Gear Lust: Omnidirectional Speakers and the Duevel in the Blue Dress...

Duevel speakers are not the first, and certainly won't be the last omnidirectional speakers ever designed.  But they just may be the prettiest.  You can read about them here. The are currently distributed by a Canadian company, Duevel having dropped their US distributor and consolidated in Canada under the umbrella of the very interesting and self described "Zendo" as company Mutine.

Look!  That's how they do it!

Omnidirectional speakers tend to be radially symmetrical - which isn't surprising.  And the first popular success was the Ohm Walsh F.  Bose (yes that Bose) spent a lot of the 1960's trying to figure out how to do one - and eventually settled on the Bose 901's as a poly-directional speaker - 9 drivers firing to the rear, and 1 towards the listener.  I have to say, as an owner of a pair, you will not find a bigger illusion of a soundstage (but diffuse) and a convincing illusion of being at a rock concert when playing live music loudly anywhere near its price - and possibly any price.  And they play rattle-the-windows LOUD without any signs of strain that typical speakers experience. 

Bose 901: Audiophiles hate
these, but they ROCK!

One of my favorite online magazines did an audiophile review, and I think they nailed it here.  While it doesn't tick off a lot of Audiophile only boxes, you would be hard pressed to find a more fun speaker at it's price point.  And for what it's worth, it's been in production for 45 years.

In the 1970's and 1980's a lot of manufacturers experimented with

Bose 2201 - two of these in the corners
and it fills the room.  Granddaddy
of the Bose 901's - the 901 being an answer to
the question raised about what you do
when no one buys the 2201 and
you have a warehouse full of 5" drivers.

poly-directional and omnidirectional speakers, partly motivated by trying to make a better Bose 901, and partly because a large soundfield is attractive for someone who expects to have a large number of people listening to music at the same time.   If you are old enough to recall (I am!), one of the first things people did when they were on their own was get a stereo.  A big source of entertainment was having friends over and playing music, talking, drinking, and being together (This social-aspect to music playback we think is something we've lost over the years - probably as TV's got bigger and cheaper).  In such circumstances a speaker that projected its sound as widely as possible makes perfect sense.  We think that in today's family, this makes sense, too (and incidentally why we feel the current "surround sound" for "home theater" is a Rube Goldberg solution to the exact same problem).

The Ohm Walsh F
Classic speaker.  Difficult to pair with an amp,
Fragile, and the people who still own them
would kill for them.

One of the big players in the omnidirectional arena was an American Company (in Brooklyn, no less!), Ohm Speakers and their classic Ohm Walsh F speaker.  Due to numerous issues involving their difficulty and reliability in real-world conditions, it was eventually discontinued.  Ohm, though, redesigned their core technology to be an almost-omnidirectional speakers that were far easier to live with, and continue to this day.  They aren't "pure" omni speakers anymore - but its like horse-shoes and hand grenades - it's close enough.  But for those seeking "true omnidirectional" speakers along these lines, the Ohm Walsh F technology lived on with a German company, German Physiks who designed their "DDD" driver directly from the old Ohm Walsh F - obviously refined considerably and updated in the light of improved materials (they say as much on their website). 

German Physiks - successor to the
Ohm Walsh F!

I love the idea of German Physiks, too, but the exposed driver of them frankly scares me as far as fingers touching them causing dents or breaks.  Given they have a thin titanium foil driver that is delicate and a carbon fiber one that is supposed to be rugged, you can bet we'd choose the carbon fiber for our situation.  They are making a lot of good press and reviews recently and seem to be a company with growing popularity.  Hmmm ... I am noticing a lot of German companies jumping in to Omni's - I wonder if that means anything? 

MBL is another entry, but I will not spill much ink on them.  Suffice to say they are spectacular sounding, 3D imaging that is legendary and delivers on all the promises, and priced so that only the truly well heeled will ever own them.  Their fragility with their screens off is frightening to us as well.  There are some speakers that would be next to impossible to live with in a typical living room environment, and these might possibly be one of them.  So they would be off of our radar even if they were affordable to regular folks like us.

German MBL Omni's
cost as much as a BMW 6 series.
Enjoyed by bankers and Tycoons

  But Back to Duevel:  what I like about the Duevel's possibilities are simple.  They have an entry level that qualifies as affordable, because they all are omnidirectional, the whole room (and possibly the next one over) has a chance of experiencing the same sort of stereo presence.  Main negative is they have scant few dealers in the US, and are definitely limited production.  This isn't an issue if you are fantasizing, but if you ever want to turn fantasy into reality, this could be a problem.

The Duevel Bella Luna Diamante
The object of my Omni-crush!

Side Note:  Where the electrostatics will tend to wipe the floor with them (or any speaker using cones) is the clarity and purity of tone, and detail you get when using a single thin sheet of mylar as your transducer instead of thicker multiple drivers.  On the other hand, designers of electrostatics have to jump through hoops in order to allow quality listening to be more than one person at a time.

Look!  Duevels!!  Product placement, or
the producer's pair?

Interestingly enough, the US TV Show "House" - his place had a pair of Duevel speakers.  Talk about audiophile product placement? There has got to be a story there, somewhere.

Duevel Planets - Omnidirectional
speakers that are affordable - and come in
several festive colors! (Even Chrome)

In any event their whole lineup starts around a kilobuck or so, and ends in the rarefied air aimed at newly minted tycoons and banker's hot with their bonus, like most other audiophile brands.   But what is cool about this and all the omnidirectional speakers is they are offering a solution to the age old problem presented by conventional speakers:  Why should one (or two) people have all the fun?  Maybe one way of getting the whole family in on the action is making sure everyone gets a great seat to the performance?  Food for thought.

I'd love to hear these suckers in action.  Heck, I'd love to hear any of these suckers in action - but the Duevel is currently the object of my obsession!