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Best realistic omni type speaker option?

I have a pair of Martin Logan Ethos at home that sound good, and Davone Mojos at the office which for their size make great music too. 

While I like the MLs a lot, the sweet spot is small. A foot to either side and you're not getting the best sound. Which is why I'm interested in testing an omni against them.

But here's the thing, which to try at around $4-8k?
  • Ohms - lots of fans - basically a cone speaker mounted in above the cabinet and firing down with a tweeter on top- reasonably priced
  • Duevel's - upwards firing woofer with downward firing tweeter above - Bella Luna horn loads the tweeter - expensive and hard if not impossible to get in the U.S. 
  • Decware's HR-1 - hybrid omni / box speaker design  - 5 month or so wait 
  • Or since I like the MLs, step up the line to a pair of ML 11a 
Thoughts?

cdc2

Showing 1 response by mijostyn

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,164 posts
 
cdc2, you are already use to ESLs. MLs are limited because of that curved diaphragm which forces ML to go down at 250 Hz to a dynamic woofer smack in the middle of the midrange where ESLs are supposed to shine. The curved diaphragm is not linear. Roger Sanders, the inventor of the curved panel abandoned it for that reason. If you go to any form of dynamic speaker you will lose some clarity and detail not that there are fine speakers out there. My favorite right now is Sonus Faber. They make a great speaker for the money. However there are two choices that will give you better dispersion and improve the level of clarity and detail you are use to. The Magnepan 3.7i and the Sound Labs 545. They are bigger than the MLs so I do not know if they will work in your room. My favorite Dynamic speakers are Sonus Faber. They make a great speaker for the money. Upscale Audio has a pair of Olympica 2 speakers on sale. I have listened extensively to the Sonetto 8. Very smooth. No harshness in these. They do very well w/o a subwoofer, but you could add one if you really needed power below 30 Hz. They have as good an image as any dynamic speaker which means the cross over is very high quality. On top of this their cabinetry is first class. 
I personally prefer the sound of planar dipoles specifically ESLs. You get a larger image and a better sense of the third dimension. The Magnepans which are planar magnetic and ribbon speakers have excellent dispersion. Their tweeter ribbon is unmatched. But, they are not quite as detailed and their image although excellent is just slightly out of focus when compared to a full range ESL. 

Good luck,
Mike
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