Model 1
£6600
The OmniMon Model 1 is a floor standing two-way column
loudspeaker of contemporary design. Standing just over 1
metre high, it presents a mix of smooth surfaces and
stainless steel.
The model 1’s cabinet appears to float just above a steel
and aluminium plinth. This provides the speaker with its
own mechanical ground, so there is no need for floor
spikes. A massive central supporting pillar, also solid
steel, runs right through the cabinet and directly connects
the main driver’s magnet structure to the plinth. The main
driver is exposed on the top of the cabinet, as it needs to
be. It is topped by a turned stainless steel cap and
surrounded by the ribbon housing. The ribbon is de-coupled
from the rest of the system, mounted in a counterbalancing
collar housing.
The crossover is in an external box, connected by an
umbilical cable. The system can be bi-wired or
bi-amplified. While of slightly lower than average
efficiency (85dB), the Model 1s present a very easy and
genuine 8Ω load to amplifiers. Amplifiers of 20w per
channel upwards are suitable, including valve (tube)
amplifiers. They will play loudly enough for most peoples’
needs in most rooms.
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Impedance:
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8Ω
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Min: 5.2Ω @ 2.7kHz
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Sensitivity:
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85dB
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2.83v, 1m
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Power handling
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60w / 120w
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Cont. / peak
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Freq. response
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30Hz – 40kHz
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+/-3dB anechoic
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25Hz – 40kHz
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Typical in room
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Horizontal disp.
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360º
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up to 2kHz
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90º
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by 12kHz, -3dB
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Main driver
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18cm
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Nominal Ø
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Ribbon
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9 x 63mm
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Crossover
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2.3kHz
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1st / 3rd order
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Terminals
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Bi-wire
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Bass tuning
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28 Hz
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Transmission line
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Overall height
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105cm
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Cabinet
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90 x 21 x 32
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H x W x D (cm)
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Plinth
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29 x 39
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W x D (cm)
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Feet
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3
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Felt Pads
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Tapped holes
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3 x M8
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Spikes not provided
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Overall weight
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48 kg
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"Paul Messenger gets a sneak preview of an extraordinary new loudspeaker...The most interesting exhibit at the Autumn Heathrow Hi-Fi show was Paul Burton's radical OmniMon loudspeaker."
"It's purely a first look and listen to a totally fascinating prototype loudspeaker... The designer offered to bring a pair down for me to hear, and once I had, I was very reluctant to let him take them away again... the OmniMon is so radical in so many ways, it's hard to know where to start... The broad mid and treble is delightfully clear, open and coherent - perhaps a tad brighter than one might initially expect, but very clean, sweet and detailed... the bass end might lack some punch and warmth, but it is quite astonishingly clean, very quick on its feet and musically informative. Voices sounded beautifully natural and free from chestiness, and the broad spread of classical music was an absolute delight."
HiFi Critic: UK subscription audio review journal. Nov/Dec 2007 issue
“Happily September usually provides a good crop of interesting newcomers, none more so than a brand new and very radical speaker from Paul Burton. Involved as a consultant in diverse designs like the Sumo Aria, Sequence, Cyrus Icon and Podium, Burton has an impressive track record for originality, and is introducing the Omnimon loudspeaker under his own Rountree (his partner’s surname) Acoustics brand. This one really is worth a detailed description. A top quality 6.5 inch SEAS Revelator main driver is mounted face downwards, its central polepiece attached to a… steel slab. An ultra-lightweight (4 lbs) 1.4 cu ft enclosure, incorporating 16 separate braces, is effectively suspended from the main driver, forming a transmission line… A ribbon tweeter is decouple-mounted on the main driver motor, and the crossover fitted into an external box. Alongside the directional tweeter, the speaker’s omnidirectional sound radiation therefore combines port and main driver output with significant augmentation from the carefully distributed enclosure modes. It’s still very early days, but the Omnimon impressed a lot of visitors and could well turn out to be the ultimate two-way…”
Stereophile: US high-end magazine. Dec 2007: Industry updates