Best real world radial / omidirectional speaker

Here's why I think the Ohm Walsh 1000s are the natural choice in your situation:

1. They come standard with back-wave attenuation to facilitate placement closer to (but not up against) the wall behind them. And there is no rear-firing tweeter.

2. They are within your budget.

3. After owning the 2000s for over two years, I have yet to listen to a recording that they don't make the best of.

4. Ohm offers excellent customer service and support.

5. Ohm offers a 120-day in-home trial, so you can see if they work in your room, with your gear, and your music.

6. They are relatively compact compared to other omnis, yet are still pretty close to full range.

Just make sure your room's volume is not too large for whichever model you plan on trying.

Who knows which is best as everyone has different preferences. I am a
fan of Walsh drivers though so i go for ohm. As i sit here listening to my
smaller ohms even, I think they are hard to better at any price when set
up well.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Now I need to demo

Maybe the Linkwitz Pluto 2.1

Wood Artistry will sell you a pair for $2995 (including amplifiers - they're actively bi-amplified with the electronics contained in the base of each speaker), presumably with some choice of wood accents and paint.

While the cosmetics could be better, the design is _very_ functional. For example, the mid-bass is backed with a damped transmission line with a measured 99% return loss.

There's an official "Seeking Pluto Auditions" thread at the Orion Users Group web site

http://orion.quicksytes.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=994

Don Naples had a pair in the Linkwitz Labs/Wood Artistry room at Axpona and may be doing the same at later stops in the audio show season.

I’ll make another vote for the Ohms for all the reasons Bondmanp and Mapman listed, plus room placement is not too finicky and they handle all types of music very well.