Well, I finally went and did it! After mulling it over for 2 years, I made the leap into the single driver world. After attending this year's RMAF and spending the weekend listening to the new Omega lineup, I settled on the A8s to go with my McIntosh MC225. I first heard the Omega line at the 2004 RMAF, where I met Louis and Tom. This year, Vinnie was also there with his outstanding Red Wine Lotus gear. I was on the fence when Sunday rolled around and Louis was kind enough to let me bring over my amp at the end of the show to see how it would sound. Now, you can just imagine how tired these guys were after a weekend of swapping speakers back and forth, answering questions, and doing all of the usual dog and pony stuff. Which, by the way, they were always very happy to do! (I can't say that for all of the exhibitors.) While everybody was "getting the heck out of Dodge" we were hooking up more gear! Louis, Vinnie and Tom all rearranged their set up and got my amp hooked up, which was a challenge with those "classic" barrier strip connections. While the Hemps were great, I had pretty much settled on the A8s, which is what we hooked the Mac up to. Anyway, we listened to the Mac for probably about 45 minutes or so. The A8s just grabbed a hold of the music and were amazing! I listen to mostly to jazz and blues, and the A8s are so FAST and articulate. They gave a full range presentation and loved to be pushed. We cranked up some Dire Straits, "Brothers In Arms" and Count Basie "Basie", both on vinyl, which was outstanding! I can hardly wait to get them. I will be using the A8s with vintage tube gear, the MC225 and an MX110 preamp\tuner, so it will be very interesting to hear the synergy of the system. Louis really is into what he does and it shows in his products!
