quasi-omni, cheap speakers for a friend's new barn


my friend has recently built a large barn, say maybe 30 by 45 feet and wants some speakers, not to fill the whole barn but a listening area along one wall. the issue is that, not being into high end audio, the isn't impressed by imaging and wants a more omnidirectional sound, which he has come to associate with his bose 201 speakers that have been in his very small basement for years and years. the sound of these speakers is, well, not good but they fill the space with classic rock fairly well, expect for little things like detail, bass, treble, and midrange. and i tried to explain to him that they really aren't omni's either (this is confused with their inherent lack of imaging). in any case, he likes the dispersion pattern and thinks they are dynamic (i know), which is what he wants to try to reproduce or improve on in his new space.

a cheaper used pair of ohms would probably be right up his alley but guess what!, he wants to hang them from his rafters above his listening space, which would seem to eliminate ohms from his list.

sorry for such a long winded build up, but i guess the question is really whether there is anything rather than bose, even the larger models, that might represent a step up, but that still provides the wide dispersion and dynamics he associates with the 201s in his current tiny listening space.

he would be open to using a subwoofer and spend $700-$800 dollars.

i realize how limited the options are here, but if there are any suggestions, any at all, please feel free to offer them, as i will probably have to listen to these speakers for a long, long time....
thomp9015

Showing 2 responses by rar1

I don't mean to sound too ignorant on this one ... but is this barn for commercial use with a listening area set aside or is this one of those barn style houses that you might see featured as a season long project on a TV home renovation program, like 'This Old House.' I ask only to see if there are going to be environmental concerns where indoor/outdoor speakers would be better suited.

Regards,

Rich
One of the best sounding systems in a large open space indoor venue that I experienced was in a beach side restaurant in Aruba that featured Onkyo receivers, Onkyo CD players, and multiple wall mounted JBL speakers.

There are some similarities in that set-up and the barn set-up that you are describing.

Rather than try to wall mount omni speakers, you could go with wall mounting multiple speakers and using an amplifier that supports multiple zones or playing A and B speakers simultaneously.

I have not heard the speakers below, but have read good things about them and more importantly they come with a 30 day home use trial.

Axiom wall speakers

Axiom outdoor speakers

Your buddy could give these a shot and see if they work in his environment.

Regards,

Rich