Omni-directional Speakers?
msg
Posts: 10,490
Just kicking around looking at some speaker photos in a web search after stumbling across an old post here, and saw mention of omni-directional speakers.
I really only know of Ohm. I'm curious about OD speakers in general, since I've never heard any. Any of you guys had any, or heard any? I kbow Bosch has some, but I can't tell how they sound from his living room in the tv show. What do you think, and, pre-emptively asking, why do you think they suck? (criteria)
I'm kind of curious about this room-filling sound business, understanding that they don't image well, generally. Seems like a neat ideer for background fill. Sonic signature wise, I've settled into easy on the ears type speakers, no ridiculous highs.
I really only know of Ohm. I'm curious about OD speakers in general, since I've never heard any. Any of you guys had any, or heard any? I kbow Bosch has some, but I can't tell how they sound from his living room in the tv show. What do you think, and, pre-emptively asking, why do you think they suck? (criteria)
I'm kind of curious about this room-filling sound business, understanding that they don't image well, generally. Seems like a neat ideer for background fill. Sonic signature wise, I've settled into easy on the ears type speakers, no ridiculous highs.
I disabled signatures.
Comments
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MBL...sound all over, no center image. IMO, horrible speakers.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Im not really sure where you are coming from here....- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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Do Bi-Polar speakers count? Def. Tech.
Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them.
“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
--Mark Twain.
“If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.” - Steven Wright -
Mirage made an Omni Directional series for several years. I never heard them but they were decently reviewed. Overall, I think it was an experiment that didn't pay dividends.
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I could see the benefits for ht or for someone who isn't a sweet spot listener- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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Hey @VR3 Trey, my curiosity is just that - curious as to how they sound, what they're like. Novel to me, since I've never heard an omnidirectional speaker.
I'm not looking to address any particular need or deficiency or anything. I've just seen them mentioned from time to time, and read that they more just make sound in a space, so to speak, not necessarily presenting a stereo image. Was just wondering what people think of them, and if any experience. I do often have music on just for background while doing stuff around the house and got me thinking about what they're like.I disabled signatures. -
Hey @Tony M - hehe, no, not bi-polar
, I was thinking more along the lines of the Ohm or Mirage that @billbillw mentions. I disabled signatures. -
I'm a Def tech fan at heart and I've always been intrigued by the higher mirage offerings for sure
- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit. -
MBL...sound all over, no center image. IMO, horrible speakers.
To date, that day I went with you to hear a set, still ranks as the #1 worst audition I have ever had....and I have heard some real doozies through the years. Some of the most non-existent bass/midbass I have ever heard. They produced bass that is akin to a drum kick on an Adele album. In other words, you couldn't even tell it was a drum. Plus, the violinist was freakin' four feet wide! Where in the world have you ever heard a four foot wide violinist?
Agreed. Horrible speakers. Painful audition to these ears!
Tom~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
I have heard a couple of different pairs of Ohm speakers. Decent sound IMO and lots of people enjoy them. Our dearly departed friend Eddie "The Knife" flat out loved them. One observation that really struck me was when I honed in on a piano. It was wide. A little too wide, if you ask me. At least for critical listening in the sweet spot.
They were enjoyable, but I couldn't get over the fact that it literally wrapped from one ear, to behind the speakers, right to the other ear, in a kind of oblong and oval in shape type presentation. Some may find this very appealing. I personally did not.
Other than that one weird thing, nothing else struck me as being bad. I didn't seem to notice this anomaly nearly as much when I was walking around or off axis. Admittedly, I never did mess around with speaker placement and that might have had some influence on it, TBT. If it were my system, I would have played around to see if that had any impact. RIP Eddie and thanks for the good times brother!
Tom~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
I heard Eddie's Ohm speakers at the cabin we shared. They were on a hardwood floor. After I put a bath towel under each cabinet things got better, even Eddie's thought so. Overall, pleasant enough.
R.I.P big guyPolitical Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
I've always thought of omnidirectional speakers as being intended for spaces where there is no single or main listening spot. Party speakers. In other words there may be two speakers but they are not really designed to be listened to with a stereo image/illusion although they may be marketed as doing so. There have also been some design attempts at mixing omnidirectional drivers in traditional stereo speakers so they kind of function as stereo speakers but not very well.
Bidirectional, or dipole, speakers with drivers front and rear make more sense than omnidirectional if a pair of speakers is set up for stereo listening but those are more difficult to set up in a room and tend to have a very small stereo sweet spot.
Although limited to 180 degree tweeter radiation the Gallo Acoustics designs are kind of an in between. Those sounded good to me as stereo speakers and had a wide soundstage with a big sweet spot for listening. -
German Physiks is another brand that does high end omnidirectional speakers. They appear to be available in the US market but I think they mainly have a presence elsewhere in the world.
https://www.german-physiks.com/borderland-mk-iv-loudspeakers
I think the Harry Bosch character mainly listened to jazz music and he wasn't really a sit on the sofa kind of guy so maybe the Ohm speakers were a good choice for the space those were portrayed as being in for the tv show. -
@msg There's a pair of Ohm Walsh 2 (or similar... it's kind of hard to tell exactly which) here.
These are later, lesser Ohms -- using, in essence, an upside-down woofer as the main driver
and a tweeter in the 'can'.
They aren't terribly hard to drive, they're not very big, and they're not heavy. They sound... not bad.
By way of all of this, I'm just sayin'... schlepp up this way sometime, and they can go home with you!
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Come to think of it -- not omni-directional, but the original DCM timewindows do a pretty good job of filling a space with sound, and the quality of that sound is, I'd still say, very, very good.
And, again, just sayin'... 'cause there's an ugly but functional* pair of those here, too.
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* hmm... ugly but functional could be my epitaph, as I reflect on it. (although functional is a bit of a stretch...)
