the room as imperfect “point sources”. This
means that most of the energy they put into the room expands as an ever-enlarging
sphere, as though emerging from a single point in space. This results in a multitude of
reflections from the ceiling and floor that can degrade sound quality.

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By contrast, the Wisdom Series L100i speakers radiate sound as a “line source”. The
sound moves into the room as an expanding cylinder, rather than as an expanding
sphere – as though from a vertical line suspended in space.
Line source speakers provide two significant advantages:
•Ceiling and floor reflections are minimized, resulting in greatly reduced
interference, letting you hear more of the speaker and less of the room.
•The sound pressure level (SPL) throughout the room is much more evenly
distributed, making it much easier to set the “right” volume, no matter where
the audience is seated.
To achieve this highly desirable line source behavior, it is essential to have a tall and slim
driver. (Simply stacking multiple “cone & dome” high frequency drivers does not create
a proper line source. Instead, it creates a series of point sources, which end up
interfering with each other). With Wisdom Audio’s planar magnetic technology, it
becomes possible to have drivers that are extremely tall and slim.
Because of this shape, the sound (even at high frequencies) is distributed uniformly
across the width of the room from a driver that “looks” only less than an inch wide
acoustically. However, the sound is launched in a much more directional way vertically.
By minimizing early reflections from the ceiling and the floor, the clarity of the system is
greatly enhanced. This is heard in both tremendous musical detail and in much-
improved dialog intelligibility.

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For more detailed information on planar magnetic drivers and the difference between
point source and line source speakers please visit wisdomaudio.com.
Unpacking and Installing the L100i
The Wisdom Audio Sage L100i freestanding speaker is a substantial piece of equipment.
Please exercise caution when unpacking your L100i to ensure that you do not strain
yourself from its (perhaps unexpected) weight.
Caution! Do not attempt to lift your L100i while bending or twisting from the waist.
Use your legs for lifting, not your back. Always stand as straight as possible and keep the
L100iclose to your body to reduce strain on your back.
There are three major pieces involved in a single L100i loudspeaker:
•the Uni-Grip™ in-wall mounting system
•the high operating pressure bass module
•the planar magnetic midrange/treble module
Note that the two Uni-Grip™ frames for the L100i are not interchangeable, due to
differences in the pattern of threaded holes used to attach the planar and woofer
speaker modules to the frame of each Uni- Grip™. Pay close attention to the labeling on
each, which indicates “Planar Section, Top” or “Woofer Section, Top” respectively.
In most cases, the planar magnetic section of the L100i will be inside of the woofer
sections. In addition, the two sections must be within approximately 5" of each other
and should typically flank either side of a stud.
Because of the magnitude of the bass energy of which the L100i is capable, it is strongly
recommended that the walls into which the L100i is installed are rein- forced and as
strong as feasible.
In new construction or remodeling applications, we recommend framing in dedicated
spaces that are between 10–11 inches wide for the woofer sections, just slightly wider
than the 9.52 inches required by the Uni- Grip™frame. If the wall is going to be skim-
coated with plaster after construction, consider using ¾" inch MDO plywood or MDF for
the wall for superior strength. (This approach is advantageous for the woofer sections;
the reaction mass of the planar section is extremely low and does not require this level
of reinforcement.)

