[Jolly]

   I would appreciate opinions regarding the differences and preferences of anyone who has owned and or auditioned Omega single driver speakers and
  Omega 1.5 way speakers. Thank you.

[pstrisik]

Hi Jolly,

See the first post in my thread, https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=163154.0, for some opinion.

..........Pete

[jmolsberg]

It really is a difficult question to answer. Both sound amazing. omega speakers are just darn musical! The single driver sounds a little more pure but are slightly leaner sounding. The 1.5 has a little more meat on the bone but the trade off is, they are slightly less coherent sounding. If you are listening in a bigger room and prefer a little bigger sound, the 1.5 is the ticket.  Smaller room, more nearfield, the single driver all day.  Either way, you are getting a damn fine sounding speaker. I have the 1.5 and my buddy has the single driver - it really is splitting hairs. The 1.5 offset are killer looking!

[roscoe65]

It really is a difficult question to answer. Both sound amazing, omega speakers are just darn musical! The single driver sounds a little more pure but are slightly leaner sounding. The 1.5 has a little more meat on the bone but the trade off is, they are slightly less coherent sounding. If you are listening in a bigger room and prefer a little bigger sound, the 1.5 is the ticket.  Smaller room, more nearfield, the single driver all day.  Either way, you are getting a damn fine sounding speaker. I have the 1.5 and my buddy has the single driver - it really is splitting hairs. The 1.5 offset are killer looking!

I own single driver and 1.5 way RS5 speakers.  This post is spot on.

Single Driver:

Pro’s:

Coherent sound
Pure point source
Strong midrange presence
Best nearfield performance

Con’s:

Runs it of steam pretty quickly.  Really can only use about 5 watts.
Sounds lean, but that can be addressed by wall placement and wide baffle, but will always sound lean.
Midbass is not all that satisfying.

1.5 way:

Pro’s:

Much more dynamic
Works well in a larger room and away from walls
More power handling
Much better midbass

Con’s:

Sounds more like a conventional two way speaker.  It loses some immediacy.
Can have too much midbass depending on your amp.  If you amp doubles power into low impendance (i.e., SS amp) than the second driver adds 6dB to the low end, twice as much as with a tube amp.
More money.  With my needs, the 1.5 way does not sound that much better than the single driver speaker to justify the extra cost.

[pstrisik]

Being a SAMHO newbie, I'm experimenting.  I plugged the ports.  Plugging the ports on the SAMs just made things too thin.  But plugging the HOs is magic!  I had to do some reading about what happens.  Of course there is some differences of opinion, particularly about frequency response.  The most common opinion is that plugging just causes the roll off to happen sooner.  So bass is somewhat less loud.  However the bass that remains is tighter.  This is great for me given powered mid-woofers and subs as it makes integration work much better.  I think it would work for anyone with just subs as well.  Probably best with two.

More on point is that it increases coherence.  Reading indicated a simple explanation.  The port emits sound, as does the driver, of course.  But that is two sound sources which causes phase issues.  Plugging eliminates that.

To me, they now sound like SAMs with better dynamics and bass response. 

Or maybe I like it as I cut my teeth on the New England sound:  AR, Advent, KLH, etc.  All sealed (acoustic suspension).  I suppose the ideal would be to calculate the box volume for sealed; it is probably a bit different in required volume than ported.  But it is working beautifully for me.

Anyone else tried this, or care to try and report results?



Are you ready for some football?!  (I ordered black sponge balls)

........Pete

[Folsom]

The ones I heard would have been better as 1.5. I don’t know why it wouldn’t sound as coherent. I think that’s probably nonsense. But it might be harder to pick out as much detail when you have proper bass and midbass. I would imagine sealed could sound nice for 1.5.

Sealed rolls off way less steep, but may start a little earlier. Ports drop like a rock just a bit after tuning frequency. Either can be good.

[slefley]

Pete, where did you find the balls to fit the SAHO ports?  I can only find soft ones that are too large or the right size that are hard plastic?

[JLM]

Bottom Line: there's no perfect speaker.

But I'd vote for single driver, 'real' (properly designed) 2-way, or a single driver with sub(s) over a mock 2-way (1.5 way) any day of the week.

[pstrisik]

Pete, where did you find the balls to fit the SAHO ports?  I can only find soft ones that are too large or the right size that are hard plastic?

For 3", the only place I found black:
http://themagicwarehouse.com/SU2157/Sponge-Balls-3-inch-by-Goshman.html

Or Amazon for red and maybe other colors:
https://www.amazon.com/Goshman-Sponge-Amazing-Tricks-Instructions/dp/B07H47XK69/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=Goshman&qid=1553957364&s=gateway&sr=8-9


I assume 3" will be fine.  3.5" would be great for a snug fit, but this is the closest I found.  I'll see how they fit later this coming week when they arrive.

[pstrisik]

Bottom Line: there's no perfect speaker.

But I'd vote for single driver, 'real' (properly designed) 2-way, or a single driver with sub(s) over a mock 2-way (1.5 way) any day of the week.

