quasi-omni, cheap speakers for a friend's new barn


my friend has recently built a large barn, say maybe 30 by 45 feet and wants some speakers, not to fill the whole barn but a listening area along one wall. the issue is that, not being into high end audio, the isn't impressed by imaging and wants a more omnidirectional sound, which he has come to associate with his bose 201 speakers that have been in his very small basement for years and years. the sound of these speakers is, well, not good but they fill the space with classic rock fairly well, expect for little things like detail, bass, treble, and midrange. and i tried to explain to him that they really aren't omni's either (this is confused with their inherent lack of imaging). in any case, he likes the dispersion pattern and thinks they are dynamic (i know), which is what he wants to try to reproduce or improve on in his new space.

a cheaper used pair of ohms would probably be right up his alley but guess what!, he wants to hang them from his rafters above his listening space, which would seem to eliminate ohms from his list.

sorry for such a long winded build up, but i guess the question is really whether there is anything rather than bose, even the larger models, that might represent a step up, but that still provides the wide dispersion and dynamics he associates with the 201s in his current tiny listening space.

he would be open to using a subwoofer and spend $700-$800 dollars.

i realize how limited the options are here, but if there are any suggestions, any at all, please feel free to offer them, as i will probably have to listen to these speakers for a long, long time....
thomp9015
thanks very much everyone, along the lines of what most of you have said, i told him last night that bose would probably be his best bet...btw, i wasn't trying to "convert" him, just that he'd expressed some interest in trying something new if it could fit his parameters, i'm sure he'll be happy with whatever he gets