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Best realistic omni type speaker option?

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 
Thoughts?

cdc2
br3098
971 posts
 
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.

frazeur1
340 posts
 

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!

trudat
60 posts
 
Ohm's will certainly give you a bigger sweet spot and a pretty full range sound even in the smaller models.  
br3098
971 posts
 
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.

frazeur1
340 posts
 
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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