Thread: German Physiks Speakers or Other Omni-Directional Designs

Does anyone here own German Physics speakers? If so, I'd very much like to pick your brains a little!

My room is very oddly shaped (see sketch) and choice of speaker is difficult because they need to be placed mid-room. The room is about 945 sq ft so the Borderland IV is the likely best speaker from the GP range.

I've been using Avantgarde horn speakers for many years, even before I moved to my new home. I love their sound from the small sweet spot in front of them, but they sound decidedly dull if I’m in my kitchen or dining area behind the speakers.

I thought I'd see what other speaker technology may be better than the horns and bought Martin Logan Expression 13A electrostatics 18 months ago. Unfortunately but the room seriously let them down and the horns (Unos at the time) were far better, despite the fact that the panel speakers sounded much better from behind.

Someone has suggested I should consider omni-directional speakers and GP is the obvious main contender as far as I can see. There are no demo Borderlands in the UK, but I could try the smaller HRS-130s at home to judge the “house sound” of this type of design.

Any constructive comments on how you think these speakers would perform in my particular room would be greatly appreciated. It worries me slightly that this company is hardly progressive in that their Borderline speaker is a decades old design with (as far as I can see) only the material that the DDD cone is made of being changed in all that time and a modification to the crossover circuit quite recently.

What amplifier do you use with your GP speakers and how would you consider the NAD M33 amplifier with the Purifi Eigentakt Class D module (200 / 380 watts into 8 / 4 ohms) may suit the Borderline. Changing the amp is an option, though not for a prohibitively costly German Physiks one! Thanks. Peter

PS - Looks like the MBL 111f would be the one to go for from their range of omni-directional speakers. Again, opinions from owners regarding suitability in my room appreciated.

MBL would be another option. Perhaps Ohm Walsh but I'm not familiar with them.

I have heard MBL and GP but I' not able to answer your questions. Each only with their own brand amps.

I'm not able to see your picture so sorry if this sounds dumb, would multizone using different speakers in each area be an option?

I know that I am way late to this party here, but another suggestion would be the German Duevel loudspeaker line. I think they are rare in the UK, but might be fairly easy to get a pair from Germany, although not getting to hear them first is always a tough proposition.

I’ve owned the smaller Venus Omni for over three years now, and they are quite fantastic. In your space the Belle Luna or Sirius would probably work well. Check them out if you haven’t gotten a good solution to your setup at this point.

Thanks for the Duevel option info. Interesting that Germany seems to be the main country that builds omnis. One has to assume most of the demand may also be mainly from Germany.

After listening to German Physics and MBL recently, I've reluctantly concluded that the compromise I have to put up with from my existing horns is outweighed by the noticeable lack of imaging I heard from both the omnis. My Avantgardes are placed mid-room so my dining and kitchen areas are behind the speakers. There's a loss in top end so the music is somewhat dulled. However when I'm at my normal listening position, I get the big grin-factor that these speakers offer in spades and I can close my eyes and point to each instrument or singer. It was this lack of imaging that has rather put me off onmis.

The only consideration now is the possibility of being able to switch the top end signal from the horns to a pair of omni tweeters. I could keep the AG's excellent bass units (twin 12" drivers each channel) and use omnis for the rest. However, as this is 130 Hz up, it's likely to require 2 drivers or possibly the German Physics DDD units that can go down that low. It's probably still not a practical proposition as the horns are 20 dB or so more sensitive than the omnis. There's never an easy solution!

Originally Posted by dznutz

What a strange room, do you live in a spaceship or submarine???

Room plan in my initial post. You'll see why I was thinking an omni might be the best solution! Peter

Nothing wrong with what you have, that is for certain, and as you said, there are generally compromises/no easy solutions somewhere along the way. All depends on what priorities you may have there, and what you can live with for sure! Have fun on your quest!