Matt,
After speaking with Mike and some other speaker designers/manufacturers at length about the pros/cons of bipole/dipole vs. direct radiating surrounds, I'm leaning towards buying some full range surrounds like the Raven. I've been looking at some high end surrounds like Revel, Wilson, and the Aerial SS3. I spoke with Klaus over at Odyssey Audio and they've got a very interesting product which has received little to no press. It's a 2'x3' speaker that is 3 inches thick and has a frame around it. You supply them with whatever artwork you want and they laser scan and print the same art work onto an acoustically transparent canvas. So basically you've got art work that are your speakers. The use all ScanSpeak drivers and frequency response is excellent, down to 45Hz at -1.5db. The idea of having some Picasso prints hanging on the walls as surrounds is pretty cool. Plus the price is $2000 which given the quality of the drivers and the ingenuity of the product, isn't bad at all.
So now it's a decision of whether to go with the Ravens or try the Odyssey product. The only hindrance I have with the Odyssey speakers is that because of the strange and irregular dimensions of my room, there really are no side walls which have the necessary space to mount them. One sidewall is 15 from the listening position, the other is 6 ft away and slightly ahead of the listening position. Not ideal to say the least. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of options with rearranging the room layout. Perhaps my next apartment. In this particular configuration, the Ravens may work out better. However, it would be nice to have the rears be located above the listening position and with the Ravens that won't be possible. Decisions, decisions.
...Nisi
After speaking with Mike and some other speaker designers/manufacturers at length about the pros/cons of bipole/dipole vs. direct radiating surrounds, I'm leaning towards buying some full range surrounds like the Raven. I've been looking at some high end surrounds like Revel, Wilson, and the Aerial SS3. I spoke with Klaus over at Odyssey Audio and they've got a very interesting product which has received little to no press. It's a 2'x3' speaker that is 3 inches thick and has a frame around it. You supply them with whatever artwork you want and they laser scan and print the same art work onto an acoustically transparent canvas. So basically you've got art work that are your speakers. The use all ScanSpeak drivers and frequency response is excellent, down to 45Hz at -1.5db. The idea of having some Picasso prints hanging on the walls as surrounds is pretty cool. Plus the price is $2000 which given the quality of the drivers and the ingenuity of the product, isn't bad at all.
So now it's a decision of whether to go with the Ravens or try the Odyssey product. The only hindrance I have with the Odyssey speakers is that because of the strange and irregular dimensions of my room, there really are no side walls which have the necessary space to mount them. One sidewall is 15 from the listening position, the other is 6 ft away and slightly ahead of the listening position. Not ideal to say the least. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of options with rearranging the room layout. Perhaps my next apartment. In this particular configuration, the Ravens may work out better. However, it would be nice to have the rears be located above the listening position and with the Ravens that won't be possible. Decisions, decisions.
...Nisi