• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Bipolar Users?

Have you ever tried bipolar speakers?

  • Total voters
    22
faber12

faber12

Addicted Member
I rarely see bipolar (or dipolar) speakers mentioned. I am not talking about electrostatics, but regular driver bipolar speakers.

I have a pair, currently in use in my living room in the surround system as the front L/R. This system is also used for music, although less often. I rather like them, and they have amazing low bass extension for the size of the drivers. They are BIC V604. I would post the specifications, but I have not been able to acquire them.

Anyone else here have bipolar speakers? Do you like them or no? What kind do you have?
 
Register to hide this ad
I don't own any at the moment, but I've heard some very good ones. I did own E.T. LFT-VIII's (dipoles) for about 7 years and liked them a lot. Mirage had some nice bipoles, and Vaughn Loudspeakers makes some that can sound VERY good. The German Physiks omni's (not really bi-polar but similar concept) sound quite good. I like many of the open baffle designs also, like the Linkwitz Labs models that control front and back radiation pretty well at pretty much all frequencies. Of course, Magnapan, Apogee Ribbons of old, and the Eminent Technology planers (dipoles) all have models that sound very good also. Dipoles and Bipoles (and omni's) require more "room" to breath in order to sound good, but they can perform quite well. I'll never forget the first time that I heard Shahanian Speakers (multi-directional). It was at the old Stereophile Show in NYC back in 1990 or 1991? They were demoing with Opera music and the "you are there" feeling was very surprising to me. Of course, well designed speakers that don't radiate in both (or all) directions can sound amazingly realistic also … so - at the end of the day its the execution of the design and the room / speaker interaction that determines how "real" the illusion becomes.
 
Very happy with my Mirage M-3si. A friend heard mine and sold his Thiel 3.6 for M-3si, he is very glad he did.
 
I have Some Def Technology BP-1's And Love em' I had them in an open air nearfield setup. They Are on Vacation at the moment packed away in A tote.But they are a permanent member of My family of Speakers.
 
Now i am starting to wonder why there are not more options available, maybe because they require a little bit more room behind them to be used properly.
 
I had a nice pair of Def Tech BP-10's for a few years, but I gotta say I never got them to work the way they should have. Tried all sorts of placements but that bipolar effect, or at least the effect that I imagined it would be, never materialized. Sold them last year. Really good speakers but in my opinion not much different than a traditional two way tower. Using PSB T5's now instead.
 
I am no expert on acoustics but my thinking is bipolars need open space to radiate in a free air enviroment.in the world of speakers there are numerous options and different variations on each theme.
 
faber12 said:
Now i am starting to wonder why there are not more options available, maybe because they require a little bit more room behind them to be used properly.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'd agree they do place additional placement requirements on the owner, so that would limit market appeal. I think a bigger reason dynamic bi-poles are scarce might be their need to use more drivers & crossover components... driving up production costs & potentially forcing the use of inferior quality components to keep pricing competitive.
Conversely, I think one of Magnepan's relative strengths in the market has been their simple design & low parts cost. If it weren't for the aforementioned room requirements, such di-poles, as Magnepan, or Eminent Technologies would no doubt have a much bigger market share.
 
I have a couple pair of Definitive bipolars currently in my "waiting to be sold" pile (purchased as part of a complete system about a year ago). They sound great but I have more than enough Infinity speakers to stock every room necessary in my house.
 
Currently using ML King's Fostex Fe103/Alpha 15 open baffle design, which I built in December. Love the dipole bass and open, "they are here" acoustic.
 
I use Def Tech as my mains for HT, and part-time in my 2-ch system. I really like the Def Tech sound.
 
Mine seem like even if they were shoved up against the wall they would sound good. Just more like a monopole instead. Maybe used, anyway, where the higher cost is not such a concern they should have more customer base.
 
Last edited:
I once owned a pair of Paradigm Esprit BP's. They were the best dynamic speaker I have ever heard. I regret selling them.
 
faber12 said:
Now i am starting to wonder why there are not more options available, maybe because they require a little bit more room behind them to be used properly.
Click to expand...

Having sold Mirage and Def Tech when they first came out with Bi-Polar designs I can tell you what the average customer's reaction was. As soon as you make a Bi-Polar speaker you have just lost the vast majority of your potential customer base. Companies, understandably, want to sell product and making a design choice that dramatically limits your potential sales will not be supported for long. A small company aiming at a niche market that is willing to make accommodations for better sound can make Bi/Di-polar speakers. A larger company that wants market will have a much harder time of it.
 
If the DCM Timeframe TF-600 counts as a bipolar, I liked them very much. They vary in sound depending on room and placement (as all speakers do, but especially those that rear fire).
 
I had a pair of Def Tech BP10s, and after a while tired of the fact that they seemed to impose their own soundstage on that of the the recording, resulting in less difference among recordings. It's possible this was a setup problem, but I did quite a bit of experimenting within the constraints of the room I had them in.
 
RichPA said:
I had a pair of Def Tech BP10s, and after a while tired of the fact that they seemed to impose their own soundstage on that of the the recording, resulting in less difference among recordings. It's possible this was a setup problem, but I did quite a bit of experimenting within the constraints of the room I had them in.
Click to expand...

Bi-polar speakers can have exactly that effect. They can present what sounds like a live performance in your room, very convincing and impressive. A really good directional speaker like a ProAc can show you a window into the studio or venue the recording was made in. The top two Mirage were good enough to do both to a certain extent.

A further issue I found with the Def Techs was that they were not as neutral as the M series. I am not sure how they got away with it but Ed and Don went to the NRC, took all of the work that was done for Mirage and started making virtual copies, right down to the cloth wraps and gloss end caps, but made them much more domestically acceptable by making them slimmer and boosted the bass/mid-bass to make them sell in the exploding HT market. Not sure how they got away with that but it worked for them. We sold both and after a couple of years of trying hard and selling a few pairs of Ms to audiophiles who had the space and no WAF issues we picked up Def Tech when they came out and they just flew out the door in comparison. I could not have lived with those early ones as I found they imposed their sound on the music.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom