Help - Nice small dipole or bipole for HT wanted.

In my opinion, a bipolar's side-null is beneficial in a multichannel setup.

The reverberant energy is a separate event from the first-arrival energy (produced by the front channels), and different priorities come into play.

You do not want the rear channels to stand out as distinct sources; rather, you want them contributing to the ambience and sense of spaciousness, and perhaps the occasional off-screen sound effect. By aiming the null towards the listening area, a bipole can contribute more beneficial ambient energy, relatively speaking, without calling attention to itself as a separate and distinct sound source.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer (nope, I neither build nor sell dipole surround speakers at this time)

Johnnyb53

Well, thanks for the thoughtful response... especially the Mirage notes, and the current multi ch. sound tips exp.

Only way I'm gonna know for sure is to use what I got for now. All the Silverlines and a pair of smallish 87db Cantons first. P)lacing the Canton 220s as the sides, and go from there.

I had hoped to have another amp here but that addition will be a while yet, and I don't want to run 3 different types of power plants, Rec. SS, and Tubes for HT. So the 805 will have to suck it up and do five of the seven ch for the time being... with the Odyssey driving the mains.

Above the ear, huh? Yikes! gonna need taller stands.

07-18-08: Audiokinesis
In my opinion, a bipolar's side-null is beneficial in a multichannel setup.

The reverberant energy is a separate event from the first-arrival energy (produced by the front channels), and different priorities come into play.

In my experience, a cylindrical or hemispherical dispersion pattern for surrounds trumps bipolar *or* dipole. The surround speakers from many of the manufacturers have an in-phase 180-deg. dispersion pattern.

I had bipolars with the null facing into the room for the past several years. I just replaced them with Omnisats with a fully hemispherical dispersion. There's no comparison in how it fills out the back while remaining unobtrusive. In fact, that's the best thing about the surrounds with ultra-wide soundfields. They create a seamless soundfield and thereby disappear into the overall sonic environment.

Johnnyb53

What about this... ?? the intended directional cues which are in play during the film. Localized sounds. Do they still possess the same snap and pop, or impact which is realized as coming from a directed & intended area?

Or is there a loss attributed to the dispersed sonic field? Ex. ricochets, gun shots, breaking glasss, approaching or departing entities?

My only experience with greater degreed sound field speakers, 180 > 360 degree ambienct speakers was not quite so thrilling as were typical limited field or directional transducers.

They just didn't have the same impact or 'jump' factor.

In my 7.2 HT setup, I have previous generation Mirage OM-R2 L-R surrounds with a hemispherical soundfield (all in phase) and for the rear surrounds I have a pair of nearly omnidirectional Mirage Omnisats, v1. As they are mounted on the wall, they also produce a hemispherical soundfield (also in phase).

07-20-08: Blindjim
What about this... ?? the intended directional cues which are in play during the film. Localized sounds. Do they still possess the same snap and pop, or impact which is realized as coming from a directed & intended area?

With the OM-R2 surround speakers or Omnisats, absolutely. Mirage did years of research to get the right balance between direct and reflected sound, and to get the right tonal balance when wide dispersion brings more of the room into play. There's still a strong core of sound coming from the speaker itself, and Mirages (with sufficient power and current behind them) are very dynamic. Their titanium tweeter is particularly fast and smooth.

That's what I'm saying--with the Omnisats and omnipolar speakers, the directionality is as specific as one could want, but with the wide dispersion, you never sense that one speaker is handing off to another. Together they create a seamless soundfield with exemplary directional specificity.

Or is there a loss attributed to the dispersed sonic field? Ex. ricochets, gun shots, breaking glasss, approaching or departing entities?

Nope, they'll make you jump out of your seat.