[hmen]

One of the main complaints about ribbons is their lack of vertical dispersion. Has anybody ever mounted two ribbons perpendicular to each other to get equal dispersion horizontally and vertically? Would the sound coming out in both directions cause some kind of smearing effect? Anybody ever seen this? Anybody care to speculate? I'm thinking about it for a DIY project. And any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

[JohnR]

Hm, interesting idea! I would guess there would be some lobing but no more than if you put two vertically anyway. Which ribbon are you thinking about? I wonder if ribbons like eg the Founteks might sag a bit if mounted sideways, I'm guessing planars like the Neo8 wouldn't.

[hmen]

I was thinking about Neo 8's.

[Duke]

The perpendicular ribbon array would give you a fairly narrow on-axis swath of vertical dispersion, and probably an on-axis hot spot where the two patterns intersect.  The combined patterns would look like a plus sign.

You might instead mount one ribbon above the other, with the upper ribbon angled back about 10-15 degrees (probably need an angled-back upper section of the front baffle).  The ribbons don't quite beam like a laser in the vertical plane; more like a flashlight, and a roughly 10-15 degree splaying ought to give good vertical coverage for standing listeners (assuming seated listeners to be roughly on-axis of the lower ribbon).