Wisdom Audio goes flat to the wall

Wisdom Audio’s Insight range won a 2019 Sound+Image Award for the largest of the range, the L8i, which is a line-array design with a pair of two-foot-high membranes running the full height of the speaker, flanked by eight more conventional woofers.

When we heard these extended line array speakers as part of a full surround set-up, they were supported with the smaller P2i models from the Insight range as rears; these use two of the dynamic woofers each with a smaller planar magnetic delivering the high frequencies, a point source rather than line array solution.

Now the company has added two new point-source models to the Insight range, the compact P4m and P2m, which Wisdom says can be mounted on a wall, but could also be placed on a bookshelf. Both models feature a new rotatable planar magnetic driver – backed by a single five-inch woofer in the smaller P2m and a pair of the woofers in the P4m. Wisdom promises a “low distortion, high-resolution sound and a superior dynamic range” from both models, crediting the planar magnetic driver with the characteristic lack of thermal or dynamic compression, with the film ribbon having vastly less inertia than traditional cone-and-dome drivers, able to deliver both detail and a lack of overhang.

The 42cm-high P2m has a quoted frequency response of 70Hz to 20kHz (no envelope stated); the double-woofer 84cm-high P4m deepens the low-end to 50Hz; they would normally be used in a system with a subwoofer, in which regard Wisdom has a forthcoming new S10 subwoofer with a 10-inch driver in a sealed cabinet only 116mm deep (one of Wisdom’s most remarkable products is its SCS ‘suitcase’ subwoofers). All Insight series speakers are designed for optimal operation with an 80Hz crossover frequency.

And while we’ve quoted their height, both new models can be used vertically or horizontally in orientation; they are supplied with flush-fitting wall brackets allowing for the choice of vertical or horizontal mounting.

The P2m is priced in Australia at $3600 each, the P4m at $4600. They are distributed here by National AV Solutions (formerly Network AV): www. nationalavsolutions.com.au