Which speakers have wide dispersion?

Johnnyb53,
Thank you for that nice description!

I lived with a pair of Mirage M-1's from 1988 (bought new) until 2002 and loved them for all the reasons well articulated by Johnnb53. I auditioned Martin Logan's in my space and found the beaming to be unacceptable. Sound Labs gave me everything I loved about the Mirages, and much much more. I recently had the opportunity to bring the Mirages out of storage and listen again, and they did not disappoint, although the SL's far surpass them. I am told the percentage of audiophiles who prefer the "planar" type sound vs. traditional box speakers is about 20%. You have to decide for yourself, but make sure you have experienced a well done "wide dispersion" system.

You want uniform dispersion up to a few kilohertz with a gradual reduction in total power response at the high end.

While "omni" speakers are one way to achieve that, designs with controlled directivity (dipoles, wave guides) accomplish the same end-goal with fewer interactions with nearby surfaces and a preservation of detail and "correctness" farther into the room.

Planar speakers don't qualify as dipoles. While they have sound coming off the front and back-sides, they're acoustically large at high frequencies so they suffer lobing problems instead of having an acoustic dipole's nice off-axis behavior (off-axis response is -3dB down from on-axis at 45 degrees, -6dB at 60 degrees, and non-existant by the time you move out to 90 degrees).

I've built pairs of Linkwitz Orions (open baffle) and Plutos (they don't really start getting directive until 2-3KHz. and have no baffle outside the 2" mid-tweeter). The Orions have more reach into the room.

Some time I'll get around to trying a wave guide without the problems that go with horns - Earl Geddes work looks real interesting.

Yeah, by today's standards the 1st-gen Mirage M series is a bit thick-sounding and not so transparent. To make them jump you need to pump them with lots of power with low output impedance, high damping factor, and high current. The 2nd-gen Mxsi series took a significant jump in transparency and clarity; they introduced Mirage's cloth-surround titanium tweeter and bi-wire/biamp capability. The new tweeter added a good dose of speed and airiness up top. The dual speaker terminals rewarded bi-wiring or bi-amping with improved top-to-bottom transparency.

But none of this compares to the entirely new levels of transparency, efficiency, detail, and realistic dispersion of the new OMD series. My brand new OMD-15s trump my old M5si's in every way, and are about 1/3 the mass and bulk.

And some (including professional reviewers) consider Mirage's new flagship OMD-28 to be a standard-setter at its price point ($7500/pair).

"Lifestyle" speakers? I don't think so.

Drew, note that the SoundLabs espoused by Twb2 do not suffer from the narrowed radiation pattern one would normally expect from a large panel. This is because the diaphragm of the SoundLabs is a faceted curve, which radiates over a 90 degree arc (reduced to 45 degrees on some recent models to improve efficiency).

Interesting that you mention Earl Geddes - my own efforts owe a great deal to his work, though I don't think he approves of my bipolar variation.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer