omnidirectional loudspeakers = best design available

[Sancus]

I failed to find sufficient scientific evidence

Again, this isn't about you at all. You don't seem to understand that, so I'm gonna move on.

 

[ahofer]

I love how the O.P. just jumped in with unjustified condescension. Who starts a thread with bold assertions about measurements proving their case without any discussion of those measurements?

At any rate, I had Magnepans for several years (yes, I know, dipole not omni) and I felt so relieved when I replaced them with Thiels. I was always fiddling with the Maggies and noticing weird soundstage effects.

 

[fpitas]

I love how the O.P. just jumped in with unjustified condescension. Who starts a thread with bold assertions about measurements proving their case without any discussion of those measurements?

At any rate, I had Magnepans for several years (yes, I know, dipole not omni) and I felt so relieved when I replaced them with Thiels. I was always fiddling with the Maggies and noticing weird soundstage effects.

Lol! I've never seen an omni thread that doesn't start that way. And I've never seen one that doesn't end in tears. Powerful mojo at work

 

[Newman]

At any rate, I had Magnepans for several years (yes, I know, dipole not omni) and I felt so relieved when I replaced them with Thiels. I was always fiddling with the Maggies and noticing weird soundstage effects.

You know the old saying, “The day I bought my Maggies was the second-happiest day of my life!”

 

[fpitas]

Those of you who could compare...do the Maggies and electrostatic panel speakers have a similar presentation?

 

[Wesayso]

The idea that multi-channel satisfactorily addresses the limitations of 2 channel playback is quite contentious. To my ears, stereo playback always sounds much more natural than MCH does.

The first Stereo recordings weren't such a big hit either. There is much more potential in dedicated multichannel recordings, but that doesn't mean that it has been used to it's fullest potential. Often it is used to "demonstrate" it much like a "gimmick" instead of really capturing the beauty of a performance.
There is no doubt in my mind that it has the potential, but it does require a different environment from the end user (damped room) to use it to it's fullest potential. Not what most people want to do in their living room.

 

[BenB]

Again, this isn't about you at all. You don't seem to understand that, so I'm gonna move on.

Let me state it another way: there isn't sufficient evidence in the resource you referenced to support your assertions.

 

[ahofer]

I'd like to hear good multichannel.

My two homes are a two-bedroom apartment in NYC and a mid-century modern triple-split-level in rural CT. There are no dedicated rooms for audio in either. Furthermore, I like to be with my wife when I listen to music and she reads. In my old place I set up my system in the finished basement, but then never went down there. A living room bristling with equipment is never gonna happen.

 

[gnarly]

Those of you who could compare...do the Maggies and electrostatic panel speakers have a similar presentation?

I never owned Maggies, but i auditioned them quite often in NYC audio stores in the late 80's and early 90's, along with other ribbon types like Apogees....and any electrostat I could find that was up and running.
At the time, I owned electrostats Acoustat-X and the original Martin Logan CLS. (Still do)

My foremost remembrance about Maggies, is they had a beautiful mid-range, but somehow always sounded a little muted/dull/VHF rolled off,.... compared to stats and true ribbons. That's all I distinctly remember.

 

[gnarly]

Regarding your dig about the characteristics of an and off-axis sound and how it relates to listener preference, regardless of what I believe regarding that, if you are referencing the work by Harman, you should understand that it's about half done. A short summary of their work goes something like this:
They had a group of listeners record preferences of various speakers when listening to them without the ability to see them. They made measurements of the speakers, and ran some regression analysis to see if they could closely re-create the recorded preference scores by weighting various aspects of the speaker measurements. They found that they could. Then they got another group of listeners together to listen to a larger set of speakers (if I recall correctly). They once again recorded blind listener preference. They used the weighted characteristics from the first test to try and re-create the preference scores from the second test, and found out it didn't work very well. So they applied new regression analysis, and came up with a new model with a better fit to the data. Now, in order for this to constitute "science", an independent group needs to verify that this model holds up when they conduct their own experiments with their own speakers and listeners. As far as I know, this has never been done.

That's about as an objective assessment as I've seen.
Hope is doesn't get you stoned, lol !!!

 

[MattHooper]

If Omnis are wrong I don’t wanna be right!



My MBLs were incredible - most realistic sound I’ve ever heard in my room.

 

[fpitas]

Omnis are the brussel sprouts of the audio world. Very polarizing. I've heard KLH Model 9s, but arguably those aren't omni.

 

[MattHooper]

As it happens, I like brussels sprouts.

 

[Purité Audio]

Great for parties, but critical listening not so much.
Keith

 

[fpitas]

Great for parties, but critical listening not so much.
Keith

That's my impression. Parties, or those who wander as they listen.

 

[MattHooper]

Great for parties, but critical listening not so much.
Keith

That’s so hilariously wrong. Glad I’m not taking speaker recommendations from some here

 

[fpitas]

That’s so hilariously wrong. Glad I’m not taking speaker recommendations from some here

Alright, I'm willing to learn. Is the detail good for critical listening? With so many room reflections going on, it seems counter-intuitive.

 

[Purité Audio]

Bang&Olufsen obviously don’t know what they are talking about!
mode.

5.1.3 Omni​

In some situations, it may be
preferable that the BeoLab 90's radiate
sound in all directions equally. One
example of this are when you are
throwing a party and have many
guests listening to music
simultaneously from many di erent
locations in the room. Another example
is when you have fewer persons in the
room, but they are moving around to
diferent locations and simply want
background music while they do so.

Keith

 

[AlexanderM]

If Omnis are wrong I don’t wanna be right!



My MBLs were incredible - most realistic sound I’ve ever heard in my room.

I grew up listening to Bose 901s and if they made a pair that got up high and down low to properly cover the approved range I would likely still be there. Erin's experience with them seemed to be quite good, he noted, they are just different, something like that. The Definitive Technology Towers have sound front, back and then at the sides with the Subs, so they might qualify.

 

[NiagaraPete]

You know the old saying, “The day I bought my Maggies was the second-happiest day of my life!”

Selling them was the first?