The STS, which boasts an incredible 130dB output capability at 20Hz combined with an outstanding 5kW power handling capability and a 101dB sensitivity, delivering both superlative efficiency along with astonishing deep bass output.

Building on the success of the Wisdom Audio SCS compact dual-driver architectural subwoofer featuring exclusive RTL technology, the STS seeks to improve subwoofer performance in a package that includes some of the world’s widest and most ambitious range of installation scenarios. Within the surprisingly space-efficient cabinet, the STS houses dual ultra high-performance 38cm subwoofer drivers and Wisdom Audio’s exclusive Regenerative Transmission Line rear wave recovery and reinforcement system.

This arrangement provides increased deep bass output; increased sensitivity (efficiency) along with flatter power response and lower distortion than is possible via conventional sealed cabinet subwoofer technology.

Wisdom Audio president Mark Glazier added, “The STS is the highest performance expression of our RTL technology which has been proven and enthusiastically embraced by our customer base in our models S90i and SCS. We wanted to provide our channel with an ultimate subwoofer, capable of unprecedented output combined with musicality and accurate timbre. Unlike traditional subwoofer designs, the STS sonically complements the speed and clarity of our planar magnetic transducer based speakers, and is the ideal solution for the large scale Sage systems being specified worldwide.”

Regenerative Transmission Line Technology

Once popular with audiophiles looking for deep bass from a compact cabinet, the transmission line design was short-lived. A transmission line loudspeaker usually featured a relatively small bass or full-range transducer (8-inch or less) in a cabinet that included a complex labyrinth of channels behind the driver. Those channels provided a dissipative path for the acoustical energy coming from the rear of the diaphragm (cone), such that only energy from the front of the driver emanated from the speaker cabinet. Even though it produced rich sounding bass, the drawbacks to this method were decreased output, lower efficiency and limited power handling capacity. Consequently, the technology never really found widespread acceptance.

At the time that transmission line speakers found their way into the audiophile milieu back in the 1950’s, proposals for a higher efficiency, higher output transmission line system where the driver’s rear energy was utilized and not discarded were theorized, but due to the unavailability of sophisticated computer modeling technology, were never fully realized.

The STS features a slim-profile cabinet that can be easily installed in both standalone and hidden applications. For maximum installation flexibility, the STS features an output port that can be quickly and easily re-positioned from the slim cabinet’s front to either of the two cabinet sides. In addition, the STS comes with hidden installation option via a port extension that allows for the STS itself to be installed in a closet, under a floor, in a ceiling or some other hidden locale within or adjacent to the room.

Compared to traditional theatre-type subwoofers, which often eschew detail in favor of acoustical output, the STS provides both, which translates into not only prodigious deep bass output, but also deep bass with detail, definition and musicality. With two very high efficiency 15-inch subwoofer drivers and Wisdom Audio’s proprietary Regenerative Transmission Line technology, the STS boasts remarkable acoustic performance: – 130 dB maximum SPL at 20Hz (this is 15dB above the requirement for commercial theatre Low Frequency Effects acoustical output)

101 dB sensitivity @1W/2.83V/1m – 5 kW power handling peak – 20 Hz – 80 Hz ±2 dB response (relative to the target curve)

Each bass driver features a massive cast aluminum alloy frame, along with a substantial neodymium magnet motor assembly, and a 10cm edge-wound copper voice coil with an exceptional 11,000 Gauss (1.1 Teslas) magnetic field in the gap. Each driver also boasts a peak power handling of 2.8kW, and both are parallel-wired for maximum efficiency and power handling.

The Wisdom Audio STS subwoofer will be available in October 2010