Quote:
Originally posted by cpc
I'm not sure you could call them just "dipoles". I believe those speakers had a really neat dynamic driver that was like the normal cone, but it was stretched and faced up so that it basically radiated 360 degrees. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that how they worked? Beats Bose all to heck in terms of direct/reflecting I think they also made more conventional speakers, but those weird technology ones would be really interesting to listen to. I wonder if they are still around? |
cpc,
Correct you are - it would be incorrect to call the Walsh drivers of an Ohm speaker a dipole. A dipole has a particular
radiation pattern - two lobes or poles [ the prefix "di" means 2 ], that radiate forward and backward with little
radiation to the side. The front lobe and back lobe are of opposite phase. The bipole is similar, but with the 2 lobes
in phase.
The Ohm Walsh driver is actually the antithesis, or opposite of a dipole - it's an isotropic radiator [ at least in the horizontal plane ].
The Walsh drivers started with the Ohm Model A, continued with the Ohm F, and a series of smaller models. They are
still available, and in fact, their website indicates they have a new smaller model; Ohm Walsh SAT:
http://www.ohmspeakers.com/
I had a pair of Ohm H speakers that I got in grad school, and used in my theater until I retired them a few years ago.
I still plan on setting them up as my computer speakers.
However, for my critical listening and theater - they've been supplanted by dipoles.
Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist