Omni Speaker Options

Once again some wise words from Duke. The path length of 11 feet or the 10 msec rule of thumb is something you need to consider whatever speakers you have. The rule also applies where you sit (do not sit near a wall). This is one of the reasons that you find main speakers built directly in to a wall in most high end studio setups (no spurious reflections).

One concern with Omnis is the necessary mounting and shapes of the speaker box - inevitably there are often edge diffractions of the sound from mounting posts and many of these designs use surfaces to deliberately reflect or disperse the sound (Beolab 5 for example). Therein can lie a weakness in this type design. The result can be that certain frequencies may collapse to the speaker (as secondary reflections color the sound) even if the majority of the sound is natural and wide open. It is worth auditioning to carefully check for these issues - cymbals can often hint at this issue due to their broad frequency content. I found the Beolab to sound very open on airy on some sounds and less so on others - I wonder if there is not a 3 to 6 db SPL drop and edge diffraction occurring as certain frequencies reach the edge of the reflective discs. Overall the speaker sounds great but these coloration will be of concern to some listeners.

All speakers are trade-offs, Omnis are wonderful sounding but there are some compromises (as with any speaker).

Amicar...strongly urge you to listen to your choice before you plunk down money. I couldn't live with MBL's if I were paid for it. Someone on this discussion said they had great fireworks, and I do agree. To my trained, professional violinist ears, they are anything but natural sounding. I suppose a lot has to do with the feeding ancillaries...I heard them with MBL electronics. It would be awful to get these set up in your listening room and hate them.

I've heard the big Beolabs at the Beverly Hills B&O store on at least three occasions. They sound very good till the spl goes up - at which point they become a complete mess featuring compression, significant tonal shift and audible break-up. I'm not talking live rock concert level here, either. It could be unique to the sample/set up at that B&O store, but you would hope that the sales/mgmt people address the issue at some point and I heard the same problem on all 3 visits, which spanned more than a year.

Marty

Don't listen to the naysayers, the mbl's are one of the best speakers out there. One of my experiences with them was at a show, I couldn't believe how they drew me in and had me appreciating all sorts of music including rap which I never like. In a nutshell I was enjoying myself and I think that matters most.
If a particular system helps me appreciate new genres of music that's the one I want. I would like to enjoy jazz, but I can't on most systems, but on the mbls I do, it makes listening a fun event as it should be. Though there I should add other systems did that for me too though not to the same degree.

Thanks Pedrillo, and Stringreen too. One of the best suggestions I received from a well known audio industry expert was that at the end of the day, "...it is your ears that must make the final decision about this most important component in your system, not the price tag." I don't doubt that Stringreen's hearing was fatigued when he auditioned the MBLs. Yet I have spoken to a well regarded concert pianist who is one of the biggest advocates for MBLs. Both persons no doubt are excellent musicians in their own right, but their sensibility around a common product diverges. And if the MBLs made you tap your feet to rap, well that says a hell of a lot. And if you enjoyed my favorite genre, jazz, via the MBLs, then this puts a check mark in my preferred column in comparing speakers.