Which speakers have wide dispersion?

I lived with a pair of Mirage M-1's from 1988 (bought new) until 2002 and loved them for all the reasons well articulated by Johnnb53. I auditioned Martin Logan's in my space and found the beaming to be unacceptable. Sound Labs gave me everything I loved about the Mirages, and much much more. I recently had the opportunity to bring the Mirages out of storage and listen again, and they did not disappoint, although the SL's far surpass them. I am told the percentage of audiophiles who prefer the "planar" type sound vs. traditional box speakers is about 20%. You have to decide for yourself, but make sure you have experienced a well done "wide dispersion" system.

Having been a fan and owner of various types of planar speakers for over 45 years, I can wholeheartedly agree. Conventional dynamic (box) speakers are the opposite, with the sound coming from a point source, albeit when done well can present a wide and deep sound-stage. Nonetheless, you need to be in or at least near the sweet spot or there is a great drop off in many critical aspects of the sound. For the last many years I have become more and more enamored by the large Sound Lab electrostatics. With these, there is not a bad seat in the house. Even in the next room and beyond, it is as if you are near the presence of live music, with full timbre, body and presence. Because the entire panel is a full range membrane/driver of considerable size, all of the air in the room is excited and this carries on. My wife doesn't much like the audiophile "sweet seat" experience, but she loves being in the near presence of the great music. Granted, the imaging is generally best at one particular point, but every other seating position is entirely enjoyable. So my vote is not really omnidirectional, but electrostatic planars.

Even though there are some very fine cone based systems out there, I would have a hard time going back to traditional speakers.