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Omnidirectional Egg speaker? (Read 3905 times)
Brian
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Omnidirectional Egg speaker?
04/18/19 at 19:51:58
 
 What ever became of the Omnidirectional Egg top speaker, from I believe it was year 2017?
 It sounded like an accomplishment Steve was all on fire for.  I was eager to hear user reviews.  

Brian
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Steve Deckert
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Re: Omnidirectional Egg speaker?
Reply #1 - 04/19/19 at 05:40:06
 

I am happy with the design, but am on the fence about the drivers so I have the project on ice.  I am using the FRX drivers which are a bit sharp in these cabinets.  The sharp sound is ideal because high frequency efficiency is diminished over the surface of the egg.  It sounds perfect at the listening chair but when you walk up on it, it sounds sharp.  Even though this logical, I don't care for it.  I want the driver to sound smooth like butter at near range and still have detail off axis at the listening position.  Of course if this were easy it would already be done by someone else by now.  That said, the imaging was the best I have ever heard from any speaker design so I'm just waiting for the right driver to drop into my consciousness some day at which point I will pick up where I left off.

Thanks for asking!

Steve
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Brian
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Re: Omnidirectional Egg speaker?
Reply #2 - 04/21/19 at 01:28:16
 
That sounds very promising.  
If you will pardon my saying so, "smooth like butter at near range and still have detail off axis at the listening position" is I think more than not easy to achieve. When you say that what the egg does is eat up some of the highs so they are not heard at a distance, but yet they are audible up close, I think having smooth at near range and detail at the listening chair must be impossible.  

I don't know that I would let that cancel the project.  Who listens at such short range?  If it is musical at the chair, I think that is a success.  I was really encouraged by: "The imaging was the best I have ever heard from any speaker design."

It is always nice discussing ideas with you.
Brian
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Steve Deckert
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Re: Omnidirectional Egg speaker?
Reply #3 - 04/22/19 at 05:08:43
 
I've heard many great speakers over my lifetime that from the listening chair were hard to argue with, but at close range sounded strained or unbalanced or lets just say unpleasing. I'd be fine with that, expect that I have also heard speakers that were equally beautiful in both situations.  I know it can happen so I will revisit it again when the time is right. For over 20 years I have not had a wood shop. This is a severe handicap for a speaker designer and despite cutting wood on my outdoor table saw it happened anyway. I am happy to report that since then, I have built a deluxe wood shop where there are no more handicaps. Whatever I envision I can can make happen. That means that round two of this speaker design will no doubt be successful.

There is no question that in a typical listening space with flat surfaces at right angles that there can be no better way to disperse reproduced sound waves than in the shape of an egg. Many think a sphere is ideal however it is sadly the same 360 degrees as a cube so how can it be that different. An Egg is the exact opposite of a flat panel, or even an arced panel. An Egg is the exact opposite of a sphere as well. It forces things outside the 360 degree mathematics of a typical listening space.  

Thanks again for asking!

Steve
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Brian
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Re: Omnidirectional Egg speaker?
Reply #4 - 04/23/19 at 04:55:50
 
Very interesting.
I am so glad you now have a fine wood shop.

I have just spent the day helping my step brother clear floor space in my step father's retirement shop. It is a mostly machine shop as he is a retired machinist, but it also is partly a wood shop as his Dad was a carpenter.  All this huge amount of tools are jumbled in there from the move when he moved in here 3 years ago, and he has been working around the clutter as best he can.
It is so nice to start seeing floor space as we get shelves up and in use.

Best wishes for your wood work projects.
Brian
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Steve Deckert
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Re: Omnidirectional Egg speaker?
Reply #5 - 06/25/19 at 05:59:08
 

The artist in me would like to see a solid granite egg levitating about 3 inches above a pyramidal shape like the ERRx or HR-1 speakers.  I can actually make that happen with lots of money, but then it wouldn't be anything people could hear since no one could afford it.  I still want to do some comparisons to a resonant egg like I had and a solid egg turned on the lathe like a giant phase guide.  Also placing ribs on the egg to launch the high frequencies off the surface could improve the high frequency response enough to use a more laid back driver that sounds smooth at point blank range.  

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Steve Deckert
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Re: Omnidirectional Egg speaker?
Reply #6 - 06/25/19 at 06:04:41
 
That said, we're talking about expensive delivery systems with the goal of larger than life 3D soundstage.  You can already get this from the ERRx, the HR-1, and amazingly the humble but in reality giant, Betsy open baffle speakers for almost nothing by comparison, so because those speakers are all so damn good, it makes for some still days on the ocean where you're not sure when the wind is going to blow again.  Remember this, Decware does not make $20,000 power cords and then brag about it on facebook.  We make stuff that actually delivers results that exceed the money spent... an alien concept in the ultra-high-end audio market.

Steve
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Brian
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Re: Omnidirectional Egg speaker?
Reply #7 - 06/26/19 at 04:19:35
 
It is fun to hear you thinking out loud.

Steve said: "placing ribs on the egg to launch the high frequencies off the surface could improve the high frequency response enough to use a more laid back driver that sounds smooth at point blank range."

That it an interesting idea!

I wonder if a 12" version of NFX might be an interesting next speaker.  Give it all the NFX glories, but with added bottom end.  

Brian
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