To dipole or not to dipole?

[Glowbug]

That is the question...

I need a pair of speakers for the room where my computer's in, so I can listen to some tunes while doing work. Having a great system in the living room doesn't help me much for that.

I'm thinking about going with dual Adire Extremii per channel, and I have a pair of Dayton silk domes I'm going to use...the choice is between:

http://www.adireaudio.com/Home/KIT261.htm

for the regular "boxed" design or:

http://www.adireaudio.com/Home/KITDDR.htm

for the dipoles. I'm going to substitute the silks for the Neo3's if I go with the DDR's (unless someone tells me it's a horrible idea that'll sound like sonic poop). Power is not an issue, they're going to be driven by a Crown rack amp.

What would the dipoles offer that the ported enclosures wouldn't? I know I'd be giving up really low bass extension, but what do they have on their side...i.e, why should they be worthy of considering other than the really easy "enclosure" build.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DougL]

I think you really have to hear a dipole for yourself.
The lack of box colorations and the reduced room interactions was an absolute revelation for me.

While I have never heard those particular speakers, I am using the NEO3 in my OB and its a remarkably good tweeter.

Good Luck.

Doug

 

[Rudolf]

It much depends on where you are going to place the dipoles. If they are next to your computer desk (nearfield), most of their virtues will not shine. If they serve as loudspeakers for the complete room you certainly should try it. Doug is definitely right in what he is saying.

Changing from the NEOs to dome tweeters will change the upper frequency range from dipole to monopole. While you should be aware of this, I don´t see much of a problem in it. You certainly will have to adjust the X-over.

Rudolf

 

[nunayafb]

If they are next to your computer desk (nearfield), most of their virtues will not shine.

I believe the virtues he refers to here are the room interaction benefits which I believe you will still get only the direct/reflected ratio will be high enough that it wont matter if di- or mono-.
You will still get greatly reduced colouration, and that is worth it.
In reference to mono vs di on the tweeter(w/ dipole woofer) Linkwitz designed a speaker with a monopole tweeter and di- woofer and stated that going to a dipole arangement on the tweeter would not provide any benefit(not a quote ). So no hard and fast rule there, go whichever route you want.
Also, I have the neo8 and the neo3 and they are both awesome.