Omni Speaker Options

My only caution for an omni speaker is room interaction can be a bigger than normal issue since the speaker radiates in all directions. In some situations that can give a great sense of space while in others it can result in an uneven frequency response and vague or wandering imaging. It all depends on where things are bouncing around.

I say this having owned a pair of omnis (Ohm F) and also a pair of dipoles (Maggies) in the past. I enjoyed both greatly but neither would suit me in my current listening room.

Ideally you'd want to try the speaker in your listening room before making a final decision (or know there is a solid resale market if you buy used.)

Duke - that was an excellent explanation.

The only catch is that each person has their own set of priorities when it comes to the order they assign to various sonic characteristics. For one person, that sense of spaciousness may trump a loss of image stability. For another, the same characteristic may be completely unacceptable.

These differences of opinion help explain why there are so many different speaker manufacturers and why the debates among audiophiles are often filled with such rancor.

While one can improve the odds of finding a speaker you'll like by reading the opinions of others, there is never a substitute for hearing the speaker for yourself in your own room.

Since you indicate you will be unable to audition in your room prior to purchase, the general rule of thumb for omnis is you want the listening room to offer a reasonable degree of symmetry between the left and right channels. There should be enough space to have the speakers away from both the rear and side walls a meter or more. And, the side/rear boundry distances should be roughly equal between left and right. If the rear and side reflections differ between the left and right channels, this is where you get frequency response imbalances and imaging problems.