Speakers with "Room-filling sound"?

NSMT/Role has some similar designs.

 

Omnidirectional speakers can sound good on large scale classical and electronic music .Smaller scale music can sound a bit strange though.
I have owned a few -Sonabs,Goodmans and Bose 901s.
The 901s are actually quite good but require very specific location or will sound poor.They need a long wall free of clutter.
They are not audiophile or high resolution but are musically engaging.

 

Well, a speaker having a tight "sweet spot" is often related to limited dispersion. The ultimate anti to this is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_mode_loudspeaker

A way before NXT incarnation of this is now Sound Advance which is now owned by Sonance and was previously called Bertagni. More a custom install line now, though there did used to be some Bertagni consumer models. Perhaps the only thing you can put in a ceiling and have really good dispersion at high frequencies.

Definitive is a high-quality Canadian brand which makes dipole/bipolar speakers.

Planar speakers (Quad, Martin-Logan, old Apogees if you can find them, Magnepan) tend to have more of a listen-throughout kind of sound.

Also there are various "omnidirectional" speakers, including certain old BIC models, MBL, DBX Soundfield, Bose 901s (but be careful if you buy the latter desiring "sound throughout the room" as they might sue you ha ha).

 

My experience with k-horns, a single belle, LS2's and cornwalls did not back that up altogether. Indeed, the single belle klipsch I used as a center speaker had the flattest response through the mids of any speaker I've ever tested. The klipschorns (AK-3) and La Scala II's were only slightly off the mark. Now, in the bass and treble I did experience some uneveness, so if that's what you were referring to, I'm with you.

I'm not trying to pick on you there, Mr. Slack, but...I've had very good luck with my 901's on the short wall of two rooms. One 16 x 18.5 and the current one, 15 x 22. As for your statement that they "Are not audiophile or high resolution", well those are subjective opinions which I do not fully agree with, but I know why people have that idea. The less directional a speaker is, the more room sound there will be in the mix. More room sound equals less detail, which equates (to some) as less fidelity. To me, it just sounds more like live music, which always has a much higher level of room sound than typical home hi-fi.

 

I have owned most of the Sonab speakers. They are very much room filling, but as with any speakers they have advantages and they have disadvantages.
Most of them give 'full range' a new meaning, as most are really fullrange, where most others really aren´t. But to some extent they are an oxymoron, as they can sound extremely open and natural and at the same time a bit unnatural, particularly with voices. Some are more natural than others.

 

Never heard of it. Can you post a link?

 

Lots of stuff on the various forums is just people repeating the standard line. If you have the room give the Klipsch a try and you won't be disappointed. Some of the best room filling speakers ive ever heard were a pair of Cornwall 2s with fastrac midhorns and alk crossovers. They sounded great stock. Incredible with the alk crossovers and absolutely awesome with the fastrac horn.

 

I actually quite like the 901s and yes they probably do sound more real than most speakers on some music and yes a wall about 5 metres long is fine for them to work properly.Many people think they can't do image depth and centre focus properly but if they are set up properly in a suitable room they can.Of course like all full range speakers the treble is never going to be the last word in refinement or sparkle but is probably sufficient for most music.

 

I agree with you completely. Sorry if I came off as a bit...or a lot...overly defensive.

 

I have 2 pairs of Decware ERR's for sale in the [For Sale] Hardware and Accessories section and they run off my 6 watt Decware Taboo easily ... I'm just saying

 

http://www.roleaudio.com/sampan

 

But speaker cables might ... maybe Amazon didn't have them in stock for Bosch

 

As many have already mentioned omni directionals fill up space really well, just don't expect a great soundstage. Electrostatics and ribbons are too precise for your liking so I would avoid them due to your lack of need for a sweet spot. If you want a big soundstage recessed behind the speakers all you need to do is place bookshelves half way into the room (electronics and cables permitted). If you want floorstanders the Golden Ear or Def Tech brands may be to your liking. I would also look into some Nola's. Good luck hunting.

 

Best room filling speaker? Great question. But I have to throw in a caveat before I give my opinion: I cannot/do not sit in a static position when I listen to music, I am usually standing, grooving, dancing and drinking wine!

So, Best "room filling sound" I have heard in my 51 years are in fact the Bose 901 Series 6 speakers, and they can be had for around $400.00 or cheaper used.

And before everyone plies on, I know they are not high end reference speakers, but what they do, they do very well: Fill a room with wonderful sounding music via direct reflections, so as to simulate you are in a concert hall. They produce a great sound, you are not tied down to a 'sweet spot', and sound best in large rooms suspended about 3 or 4 feet from the ceiling. My music room is 40ft by 20ft (three car garage , but it has a hell of a view!), and when driven with my Pioneer SX-850, they rock the room and are very engaging.
I am not some 'fan boy' trying to justify the list price paid, rather I found a pair at the salvation army for $25.00, took them home for a test drive, and they turned into my main speakers. I will admit, my main speakers up to that time were B&W 603 Ser.2. Not exactly the high end speakers I see posted by many members in this forum, could be called 'entry level', but still a decent speaker design. When I a/b'd them , the 901s were more richer, engaging, and gave a better presentation with the instruments just hanging in the air no matter what part on the room you are in. They FILL the room!

I respect others opinions, but to say they suck in terms of sound quality is rather disingenuous. I often wonder if people are not setting them up right, because they don't 'suck', they reproduce music wonderfully. I don't know about frequency response and all that, it is what I hear. You have to set them up they way they were intended, you have to use the specific Bose active equalizer with them, and the EQ needs to be routed in a Tape Monitor loop, not the pre out/in! They need to have at least three walls to reflect off of. Then grab your vinyl 1st pressing Van Halen 1, throw some watts at it, and I guarantee the sound will have you dancing and grooving! Isn't that what listening to music is all about?

Cheers

 

This is a new Speaker Design that I have been reading about that is supposed to give room filling sound.

Check out the links for more info.


Don't know the price.

Kii Audio's Three

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2015/05/kih-22-time-delay-with-kii-audio/


http://kiiaudio.com/

 

Still have a hard time believing the new guys about Bose 901s. A muddy speaker with no detail atrocious mids and highs and talk about one note bass. I mean there are way too many things wrong with them to list.

 

Not from me. I OWN the Gallo Reference Strada 2's, listen to them on a daily basis, and can say without question that they produce both room-filling sound and incredible 3-D imaging at the same time.

 

Thanks. Checking it out now.

Just checked it out. Nothing at all like the Gallo speakers in design or construction. Don't know what they sound like, though.

 

Simply noted that both seem to image (point source) well and are very small. Different approaches to minimum baffle, but Errol seems to do odd porting.

 

<Yawn>

 

Ah, gotcha. I think the keys for the Gallo's are the curved film tweeter, metallic spherical enclosures, and baffle material. All of them create a big image and a 3D image at the same time. You can probably tell I am nuts about them.

 

Agreed. Bose bashing is so 2007. . Sure, there are things wrong with Bose 901's, but creating a room-filling sound is one thing they are great at.

 

However, they seem to fit the bill for what the OP is looking for.

 

They are lovely design objects as well. Glad you are enjoying them. Small speakers with large presence are very interesting.

 

ZenArcher, regarding the omni vs other flavors, room filling sound, wide sweet spot, etc, take a look at this. And find yourself some forte II or Chorus II in your area.