Omnidirectional speakers. The future?


I have been interested in hi-fi for about 25 years. I usually get the hankering to buy something if it knocks my socks off. Like most I started with a pair of box speakers. Then I heard a pair of Magnepans and was instantly hooked on planars. The next sock knocker was a pair of Soundlabs. I saved until I could afford a pair of Millenium 2's. Sock knocker number 3 was a pair of Shahinian Diapasons (Omnidirectional radiators utilizing multiple conventional drivers pointed in four directions). These sounded as much like real music as anything I had ever heard.
Duke from Audiokinesis seems to be onto the importance of loudspeaker radiation patterns. I don't see alot of other posts about the subject.
Sock knocker number four was a pair of Quad 988's. But wait, I'm back to planars. Or am I? It seems the Quads emmulate a point source by utilizing time delay in concentric rings in the diaphragms. At low volumes, the Quads might be better than my Shahinians. Unfortunately they lack deep bass and extreme dynamics so the Shahinians are still my # 1 choice. And what about the highly acclaimed (and rightly so) Soundlabs. These planars are actually constructed on a radius.
I agree with Richard Shahinian. Sound waves in nature propagate in a polyradial trajectory from their point of source. So then doesn't it seem logical that a loudspeaker should try to emmulate nature?

holzhauer
Opalchip: your comment of "the sound that I enjoy, which is very precise imaging with very minimal coloration" pretty much sums things up. That is, omni's / bipolar's / dipolar's, etc... are all going to produce an image that is more vague than a focused field type of speaker radiation pattern. As far as colouration goes, individual speaker placements, individual room acoustics and individual sonic preferences are going to dictate what is or isn't acceptable to us as individuals.

Personally, i've got multiple different types of speakers in various systems and enjoy them all. Time aligned mini-monitors with dual down-firing subs in the bedroom, large 5 driver 4 way towers as the mains and surrounds in my HT system, a line array of electrostatic tweeters / stacked electrostatic mid panels / multiple dipolar push-pull dynamic woofers in my main system, very large horns in my basement system and omni's in my office system. They all have their good and bad points, but that's what makes them all "special". As i've posted in another thread and if i had to choose between them all, the one set that i would keep would be my Ohm F's. As such, we are obviously on opposite sides of the coin in terms of what we find to be "important" to us in terms of the type of presentation that we enjoy. That doesn't mean that we can't be friends or share a love of music though : ) Sean
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Hi - (I'm not sure where the DBX post has ended up. I think it will probably appear in Misc. Audio.)

Until 6 months ago I had 8 pairs of speakers here - but I'm in a one bedroom apartment, and my new wife just moved in! I just gave my Ohm/Walsh 2's to a friend because they were too "big". Now it's tame little Sequerra Pyramids in the 2nd system.

On the other hand, she promises to buy me a pair of Avantgarde Duo's when we eventually move and have the space for them!
Talk about a coincidence. The speakers in my bedroom system i.e. the time aligned mini-monitors, are very similar to the little Sequerra Pyramids. As mentioned, these are supplemented by two down-firing subs. That system is actively crossed and multi-amped. Sean
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Living in Moscow, I have the luxury of being able to go to a lot of concerts for litte money, especially classical music. My favourite venue is the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoty, which is as beautiful as it offers outstanding acoustics. I go to jazz clubs, and rock concerts, too. Besides of that, Moscow has become a heaven for high end-nuts, as you can go and listen to any high end-speaker imaginable, which I have done often. Having said that, I found that omnidirectional speakers (in my case Diapasons as well) - if well executed, and coupled with good room acoostics, such as dampaning the wall behind the speakers - give me by far the most convincing memory of what the music in the real venue sounds like. I have had quite a few die-hard direct-sound only guys coming over to my place, leaving as converts for omnis.
May I ask one again, then: Did ayone here compare Shahinia and Ohm speakers?
Hassel: i've heard both brands of speakers, but never with anything remotely resembling similar electronics or in the same room. As such, i'm no help there. Sean
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