Omnidirectional speakers. The future?

Bose 901's are based on 11% direct vs 89% reflected sound. Unless one is standing completely off axis and slightly around a corner from where the performance is taking place, those ratios are highly unlikely to be anywhere near accurate during a live listening session. The fact that Bose based most of his findings on measurements taken while sitting underneath the overhang of balcony seats may explain at least a portion of his findings. Why someone would use that specific seating location to conduct those types of tests is beyond me though.

As far as binaural recordings go, i mentioned this type of presentation working phenomenally well with Omni's much earlier in this thread. I've commented on this type of recording technique over at AA in the Pro Asylum quite some time ago. When Alan Kafton of Audio Excellence / Audio Dharma cable cooking asked about various methods that could be used to record small ensembles in a nightclub, that was the first technique i told him to try. It is minimally intrusive in terms of set-up and operation and can provide a very natural presentation, both in terms of spatial cues and tonal balance.

As a side note, i used to use this technique when recording bands for "demo's". Not only is the sound "live" i.e. not nearly as manipulated as is done with dozens of mics and processing, it is also lower in distortion ( less microphone overload ) and much closer to what one would actually hear at a show. If a band can sound good on stage without a bunch of multi-track gimmicks, the talent scouts working for record companies know that they can be made to sound "even better" in a studio. The reason for that? They have all the knobs and gadgets required to "make magic happen". At least, so they think. A high quality binaural recording is pretty hard to match in terms of natural sonic qualities. The one major drawback is that it will not sound as "detailed" or "image specific" as an electronically manipulated presentation using dozens of up-close mic's and tons of bells and whistles in the recording chain.

As far as using the "true" Walsh type Ohm's in a huge room, i've never tried it. Their bass output may be up to the task, but they simply can't move enough air to fill the room with sound. That is, they are SPL challenged due to "warbling" i.e. highly audible amounts of Doppler distortion once you hit a certain volume level. With this type of design, there's no way around that problem. Sean
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Thanks very much for your thoughts, guys.
My space is indeed houselike in scale- it is my live/work
space. I live in an open loft in what was at one time a
commercial building. Possibly something similar
to the factory-like space that Holzhauer describes in
Mr. Shahinian's set up. Unfortunately, Diapasons are
not in my budget. I wonder how one of their less pricey offerings might fair in an oversized space. Its a pity that Shahinians and other omni-like offerings are impossible to demo before purchase- I like to avoid expensive leaps of blind faith when I can.

I do not expect any speaker I might buy, omni or not, to energize my whole space. I just want to hear great music in a 'designated' listening area. Because of my flat out ignorance when it comes to the science of acoustics, I wasn't sure if that's a reasonable goal or not. Omnis intrigue me because I wonder if they could create this hypothetical 'sweet area' in my space as well, worse, or better than conventional designs.

My ignorant gut says there may be advantages to omnis in my situation since they are designed in part to depend on room interaction. While I will end up doing a few things in here to try take the edge off all the high reflectivity, I dont intend to invest time and money in a complete high end sound treatment, or carve up my space into rooms. So, since my envrionment will inevitably have some significant interaction with whatever sound system, why not go with speakers designed to interact with their environment in the first place? Hence my interest in omnis.

Audiokinesis provides a well reasoned and knowledgeble articulation of that idea, which was really only a hunch for me before I read his helpful post- thanks.

In trying to understand how omnis and omni-like speakers work, I find Holzhauer's report that the diapasons sound great outdoors counter intuitive. Since the system is designed to interact with its environment, I would have imagined that removing walls and ceilings, (i.e. setting them up outside), would actually make the speakers sound bad, or at least significantly different than the designer intended. Maybe I understand this stuff even less well than I think I do.

Many have pointed out that omni's cannot reproduce the actual sound of the recording due to simple physical law.
Again, while I have no training in acoustics, the reasoning sounds correct to me, and its great to have a peek into the actual science of it. As they point out, this does not necessarilly indicate that they sound "bad", unless one's goal is a strictly truthful representation of the recorded event. I know that's supposed to be a goal of hi-fi, but I don't fall into that camp, if for no other reasons than practicality and cost. Even in set ups where price is no object, I bet there is still acomodation made by the listener for the sonic 'white lies' that inevitably slip in through the door along with the strictly accurate sonic 'truths'. I'm more interested in a balance between euphoney, accuracey, and price.

In the end what sounds good is such a personal question, that I lament again the problem of not being able to demo most of these omnis up front. While a store demo wont tell how a speaker will sound at home, it will at least give a clue. That's one reason I'm arbitrarilly deciding not to consider horns. They might do the trick great, but they seem to be as difficult to find as omnis, and it would be nice to actually start listening to something soon!

Sean...with regard to percentage of reflected sound...I used to work as an usher (unpaid) at the Tanglewood summer music festival, and so I learned something of the acoustics of the huge shed in which the BSO performs.
Seats up front can hear well. Seats slightly further back, but still in the higher price range don't hear well at all. The very last few rows, way at the back, hear well again: almost as well as those expensive up-front seats. The reason is reflective panels that are suspended about 40 feet above and 30 feet behind the last row, and angled down. Reflected sound can be loud.

El: As sound travels further, it loses intensity. This is true whether it is a directly radiated signal or that of a reflected signal. The only time that one encounters increased intensity at a greater distance from the originating source would be in the following situation. The first is when one is stationed in an area where a node occurs in the listening environment. The other example is at the far end of some type of acoustic coupler i.e. the increased output at the far end of a horn throat. Otherwise, the shortest, most direct path will have the greatest acoustic intensity possible, especially at mid to high frequencies. Sean
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