Which speakers do the hologram thing?

Sean, you are dead right of course. It was the good old Quad 57, which had the backwave at least partially blotted out by a fairly thick felt layer and this speaker, especially in the HQD version threw an incredibly good soundstage. Many people preferred the 57 to the later iterations for just that very reason. Unfortunatedly the thing never played really loud and you had to sit exactly in the sweat spot to get the highs right. I've experimented with blotting out the back wave, but very dilletantly and unsuccessfully. I find the idea you bring up fascinating, but I'm not knowledgeable enough in these things to design or even dream of something similar. Besides, with my setup, it would be impossible anyway.

sean: the only speakers i've ever heard that produce a believable 360º dispersion pattern are the radiostrahler mbl 101d's. the first few times i heard them at dealers and ces rooms, i couldn't imagine anyone's wanting them, much less at the price demanded. i've heard them now, properly setup in a home listening environment. they're driven by a pair of accuphase a 50v's (they really NEED the power) from a boulder 2010 pre, a burmester dac and transport and all connected with tara, the zero ic's and tara, the one cables. they do sound fabulous. ( and why shouldn't they with >$110k in electronics and wire?) but, truth be told, i still prefer my 3-way boxes; i can, literally, walk from my sweet spot to a position behind the speakers and perceive at every point a holographic image. what's more, my speakers also pass another critical test, IMO. when heard from another room, they sound like they're producing a live, albeit amplified, performance. -cfb

Sean. The newform ribbons go down to only about 1000 althought in my dr-8-2's I read the crossover was about 900 to two peerless 8" drivers. The back of the heavy ribbons are monopolar. The ribbons have a very small acoustic profile from 1khz up. The ribbon is 3-1/4" wide by 2-1/2" deep. It is heavily bevelled at the front of the structure. The newform ribbons is a very interesting design. A friend of mine who likes my newforms very much owns original quads driven by audio inovations.....

Sean, one thought has been bugging me. As you quite rightly say, dipoles, by the very nature of their design, must distort the sound. I bet, that most concert going Maggie, Sound-Lab or Quad owners will heartily disagree with that statement. I also, trying as hard as I might, don't hear any distortion. Perhaps the secret lies in the way I hear the differences, as described by me above, which I hold to be generic by the way, between the sound of the newer hornspeakers and dipoles. I do indeed find the sound of the A-Capellas "purer" than what my system AND the live experience can render. So what is happening here? Is it the dipole setup in the room, which will render the "theoretical" point of their distorting practically mute/moot, if its succesfull, is the ear so easily fooled, or is it just the fact, that dipoles distorting as they do, render a sound, that more often than not fascinate music lovers?
Wonder what your thoughts are.... Cheers, Detlof