Omega Speaker Systems

@flatmap

That's an interesting observation. My listening room is pretty small and it has been a struggle to get the placement right. The room is also far from an ideal listening space. My DIY Tubelab amp is 15 wpc, so there is plenty of power for them, but the amp seems to not be a great pairing for these. I'm going to try some tube swapping but I am reluctant to go down too deep into that rabbit hole.

I think what I am missing most is a bit more top end extension and wish they had a bit smoother FR. Other than that they still have been a nice upgrade to my previous rigs.

@Hrodulf

Once dialed in, these have played pretty nice in terms of off-axis listening. I don't notice a major cliff dive in the treble. At the same time, like is often said about most full rangers, these also don't excel in terms of the ultimate extremes.

 

@recarcar, I had to work pretty hard to get the right placement in my small listening room and the sound just did not come together until they were just right.

Also I felt like I wasn't making progress with break-in until I hooked up my 100 watt tube amp and played these things day after day. Then I went back to 10 watts and started getting what I wanted. Could be totally mental, but that was my approach. Maybe it was just the large number of hours that did the trick. In any event, my thinking was to give them a good workout. I played a lot of Parliament and Weather Report.

 

@Hrodulf, well the sweetspot is the best. But I don't find the off-axis treble rolloff to be a problem. I can hear it when I'm listening for it, but I'm so locked in to the overall musical image (and tonal texture is so gooood) that I can reliably get lost in the music.

I wonder if this is more of a problem with near field listening?

 

Thanks for the info, guys!

From what you're saying, it doesn't sound half as bad as I heard it. The effect was most notable when listening outside the stereo triangle. We had a pair of similarly priced Dynaudio BM5's and they sounded pretty okay, but the fullrangers went total ghetto blaster.

Other problem we measured was Doppler effect kicking in at higher SPL's where driver excursion becomes noticeable. We basically did a two tone IMD test and the result was over 20%, while the two driver monitor sat at below 2%. The effect might be less pronounced with larger driver speakers where less excursion is required on lower frequencies.

 

Interesting!

FWIW, my listening is all low to medium levels. In my smallish listening room, high SPLs are pretty much out of the question.

 

Gonna put some Weather Report on I'm noticing funny changes in the treble mainly. Could just be my imagination though. I think I'm getting them a little bit better dialed in but I'm thinking most of the problems I'm hearing have to do with my amp. Gonna try to switch some stuff up on it and see how that goes, as my current build is a little slow in coming.

 

If you are still getting day by day changes, then surely your drivers are still breaking in. However, I'm not familiar with Omega's hemp cones -- which I think you have. I have the old style paper fostex drivers.

 

@recarcar Still enjoying your Omegas SAMs? I am looking at them because I heard they would pair well with my fairly low power amp (Ragnarok). I haven't been able to find any comparisons between omega speakers and some of the more popular speakers out there. What were your previous speakers that these replaced?

 

I am still enjoying them a lot. In the last couple of weeks I have acclimated to their sound much more (and they have possibly settled in after a couple hundred hours of use), and they are the best speaker I've had in my room. They most recently replaced some JBL Studio 530's, as well and some simple DIY open baffles. Before I decided on them though I tried a few things from well known internet direct stuff in the same price range. I preferred the Omegas but YMMV. They will definitely work with lower powered stuff, but what other speakers are looking at/what are you looking for in a speaker in general? There are a lot of good options that can be driven with low wattage amps.

The Omegas have a very particular presentation being single driver speakers that you may or may not like depending on what you are looking for. Louis is also great if you have any questions. He's super patient and just a great guy to deal with. But let us know what your priorities are and I think we can tell you if they might be a good match for you.

 

I have a $2-3k budget and there seem to be many options in that price range so I am trying to narrow down my list right now. My room is somewhat small and ideally I would like to have speakers that are suitable for desktop use however I realize that speaker stands would probably be better espically if I went with something as big as the omegas. I am currently using SVS ultra bookshelves and am looking for something more resolving but without being overly clinical and dry. The KEF LS50's seem to be an upgrade in clarity over my ultras and seem very popular around their price point however since my budget is around $3k I would like these speakers to a significant step up from those. Another option would be stretching to something like used b&w 805 diamonds or focal 1008 be.

