Omnidirectional speakers. The future?

Very interesting thread with a nice range of opinions.

I'm wondering if anyone can comment on how an omni-like speaker such as a Shahinian or an Ohm might be expected to fare in a very large space- say 1200 square feet with 16' ceilings- with reflective walls and floors. Is this kind of space more or less likely to take positive advantage of the design principals behind an omni.

Binaural Recording Baby! - If you want to feel like you are there! So how come nobody does it? Jazz At The Pawnshop, clearly one of the most successful recordings of all time, was done with a binaural setup. From the Proprius website:

"Palmcrantz rigged the main microphone pair facing the stage, about two metres above the floor. These microphones were Neumann U47 cardioids, spaced 15-20 cm and inclined at an angle of 110-135 degrees.

This ORTF stereo technique - named after the French radio which introduced this simplified dummy head technique at the beginning of the sixties - was, according to Palmcrantz, the best method for optimal stereo effect and spatiality.

- Real stereo effect can only be achieved by placing the microphones in a similar way to the disposition of the ears.

Such a pair stood in front of the stage at Stampen and another pair was placed to the right of the stage, facing the audience in order to recreate the right "live" feeling. Some auxiliary supporting microphones were also necessary. One microphone was placed next to the grand piano standing on the right-hand side of the platform with its lid open, and Palmcrantz hung two cardioid Neumann KM56s over the drums on the left side of the stage. The bass, standing in the middle, and connected to a little combo amplifier on a chair, was supported by a Neumann M49, also in omnidirectional mode. The microphone was placed in such a way that it caught sound both from the instrument and from the amplifier's loudspeaker. "

I had a feeling this thread would get around to this end of things eventually. One of the biggest problems for us trying to reproduce music at home is inconsistent recording technique/methodology.

If all recordings were done this way I don't think you'd want/need Omni speakers to give you that feeling of presence.

To me a true binaural recording uses a dummy-head mic, although again, in the end the playback system positioning remains a rather arbitrary and subjective thing by comparison.

Hi Billhound,

In general, a large room is desirable because it introduces a greater time delay between the first-arrival sound and the onset of significant reverberant energy. This is probably more true for directional speakers than for omnidirectional ones, but both types would probably benefit from a large room in this respect.

The larger the room, the more the power response (summed omnidirectional response) tends to dominate the perceived tonal balance. This is because as you move farther away from the speakers, the loudness of the direct sound falls off more rapidly than does the loudness of the reverberant energy. With conventional speakers, the tonal balance is likely to be audibly degraded once you move back far enough for the power response to dominate. With omnis or other consistent-pattern speakers, the tonal balance will hold up better in a large room.

To given an extreme example, once upon a time I hauled my then-pair of big home-brew speakers (1" tweet, 7" mid, two 15" woofers) to an informal dance held in a church's activity room. To my shame and horror, my beloved behemoths sounded sluggish on bottom, harsh in the mids, dull on top, and overall quite fatiguing. I was mortified, as I'd been letting the locals know what a kick-butt speaker builder I was. Now I understand that those were the wrong speakers for that application, as the power response totally dominated the perceived tonal balance in that large space and their power response was quite poor, having never been given a second thought by their designer (ahem). That's why people use horns or horn/woofer hybrids at dances - they have a much better power response, even if up close and in the "sweet spot" conventional speakers would sound better. High output omnis like the Wolcott Omnisphere also work well in this sort of application.

Getting back to your 1600 square foot room with 16 foot ceilings, I would definitely argue in favor of a speaker that generates a tonally correct reverberant field over one that does not. You may or may not prefer a very wide-pattern speaker like the Shahinians; if you do, they'll sound great in there. In a medium-wide but still consistent pattern speaker, you have full-range planars like the Sound Labs and big Maggies, and dynamic dipoles from Gradient and Audio Artistry. If you like a narrower pattern speaker, then for a large room you might consider horn-based systems like the offerings from Edgarhorn, Classic Audio Reproductions, eXemplar, Pi Speakers, Zingali, SP Technologies, and the Klipsch Heritage line. [disclaimer - I sell two of the brands mentioned here]. But dealing with a 1600 square foot room with 16 foot ceilings is a nice problem to have.

Well, them's my thoughs.

Duke

Billhound,
1200 s.f. is absolutely huge. about as big as my whole house. I'm listening to my Shahinian Diapasons in a 12x15 room with 9 ft ceilings and they sound great- wicked bass node however. I know Richard Shahinian has his Diapasons set up in a very large room with high ceilings- kind of a factory type setting from what i have been told. By all accounts his setup sounds spectacular.
They must sound pretty darn good outside as well. A fellow by the name of Carl Salerno who used to sell Shahinians near Kenosha Wisconsin had a pair playing outside of his home on Lake Michigan. The neighbors stopped by thinking he had live musicians in his back yard.
The Diapasons have massive power handling. something like 800 watts I believe. These things really can approach the energy created by a live band.
As far as the reflective walls and floors go, I would suspect this room could have problems. Rooms that are too highly reflective can be a pain. In my experience, if peoples voices become muddled due to all the reflections, then your speakers are going to have problems also.