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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

Showing 2 responses by gonglee3

gonglee3
304 posts
 
I do like the idea of omni direction speaekers and the way they sound. They sound pleasant and open - after hearing one, a conventional speaker sound veild somewhat in comparison.

I have Sonus Faber with four tweeters on top, and sounds good. Radio Shack has a lineum tweeter that is pretty nice too (somewhat transparent), for DIY speaker builders.

Energy towers have sounds coming out of many places, and sounds nice and open.

If you are DIY, one could make one without too much difficulty for under a grand using premium parts.
gonglee3
304 posts
 
We all have extra amps and speakers from upgrading - you can connect 2 amps by RCA "Tape out" to "Tape in" on another amp. Now you have 4 channels to hook up your speakers - 4 good ones, unlike most surround receivers.

Place 2 speakers back to back - one firing backwards and now you will enjoy deeper soundstage along with other benefits. You can add a third set and make it more omni-directional.

This improves most speakers - I was in search of a deep realistic soundstage, and I got it by doing this. The depth was what I was going for, and now I am happy to find it with the equipments I already own.
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