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1. Determine the area for the speaker installation and locate the cutout guide using
pushpins to secure it in place. Ensure that the template is plumb using a bubble
level or similar. Note: Make certain that there are no studs, plumbing or
electrical conduit in the intended area behind the wall before you begin marking
and cut- ting!
2. Trace the outer perimeter of the cutout guide with a pencil or a utility knife.
3. Remove the traced section of sheet rock using a keyhole saw, and clear debris
from the edge of the hole.
4. Push any insulation to the side.
5. Disassemble bezel/Uni- Grip™ and place the supplied Allen head screws to the
side. Place the bezel in the wall cutout and insert the Uni-Grip clamping bar
through the opening at an angle, working on one side first. Reinstall the Allen
head screws with the supplied 3/32" drill bit, securing both pieces to each other
(sandwiching the wall between them), but do not tighten yet. Repeat on the
other side.
6. Using a level, adjust assembly in wall cutout to ensure that the assembly is
plumb. Tighten the Allen screws. Do not over torque or strip these screws. The
large clamping area of the Uni-Grip system does not require unusually high
torque on the screws to be secure.
7. Paint the bezel and grill as necessary, being careful not to plug up the holes in
the grille. Note that the speaker modules are not mounted in the bezel and grille
assembly at this time. They can be mounted later, after all the paint is dry.
8. Using assistance to hold the speaker modules away from the wall, connect both
high and low pass speaker cables to the two connectors at the ends of the back
boxes, paying attention to assign the correct band-pass and polarity to their
respective speaker connectors.
9. Insert the speaker/back box assembly into the Uni-Grip frame and attach using
the supplied Allen head screws and 3/32" drill bit. Do not over torque or strip
these screws.
After unpacking your L100i, keep all packing materials for future transport. If you need
to ship your L100i, only the original, purpose-designed shipping carton is acceptable.
Any other method of shipping this product runs a significant risk of damage to the L100i
– damage that would not be covered by the warranty. (If you lose your packaging and
need to ship your speakers, replacement packaging can be purchased from Wisdom
Audio.)

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Proper Planar Placement for front L&R and Rear Surrounds
When using the L100i for front L&R and or Rear Surrounds the planar drivers should
always be placed on the inside as shown below in a front screen wall LCR example.
Making the L100i Connections
As with any system, you should make changes to the connections only when the power
is turned off to avoid any chance of inadvertently causing a problem (such as a short-
circuit).
Note: The Wisdom Audio L100i is a tri-amplified speaker that requires three sets of
speaker wire to each location rather than the usual two. One pair of connections is for
the planar magnetic module, whereas the woofer module uses two sets of connections,
one each for four of the eight woofers.
We recommend using heavy-gauge speaker wire, the gauge will vary dependent on your
speaker run length. Please consult an authorized dealer to determine what gauge would
be best for your application.
For the purposes of this manual, we will assume that you have already connected the
Stereo/Surround System Controller as per the instructions found in its manual. As such,
you should have signal coming from your source component(s) to a preamp/ processor,
the signal output is split into low and high sections, with the low section going to one or
more Wisdom Audio SA Series amplifiers, and the high section going to another
amplifier, which will drive the planar magnetic panels.
Connect the outputs of your Wisdom Audio SA-series amplifier to the appropriate
woofer sections, taking care to get both the channel assignments and the polarity
correct. Connect the positive (+) terminals on the SA Series amplifier to the positive (+)

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terminals for the woofer on the loudspeaker; likewise, connect the negative (–)
terminals on the amplifier and the speaker, respectively.
Next connect the outputs of your chosen amplifier for the midrange/treble to the Sage
L100i planar sections in a similar fashion, taking care with both channel assignments and
polarity.
Care and Maintenance
To remove dust from the front of your L100i, use a feather duster or a lint-free soft
cloth.
To remove stubborn dirt and fingerprints from the grille, we recommend isopropyl
alcohol and a soft cloth. Lightly dampen the cloth with alcohol first and then clean the
grille of the L100i with the cloth. Do not use excessive amounts of alcohol –there is no
need for the cloth to be wet; merely damp is better.
Never attempt to clean the drivers themselves.
North American Warranty
Standard Warranty
When purchased from and installed by an authorized Wisdom Audio dealer, Wisdom
Audio loudspeakers are warranted to be free from defects in material and workmanship
under normal use for a period of 10 years from the original date of purchase.
Furthermore, the transducers (“drivers”) in your Wisdom Audio speakers are warranted
to be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use for a period of
10 years from the original date of purchase.
CAUTION!
Do not touch the surface of the planar magnetic drivers, under any circumstances.
The thin film has been carefully pre-tensioned at the factory; any subsequent contact
can only damage it.

