MBL, Duevel, German Physics, Shahinian, Ohm Acoustics, (my project Tetraudio (yet to be)),…
“List of all omni-directional speaker manufacturers”,…
And their differences to discuss.
Shahinian Obelisk mk 2 speakers are pretty impressive to my ears given their relative small size….i haven’t heard other manufacturers omni directional speakers though, so probably a little biased.
Are you talking just current manufacturers…and I understand why you would exclude the older Bose models but some one argue they are “omnis”.
I am an avid MBL fan with experience with their 120s, 101mk2s, and the Extremes. I am biased to beat the band. I think the 120s are a great relative value.
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Reminds me of the old dbx soundfield speakers, which I found quite fascinating years ago
That’s saying a lot for a 24 900 dollar pair of speakers.
They must be impeccable in what they achieve with a lot of power. No SET allowed, unless it’s one of those big tubes with dissipation mimicking fresh magma.
The key word is “relative”. I don’t think there are a lot of $25k speakers that I would take over the 120mbls. They go relatively deep and are easily complimented with a decent subwoofer. Add $5 to $10k for a pair of subs for a total of$30 to $35k and I doubt I would be persuaded to get anything else in that price range.
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I get that. They must be amazing.
Personally, I am wary of a design with lowish efficiency by principle, because of the fact that it equals ever more of the signal being converted to heat. Thankfully our ears don’t care all that much if we get a fraction of a percent of the signal’s energy converted into acoustic energy… but some say it’s definitely a thing of its own to have over 100dB efficiency, we are now talking several percent to tens of percent.
Considering omni-directional speakers, MBL is one to advertise their efficiency in 2pi space. It’s an “unusual” metric fitting for omnis, actually one I’d hope to see used more, as it’s more telling of the acoustic power dissipated into the whole room, not half of it.
(How about a spherical 4pi metric?)
Shahinians are technically not omni-directional, but poly-radial. 
Multi-directional speakers are made by Decware.
I have two pair of these HR-1, now available as HR-2 (but no page for these yet).
https://www.decware.com/newsite/HR1.html
https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1704665765/18#18
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Hi To y, I am just going off the Shahinian web site where they say “ Today’s OBELISK could not have been built in 1977. It is still the only genuine poly/omnidirectional loudspeaker on the market.”
Anyway, what ever it is, I like them…
Understood. But I think Dick and Vasken got tired of having to explain what poly-radial was to everyone. I think the poly/omni generic combination was created to just make things easier. At least that’s my guess. When I was living in the Island and frequented the Shahinian factory Dick was very clear in how his poly designs were different from omnis.
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Wow, it must be amazing to have been able to visit the Shahinian workshop and speak with Dick….ive never met him but have an old friend that first met him at a hifi show…ended up being a reseller of his speakers in New Zealand. Also, my brother has a pair of his Diapason’s which are very impressive.
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True, but Shahinian’s website is decades old! Great speakers, I have 3 pairs of Obelisks-2s, Super-Elfs, Larcs and Diapason-2s. ( I gifted a pair of Arcs to @joma0711 ) Check my avatar. Bought my first pair of Diapason’s back in '92. I own many types / makes of loudspeakers Shahinian speakers are my all time favourite.
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A very lucky man….i wish I had the space for Diapasons but sadly not. I’m driving them with Dynavector pre and power amps through. dCS network Bridge and. PS Audio Mk1 DAC……a good sound to my ears.
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The Arcs are indeed a fabulous pair of speakers, whatever their radial pattern is, and they raised my HiFi game significantly (unlikely to be beaten in my world).
Fed with 100 - 150 watt Quad amps they have all the power to scare the neighbours if necessary, but I listen quite quietly most of the time, and they cater to that very well too.
Much better for a room filling experience: I am much more often listening whilst standing and pottering about, than sitting 
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Dick was a dear friend. The audio press was not kind to him (except for John Marks, who without irony left the ranks of audio rag writers). Now when these mags do their accounting of the great names of audio, they ignore Shahinian.
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Dirk, you have Super Elfs??? I made the mistake of not buying a pair of Super Elfs that were veneered in the most gorgeous (real) rosewood. 
I saw them one Saturday when I was drooling over the stock of cabinets that were ready to be built into speakers. At the time I couldn’t swing the cost, but I should have tried. If you ever want to get those to a new home, let me know.
OTOH I have one of only two pair of Super Hawk (that’s my name for them) tops that were ever made. These were the prototype (and much better, IMO) tops that would eventually become the Hawk tops. After Dick designed them he set about realizing he couldn’t build them to his desired price point, so he had to simplify the design. He was kind enough to sell the prototype pair that was left, to me. The other pair went to a priest friend of his. These Super Hawk tops, frankly, were much better than the production tops. I ran them on a pair of Double Eagles for 30 years. In all those years I could find nothing at club members’ homes, dragged into my own home, at audio shows, or stores that could come close to making me want to put them into retirement. At least not anything I could afford. 
It took 30 years until I found my Von Schweikerts. But I still have my Super Hawks if I ever had the room anymore to do them justice. My 14x16 listening room just isn’t big enough to let them sing. So goes the choices of my own retirement. 
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Tony, I remember hearing about Hawk modules that sported 10 or 11 speaker drivers, but Shahinian settled on 8 drivers due to pricing constraints. Shahinian had ceased production a few years back due to their cabinet maker retiring, but I believe they have found another cabinet maker and that they are in the process of building speakers again.? (I heard this from John Burns the UK distributor). Does Vasken Shahinian employ a workforce or is it more of a cottage industry operation assembling the speakers by themselves?
I will keep you in mind - if I should ever decide to move on the Super Elfs…but I can’t foresee me wishing to do that unless I shuffle off this mortal coil…
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I, too, have Dynavector amplifiers. HX1.2 (2-off) & HX100 power amplifiers. L300 MK2 pre-amp.
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Under those terms, I hope never to see them!
In the whole of their history the speakers were pretty much always hand built by Dick, Vasken, and Steve. Marie took care of the front end of the company while the rest were in the back toiling away. They partnered with cabinet makers, which sometimes caused supply chain problems, so it’s good to hear they have hopefully a fabricator who’s more consistent.
Yes, the Hawk top you heard about is mine. There are only two pair in the world. 
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