The Shahinian Compass received a very good review in the May /June issue of HiFiCritic, a mag. that takes no ads. They said " From the outset it became abundantly clear that this is a very special loudspeaker". the main reviewer `really liked it. A second review by Martin Colloms, who does not care for Omnies as a rule, stated that he liked it more than he would have thought and found it a fascinating design. I would get a copy of the magazine if I was looking for an omnie because their reviews are more complete than the usual ones. Check their web site.
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Build them yourself Peter! You're handy right? I will have some early next year (similar to Duevels). Right after I finish these Sachiko-Single Driver speakers Take care Mariusz |
Linkwitz Pluto, available as either a turnkey product ($3K) or DIY (about $800 if you buy the plans and circuit board package from SL and stuff the boards yourself). Speakers with uniform but more directivity sound as natural but suffer less from nearby objects and retain clarity farther into the room; but more directivity comes from things like dipoles (you dump a lot of displacement into the acoustic short circuit) or wave guides (which are harder to construct in small quantities). |
Morrison Audio builds spectacular point-source omni directional speakers. Sold direct. Check out their site: Morrison Audio. I own the Model 7. |
There is a guy who is building the famed Ohm Walsh A and F from scratch http://www.hhr-exoticspeakers.com/HHRproducts.htm Dale Harder seems to know what he is talking about, and he hand builds all the speakers himself. There is a British company which has received come good reviews "Omnimon" http://www.rountree-acoustics.com/tech.html I tried contacting rountree, but no reply, donno what the economy has done to a lot of small business. There is an Italian company which has principles similar to Duevel, the name of which I can't remember for the moment Last but not least Sony has a new Omni if it every interests you |
The Gradient Revolution and Helsinki both have exceptionally smooth power response (something a good omni also achieves), but the design goal is radiation pattern control to reduce early room reflections, rather than omnidirectionality. In my opinion one of the primary advantages of an omni is its smooth power response, but there are other formats that do a very good job in this area - the dipole/cardioid/waveguide Gradients being among them [dealer disclaimer]. In fact, there are dipolar and bipolar speakers whose characteristics more closely approximate an omni than the Gradients' do. The Genesis Model 5 and its descendents come to mind - though not technically an omni, its presentation leans in that direction. John Huff makes custom speakers using the German Physics DDD driver. Long-gone Design Acoustics used to make a big quasi-omni soccer-ball-on-a-pedestal. Epicure/EPI also made quasi-omni speakers that had a midwoofer and tweeter on each vertical face of a large columnar tower. Duke dealer/manufacturer |
Duke, thanks for helping. I thought the gradient was forgotten. Duke, what do you think of the bolzano design, that is the design I will attempt to build with some pro help. I have been playing a mock up of that design and like it very very much. Any suggestions would be appreciated, I expect lots of tweeking and fixing before it gets anywhere near good. I will biamp at first to be able to control the tonal balance. I am considering scanspeak drivers, but accuton may be an option. Should I seek out a wide dispersion tweeter? Midrange/woofer are generally wide by nature,true? |