[rebbi]

Well, I finally got my Skylan stands built and they're wonderful! The old adage that "sometimes you get what you pay for" is true. The stands weren't cheap but they are superbly engineered and beautiful in appearance. I'm going to post step by step unboxing and assembly pics on my audio blog when I get a moment, but here's the final result:

[beowulf]

Wow, those are some hefty looking monitors and beautiful to boot!

[RDavidson]

VERY nice!

[MarkR7]

Those look awesome Rebbi! Congrats!....

If I can make a couple of suggestions that could help you out, as a fellow Super Alnico monitor owner (all based on my experience, of course) .... I am assuming that they are in their final position?

- The left speaker is fine, but you may want to put down some absorptive material on the floor in the front of the right speaker.  I couldn't believe the difference when I put some padding in front of both of my speakers, so the reflections from the hardwood floor were squashed. The Omega's are sensitive those reflections.

- They seem to be about 2-3 ft. from the front wall? Similar to mine.  I would love to put them out further from the wall, but I am limited.  HOWEVER, that bare wall between the speakers..... terrible (I have a plasma tv, equally as bad if not worse).  See if you can drape some kind of nice looking natural wool throw, blanket or rug on that wall. You will be amazed at the depth and naturalness you gain, while reducing some grain and harshness.

- Hard to tell about the toe-in, but I have mine toed-in at about 10 degrees.  Your mileage may vary, of course.

If you want to get the best of the Super Alnico's you must address my first two points above.  You will get rewarded!

Enjoy them!!
 

[rebbi]

Those look awesome Rebbi! Congrats!....

If I can make a couple of suggestions that could help you out, as a fellow Super Alnico monitor owner (all based on my experience, of course) .... I am assuming that they are in their final position?

- The left speaker is fine, but you may want to put down some absorptive material on the floor in the front of the right speaker.  I couldn't believe the difference when I put some padding in front of both of my speakers, so the reflections from the hardwood floor were squashed. The Omega's are sensitive those reflections.

- They seem to be about 2-3 ft. from the front wall? Similar to mine.  I would love to put them out further from the wall, but I am limited.  HOWEVER, that bare wall between the speakers..... terrible (I have a plasma tv, equally as bad if not worse).  See if you can drape some kind of nice looking natural wool throw, blanket or rug on that wall. You will be amazed at the depth and naturalness you gain, while reducing some grain and harshness.

- Hard to tell about the toe-in, but I have mine toed-in at about 10 degrees.  Your mileage may vary, of course.

If you want to get the best of the Super Alnico's you must address my first two points above.  You will get rewarded!

Enjoy them!!
 

Mark,
These are all fine suggestions and I appreciate your taking the time to write. A few comments:

My room is compromised in that it doubles as a guest bedroom so there's only so much flexibility I have in positioning the speakers and doing room treatments... one day I may have my own listening room, but not now.     I've always wanted to hang something absorptive on the wall in back of the speakers, but I don't think that fits into the WAF scheme of things as long as this is a shared room.

That said, you can't really see it in my crappy cell phone photo but the right speaker has a fabric covered ottoman type furniture piece a couple of feet in front of it, so hopefully that's ameliorating floor bounce for now.

The back of each speaker is only about 19" from the front wall. It might be that it would sound better further out, although I've found so far that this position strikes a pretty good balance between bass reinforcement and soundstage depth. But I'm still futzing around with this.

I have found the Super Alnico's to sound best with very slight toe in. From conversations with Louis, this is how he likes them, too. But of course, it's all about your taste, room, associated equipment and so forth.

Thanks again!

[ryanmartinson]

Rebbi, thanks a lot for letting us in on your Omega experience. It's been fun to follow along. Could you give some more detailed impressions/opinions of the sound of the Alnicos...especially compared to other speakers you've tried?

[rebbi]

Rebbi, thanks a lot for letting us in on your Omega experience. It's been fun to follow along. Could you give some more detailed impressions/opinions of the sound of the Alnicos...especially compared to other speakers you've tried?

Hi, Ryan,
I'll post some detailed impressions when I'm convinced I've got them completely dialed in. Additionally, I've got three tube upgrades on the way from Vintage Tube Services, 2 RCA 5687's for the driver stage in my Kit 1 (replacing a pair of crappy RCA NOS tubes) and a vintage 5U4G rectifier tube (replacing a crappy Chinese 274B). When I'm convinced I have them singing the best they can within my budget, then I'll post more.
But if you'd like to infer from the above that I believe they're worth this kind of effort, then you'd be correct.   

[ryanmartinson]

Great, looking forward to it!

[rebbi]

My Alnico Monitors, now slightly repositioned with about 20 degrees of toe-in, all to marvelous effect.   

[finsup]

Dang it, Rebbi.  I leave the Circle for a few days busy with other stuff and I see you have sold them - and it was a "smokin' hot deal".  Had I seen your ad a few says ago, I would have jumped on it immediately.  You had started a thread on the Ohm Micro Walsh Talls  and I later became an owner of a different model.  I'll probably not sell them.  Ever.  But I am looking for a second set of speakers, and I'd really like to try a single driver speaker or an open baffle.  I had an inkling, based on recent posts...and please don't take too much offence...but from other threads you had started, your speed dating of speakers meant that these would soon be up for sale.

I have immensely enjoyed the Ohm Walsh thread over the years, the Audio Note build thread and others, including this one  I do hope you find what you are looking for.  Eventually. In the meantime, continue your speaker journey and keep posting.

Best wishes,
Michael

[rebbi]

Dang it, Rebbi.  I leave the Circle for a few days busy with other stuff and I see you have sold them - and it was a "smokin' hot deal".  Had I seen your ad a few says ago, I would have jumped on it immediately.  You had started a thread on the Ohm Micro Walsh Talls  and I later became an owner of a different model.  I'll probably not sell them.  Ever.  But I am looking for a second set of speakers, and I'd really like to try a single driver speaker or an open baffle.  I had an inkling, based on recent posts...and please don't take too much offence...but from other threads you had started, your speed dating of speakers meant that these would soon be up for sale.

I have immensely enjoyed the Ohm Walsh thread over the years, the Audio Note build thread and others, including this one  I do hope you find what you are looking for.  Eventually. In the meantime, continue your speaker journey and keep posting.

Best wishes,
Michael

No offense taken, my friend!     See you soon in one forum or another. Glad you're still grooving on your Ohm's.

[Ultralight]

LOL.  I had the option of picking it up as Rebbi offered it to me first and I was SORELY tempted but fiscal realities dictated that I be a responsible young man... But yes, smokin hot deal.  And that's coming from a guy who do not smoke. 

UL

Dang it, Rebbi.  I leave the Circle for a few days busy with other stuff and I see you have sold them - and it was a "smokin' hot deal".  Had I seen your ad a few says ago, I would have jumped on it immediately.  You had started a thread on the Ohm Micro Walsh Talls  and I later became an owner of a different model.  I'll probably not sell them.  Ever.  But I am looking for a second set of speakers, and I'd really like to try a single driver speaker or an open baffle.  I had an inkling, based on recent posts...and please don't take too much offence...but from other threads you had started, your speed dating of speakers meant that these would soon be up for sale.

I have immensely enjoyed the Ohm Walsh thread over the years, the Audio Note build thread and others, including this one  I do hope you find what you are looking for.  Eventually. In the meantime, continue your speaker journey and keep posting.

Best wishes,
Michael