Rare looking BIC Omnidirectional Soundspan Speakers, central MO

[toxcrusadr]

https://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ele/d/jefferson-city-bic-soundspan-tpr-200/6942382279.html

Don't think I've spied a pair of these before. Paperwork and everything.

 

[Ds2000]

Gotta be worth the $200 to a vintage or space-age collector. Papers too!

 

[polypetalous]

Those are pretty cool... looking...
Anyone ever heard a pair?

Ben

 

[EngineerNate]

Ohm knock off?

 

[jberger]

More like a B&O knockoff, with conventional drivers facing upwards. I imagine they'd need to be well away from the walls to really shine.

 

[bigcaddy64]

I found a pair of those locally and almost pulled the trigger until i noticed a very fine crack near the uppermost driver. Apparently it was dumped over and broke off the mids/highs. An expert with expoy made the repairs but i decided against the deal

 

[toxcrusadr]

I found some threads on AK, which I did not read all of, but people seemed to like them. Search "BIC soundspan" with the quotes.

 

[Boonaroo]

Get the PLEASE!!! If I was there I would get them and go homeless to have them. Literally, I would be pressing it at this point. Please get them and tell us about them. I am so envious!!!

 

[dzkfraser]

I'd be all over that, just for looking so cool if anything else

 

[toxcrusadr]

I have way too much gear here, especially big speakers. But if anyone wants me to grab them for a Pony Express or whatever, say the word.

 

[blhagstrom]

I remember when they came out.
At the time, they seemed like the best idea for dispersion of sound I could think of.
I was young and dumb.

In "theory" it seems like a good idea.
In practice, I would think room arrangement and placement and surroundings would really matter to get the best effect.
From the few things I've read the owners posted, they are so-so. But who knows how they are using them or what their ears like.

The BIC Venturi series were excellent for bass, mids and tweets were nothing real serious, the "biconex" horns in the mid location tended to fry because we played them LOUD!
There were protection fuses but who had 1A, 2A fuses? Drop some 20A car fuses in them and party ON! (bye bye mids).

I would like to play with a pair but only out of curiosity.
After going through 100s of vintage speakers and finding stuff a really like, I doubt BIC could kick my current favs to the curb.
But, I've been wrong before and I will be wrong again.

 

[toxcrusadr]

They're certainly not suitable for precise stereo imaging. Quite the contrary, the idea is probably to fill the room with fairly equal sound everywhere. If you had a room where you move around a lot, and can put them close to the center, say on either end of a sofa, they're probably great for that. Similar to the EPI towers with drivers on all sides. That's how EPI recommends placing theirs.

 

[totem]

Remember them from back in the day, they along with the literature make it worth while just for the heck of it
IMHO.

 

[swechsler]

More like a B&O knockoff, with conventional drivers facing upwards. I imagine they'd need to be well away from the walls to really shine.

I think these actually came out before the B&O omnis.