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Harsh Conditions Use
Wisdom Audio loudspeakers are designed for installation and operation in
environmentally controlled conditions, such as are found in normal residential
environments. When used in harsh conditions such as outdoors or in marine
applications, the warranty is three years from the original date of purchase.
During the warranty period, any Wisdom Audio products exhibiting defects in materials
and/or workmanship will be repaired or replaced, at our option, without charge for
either parts or labor, at our factory. The warranty will not apply to any Wisdom Audio
products that has been misused, abused, altered, or installed and calibrated by anyone
other than an authorized Wisdom Audio dealer.
Any Wisdom Audio product not performing satisfactorily may be returned to the factory
for evaluation. Return authorization must first be obtained by either calling or writing
the factory prior to shipping the component. The factory will pay for return shipping
charges only if the component is found to be defective as mentioned above. There are
other stipulations that may apply to shipping charges.
There is no other express warranty on Wisdom Audio products. Neither this warranty
nor any other warranty, express or implied, including any implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness, shall extend beyond the warranty period. No responsibility is
assumed for any incidental or consequential damages. Some states do not allow
limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts and other states do not allow the
exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation
or exclusion may not apply to you.
This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights, which
vary from state to state. This warranty is applicable in the United States and Canada
only. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, please contact your local, authorized Wisdom
Audio distributor for warranty and service information.

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Obtaining Service
We take great pride in our dealers. Experience, dedication, and integrity make these
professionals ideally suited to assist with our customers’ service needs.
If your Wisdom Audio loudspeaker must be serviced, please contact your dealer. Your
dealer will then decide whether the problem can be remedied locally, or whether to
contact Wisdom Audio for further service information or parts, or to obtain a Return
Authorization. The Wisdom Audio Service Department works closely with your dealer to
solve your service needs expediently.
IMPORTANT: Return authorization must be obtained from Wisdom Audio’s Service
Department BEFORE a unit is shipped for service.
It is extremely important that information about a problem be explicit and complete. A
specific, comprehensive description of the problem helps your dealer and the Wisdom
Audio Service Department locate and repair the difficulty as quickly as possible.
A copy of the original bill of sale will serve to verify warranty status. Please include it
with the unit when it is brought in for warranty service.
WARNING: All returned units must be packaged in their original packaging, and the
proper return authorization numbers must be marked on the outer carton for
identification. Shipping the unit in improper packaging may void the warranty, as
Wisdom Audio cannot be responsible for the resulting shipping damage.
Your dealer can order a new set of shipping materials for you if you need to ship your
loudspeaker and no longer have the original materials. There will be a charge for this
service. We strongly recommend saving all packing materials in case you need to ship
your unit someday.
If the packaging to protect the unit is, in our opinion or that of our dealer, inadequate to
protect the unit, we reserve the right to repackage it for return shipment at the owner’s
expense. Neither Wisdom Audio nor your dealer can be responsible for shipping damage
due to improper (that is, non-original) packaging.

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Specifications
All specifications are subject to change at any time to improve the product.
•Number of required amplifier channels: 3
•Frequency response:40Hz – 20 kHz ± 2dB relative to the target curve
•Impedance, planar section:4.5Ω
•Impedance, woofer section:4Ω
•Sensitivity, planar section: 95 dB/2.83V/1m
•System impedance: 4.2Ω
•System sensitivity: 95 dB
•Power handling, peak: >1000w
•Dimensions: See appropriate dimensions drawings on next page
•Shipping weight, each HF Planar: 32 lbs. (14.5 kg)
•Shipping weight, each LF Woofer: 62 lbs. (28 kg)
For more information, see your Wisdom Audio dealer or contact: 
Wisdom Audio
1572 College Parkway, Suite 164
Carson City, NV 89706
wisdomaudio.com
[email protected]
[phone]

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L100i Dimensions
Mid-Bass Section

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PMD Section

Sage Series L100i OM © 11/2021 Wisdom Audio, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
WISDOM and the stylized W are registered trademarks of Wisdom Audio.
Wisdom Audio1572 College Parkway, Suite 164
Carson City, Nevada 89706 USA
TEL [phone]
FAX [phone]
wisdomaudio.com