I have a pair of Martin Logan Ethos at home that sound good, and Davone Mojos at the office which for their size make great music too.
While I like the MLs a lot, the sweet spot is small. A foot to either side and you're not getting the best sound. Which is why I'm interested in testing an omni against them.
But here's the thing, which to try at around $4-8k?
Ohms - lots of fans - basically a cone speaker mounted in above the cabinet and firing down with a tweeter on top- reasonably priced
Duevel's - upwards firing woofer with downward firing tweeter above - Bella Luna horn loads the tweeter - expensive and hard if not impossible to get in the U.S.
Decware's HR-1 - hybrid omni / box speaker design - 5 month or so wait
Or since I like the MLs, step up the line to a pair of ML 11a
Duevel is very possible to get in the US, just not a demo. I can vouch for Pascal Ravach of Mutine in Canada, the North American distributor. I purchased Venus last May, love them. As to other Omni types I have owned, various Ohms, very good, Larsen Model 4, also very good and reasonably priced, Shahinian Obelisk and Larc, both very good. All of the above while “similar”, have certain things each may do a bit better. It all comes down to system, room and maybe even visual things. Honestly, I could have lived with any of these, but extremely happy with my Duevel Venus. Also, my Venus were not as expensive as one might think, Pascal does an excellent job of keeping pricing in line with current German exchange. He does not utilize the typical BS distribution mark up, something that I am very impressed with! By the way, I am curious about how you are using your Davone Mojo’s, size of room, placement, amps etc. I have often wanted to try a pair in my bedroom along with my Naim Uniti streamer, always thought that might make for a nice and simple setup.
There is a pair of Ohm Walsh 5's here for sale (black piano finish). I have an older pair of the Sound Cylinders. Room-filling 3-D sound! Better than any ML!!!
cdc2, you are already use to ESLs. MLs are limited because of that curved diaphragm which forces ML to go down at 250 Hz to a dynamic woofer smack in the middle of the midrange where ESLs are supposed to shine. The curved diaphragm is not linear. Roger Sanders, the inventor of the curved panel abandoned it for that reason. If you go to any form of dynamic speaker you will lose some clarity and detail not that there are fine speakers out there. My favorite right now is Sonus Faber. They make a great speaker for the money. However there are two choices that will give you better dispersion and improve the level of clarity and detail you are use to. The Magnepan 3.7i and the Sound Labs 545. They are bigger than the MLs so I do not know if they will work in your room. My favorite Dynamic speakers are Sonus Faber. They make a great speaker for the money. Upscale Audio has a pair of Olympica 2 speakers on sale. I have listened extensively to the Sonetto 8. Very smooth. No harshness in these. They do very well w/o a subwoofer, but you could add one if you really needed power below 30 Hz. They have as good an image as any dynamic speaker which means the cross over is very high quality. On top of this their cabinetry is first class. I personally prefer the sound of planar dipoles specifically ESLs. You get a larger image and a better sense of the third dimension. The Magnepans which are planar magnetic and ribbon speakers have excellent dispersion. Their tweeter ribbon is unmatched. But, they are not quite as detailed and their image although excellent is just slightly out of focus when compared to a full range ESL.
I have commented about this topic on other threads before. All the omnidirectional speakers you listed have their advantages and weaknesses, like any other speaker. One you should add to your list is Larsen, made in Sweden. They are a modern version of the old Sonab speakers. I sold these for a few years and customers love them.
I love classical music and now that we are empty nesters I find myself listening more to classical music of all types. My Coherent and Omega single drivers are great for small ensembles but can't quite pull off large orchestras and complex music. Zaftig mezzo sopranos wearing horned helmets on the women on single drivers? Naaa (a technical term of rejection).
Having said that, I just purchased a pair of completely restored Shahinian Obelisks and I'm blown away at how wonderful they sound. I had heard Obelisks years ago and files them away in the "good speaker" compartment of my brain. I bought them on a whim and after a week I'm sure (well, pretty sure) that I will keep them forever. AND my wife actually loves the way they look; or at least that's what she says but she also has been hinting about a new car...
I don't have recent experience with Ohm or Decware and I don't have any experience with Duevel. But my summary comparison to the Larsen 6s or 8s is that the Shahinian Obelisks present similarly but more so. The Larsens painted a large sound picture on the wall behind the speakers, in bright watercolor paint. The Obelisks are much more 3D (some say holographic) and the picture is painted in oil and has significant texture. Right now I'm listening to Isaac Stern and the New York Philharmonic play Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major. I am very familiar with this piece of music and it's like I'm hearing it for the first time. I played some other stuff earlier today: jazz, bluegrass, classical guitar, Grateful Dead - all great. I haven't tried Nine Inch Nails yet but maybe tomorrow.
br3098-I would mirror your comments on the Shahinian Obelisk. That was one of the fantastic traits of them to my ears, the layering of music, a real depth, they had an uncanny way of making a vocalist or instruments have real 3-dimensional body. Not overblown and everything all over the place as some do. If I could have only gotten the lower mids and bass end to work in my room, there is no doubt I would still have them and not ventured on.
One slightly negative thing to me, and this was for me typical of the Ohms and Shahinian, is they seem to require more power/drive level to “wake” them up. This is something that the Duevel Venus do so much better, they play at lower levels with seemingly less loss of detail and impact, and for me now living in an apartment, just works.
I still am very much a lover of the Larsen’s too, will always throw them out as a recommendation to those looking for unobtrusive, great sounding speakers with an Omni-type presentation.
I have a set of Ohm 1000s and really enjoy them. I prefer them to the Obelisks I auditioned a few years back. I haven't heard the Duevels, but since I'm enjoying my Ohms, I have no urge to go looking.
Yeah, the little Pear Audio amp sounds surprisingly good but there is not as much bass as I know the Obelisks can make. I'm thinking about using a tube pre to drive a pair of SS monoblocks via balanced XLR. Radu Tarta has offered to convert the output on my my wonderful Shiny Eyes DHT preamp from SE to balanced but I'm not sure I want to lose SE conenctions on this pre. Or I may look for a used BAT preamp.
For amps I'm thinking about either a pair of old Bryston PowerPac 120s (I'll have them refurbished). If I could afford it I would but a pair of Benchmark AHB2s. I guess I could buy one and save but I'm definitely an instant gratification sort of guy.
br-Not to hijack this thread with talks on the Obelisk, I am doubtful you are getting any where near the capability that the Obs can give with the little Pear amp, but I could be wrong. Yes, it will drive the Obs and play music, but they are quite a tough load on most amplifiers. I drove mine for a short period of time on a Naim Uniti, stop-gap measure at the time. It worked...sort of.
Needless to say, when I finally got a Plinius 8200 in the picture, I started to really get that feel of what I knew the Obs are capable of. Of course all of our mileage here varies, we all listen for different things etc. I would certainly think about some class D amps, maybe Bel Canto, or Red Dragon, that will solidify your bass and bring some control to the setup there.
And certainly I get the instant gratification thing! Have fun and enjoy!
Tim, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I'm considering which SS power amp or mono blocks. Too bad I sold all my GamuT demo gear. I'll bet the Di150 LE integrated amp would sound great.
Yes, the GamuT integrated would have been superb I think! The Obs certainly like the current a good amplifier can deliver, providing it sounds good, of course! I am sure you will manage! Enjoy!
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