@recarcar do you mind being a little more specific about the omegas particular presentation?

 

@Malabargold

The SAMs are pretty huge and unless your desk is huge, probably wouldn't work well that way. My room is also pretty small and they have been pretty fussy about placement. If placed poorly they can almost overwhelm the room, but once they are dialed in they have worked well in my pretty small space.

In terms of their presentation, they are really different from my past multi-way designs. The most important difference I think is that they won't crank out the SPL's of traditional designs. If you need deep visceral bass, these won't give you that. What they do give you is really great imaging, coherence, transparency, balance, speed, and timbre. With my amp and my room, they reach down well to 35hz before they bottom out, but they won't rattle your windows. The trade of less SPLs for better tone and transparency was great for me but I can definitely see that being a deal breaker for some.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the SAMs do seem to take a while to settle in. I don't think I really got a complete grasp of how they sound until pretty recently, about two and half months in. Another option from the omega line is the CAM, which is smaller and maybe desktop friendly, and you could use the extra money for their accompanying sub (looking back, I might have gone down that road just because they are easier to place).

I've only heard the LS50's a few times and don't have a good enough grasp on their sound to comment. They are much much smaller than the SAMs though.

 

How high off the ground was optimal for them? I see a lot of omega monitor speakers on 16-20 inch stands and my desk is about 30 inches tall so I could for see that being a problem. It's a large desk at 6 feet across, I could make them fit but I am also unsure how they would sound nearfield.

Still from what you have said and from other impressions I think these could be a good match. Even the downside of lower SPL could be beneficial as I am in an apartment right now

 

I have them right now at 20 inches from the ground, and about 7ft apart, which seems optimal for my room. I used them nearfield for a week while I was making my stands, and they really didn't work great that way. I also had them on a desk about 30 inches high and about a couple feet apart, and it was pretty obvious that there were not at their best. You should email/call Louis up and talk to him about your potential setup. He is really great and can help you choose what might be best for your situation.

In terms of the SPLs, they are the most apartment friendly speaker I have owned. And with the right amp, low level listening is really great with these. The only speaker I'm still a little curious about now is the open baffles by Hologram M3s, though they look a bit big.

 

Thanks for the help! It seems like the CAM's could be a better size cabinet for me as well, I'll have to keep those in mind.

 

Of course! Let us know about whatever you go with and how it works out.

 

I have the same experience, in a small room, with my older Omega Grand 6Rs. I've got them well out from the walls, about where you'd put any speaker if using the methods of thirds (1/3 of the room dimension out from front and side walls).

I would add that, in my experience, the sound from single drivers is pure and clear. Or maybe you would say, speaking subjectively, you don't hear any smearing of the frequencies. They are very articulate... and going back to the point about placement, I wasn't really happy with them until I got them set up in the room properly.

 

Thank you everyone for the advice. I am new to the world of single drivers and it has been interesting to learn about the different strengths and weaknesses compared to multi driver systems. I have briefly spoken to Louis about my setup and he recommend the more compact CAM's over the more expensive SAM's. That is most likely the path I will go with and eventually when I have the space I will most likely try them out on stands configured in a more acoustically ideal position.

I think the hemp driver with a birds eye maple finish could be a winner in the looks department

 

If you end up getting the CAM's, let us know what you think of them. The birds eye looks very nice. Wish I would've went with that finish.

I can't imagine the CAM's being much of a compromise, if at all at all, to the bigger monitors, especially in a smaller room. They will probably be much easier to place to and to get sounding good.

When I initially got them I was most worried about a very uneven FR. They have been much more even than I though they would be in that regard. I think their biggest weakness is their ultimate extension up top, but that is a trade off I have gotten used to given all their strengths.

 

@shaizada

Which of the single driver speakers would you consider the most impressive for sub 5-10k. I thinking of downsizing to a single driver one due to teh ease of driving them and the fact that i just much prefer set tube amps.