Quote Originally Posted by Tarheel_
Back in the early to mid 2000s it seems these type speakers were the way to go. Over the last few years i've not seen or heard much about them.

Anyone have a comment/opinion?

I ask because a rear speaker upgrade is in the works for 2011. I now have 2 side & 2 rear direct firing speakers and I may reduce that number for 2 bipolar speakers which match my front 3 array.
Personally, I don't think there is any place for dipolars anymore(this is just my personal opinion). I think there is a place for bipolar speakers, as there is no phase shifting of the front and back panels of the speakers. These days I believe that all speakers should remain in phase, especially those systems that serve the dual purpose of multichannel music and soundtracks. The bipolar speakers in my listed system will be replaced as soon as the designer of the speaker package finishes a matching design. I have decided to move away from non direct speaker designs because I think the surrounds sound better with an array of multiple direct radiators as opposed to bipolar speakers. From an equalization perspective direct radiators are easier to equalize than even bipolar speakers.

Dipolars were great when the surround channel was mono, and you wanted to avoid the "in the head" HRT effects of having a mono signal from two speaker blowing straight into your ears. Now decorrolation can be used at the studio level to eliminate that effect, and we can get a more direct or diffused sound from the surround channels without the dipolar dispersion pattern betraying us when played back.