Have you listened to SAMHO 1.5 way?  Tried with port closed?

[jmolsberg]

^ my guess is he has not listened to an omega 1.5..  doesn't matter. Louis addressed what might be an apprehension to the single driver and did a fine job implementing. Doesn't sound anything like a two-way or a mock two-way, though I haven't heard a mock two-way. They sound much more similar than they do different. I could live with either happily.

[Canada Rob]

JLM may correct me on this, but I think the only time he has heard any Omega was years ago at a trade show, and I think it wasn't even a current model(s).  It would be nice for him to hear a few of Louis' current offerings.  Maybe then he would change his tune when he comes on here to a more positive note.

[DaveC113]

Bottom Line: there's no perfect speaker.

But I'd vote for single driver, 'real' (properly designed) 2-way, or a single driver with sub(s) over a mock 2-way (1.5 way) any day of the week.

Based on what? 

[nature boy]

People who haven't listened to Omega single driver or 1.5 way designs should really not speculate on how they sound. You do a disservice to AC members trying to make a tough decision without the benefit of them being able to listen with THEIR ears.

I have listened to Louis's 8" single driver floorstanders and the Super Alnico High Output XRS speakers with several different amplifiers. Both speakers sound great and sound very similar due to the hemp cone drivers. I prefer listening to the speakers with tube amplification.

The primary tradeoff with Omega Speakers is bass vs. speed (transient response time). Single driver speakers have slightly faster transient times. The 1.5 way configuration is exceptionally coherent and gives you slightly better bass as compared to it's single driver equivalent. None of the speakers are truly full range and have limited bass response.

Try to listen for yourself if you can find an AC member with a pair near you.

NB

[DaveC113]

Being a SAMHO newbie, I'm experimenting.  I plugged the ports.  Plugging the ports on the SAMs just made things too thin.  But plugging the HOs is magic!  I had to do some reading about what happens.  Of course there is some differences of opinion, particularly about frequency response.  The most common opinion is that plugging just causes the roll off to happen sooner.  So bass is somewhat less loud.  However the bass that remains is tighter.  This is great for me given powered mid-woofers and subs as it makes integration work much better.  I think it would work for anyone with just subs as well.  Probably best with two.

More on point is that it increases coherence.  Reading indicated a simple explanation.  The port emits sound, as does the driver, of course.  But that is two sound sources which causes phase issues.  Plugging eliminates that.

To me, they now sound like SAMs with better dynamics and bass response. 

Or maybe I like it as I cut my teeth on the New England sound:  AR, Advent, KLH, etc.  All sealed (acoustic suspension).  I suppose the ideal would be to calculate the box volume for sealed; it is probably a bit different in required volume than ported.  But it is working beautifully for me.

Anyone else tried this, or care to try and report results?

Phase issues are non-existent at the frequencies the port emits.

The big downside of plugging the ports is it'll create excessive excursion as SPLs increase. The upside is, at least in your case, it improved the quality of the bass. I say in your case, because it's very likely an effect of your own room acoustics and/or overlap effects w your woofer, and may not apply to other systems. In fact, simply changing the positioning of your system or changing the size of the room may completely change the results you're getting.

[DaveC113]

People who haven't listened to Omega single driver or 1.5 way designs should really not speculate on how they sound. You do a disservice to AC members trying to make a tough decision without the benefit of them being able to listen with THEIR ears.


HK

Yup, the big advantage of a .5 way design whether it's 1.5 or 2.5, is the drivers sound the same because they ARE the same.

One of the big reasons single drivers are coherent has NOTHING to do with phase or point source or crossover... it's because multi-way speakers often use drivers that don't sound the same. I can take the exact same speaker and by changing nothing but the diaphragm of the tweeter in question, go from a speaker that sounds incoherent and somewhat disjointed to one that is seamlessly integrated. Without changing the xo, without changing anything about the phase/time relationship, without point-source, etc... it's simply that one driver sound different...  .5 way solves this issue.

[RDavidson]

Yeah. I don't understand the mentality of dismissing something without personal experience. I guess we should all let 100 year old books and science tell us what music we're supposed to enjoy too? We're talking about entertainment. It's art. It's subjective. If you're curious about any speakers, Omega or otherwise, and have the means to give them a try, just do so and come to your own conclusions. I enjoy my CAMs very much and I've tried many speakers over the years. I'd like to try the 1.5 ways some time.

[nature boy]

Yup, the big advantage of a .5 way design whether it's 1.5 or 2.5, is the drivers sound the same because they ARE the same.

One of the big reasons single drivers are coherent has NOTHING to do with phase or point source or crossover... it's because multi-way speakers often use drivers that don't sound the same. I can take the exact same speaker and by changing nothing but the diaphragm of the tweeter in question, go from a speaker that sounds incoherent and somewhat disjointed to one that is seamlessly integrated. Without changing the xo, without changing anything about the phase/time relationship, without point-source, etc... it's simply that one driver sound different...  .5 way solves this issue.

Dave,

Thanks for the additional, spot on information and clarification on the drivers.

NB

[rjbond3rd]

The benefit of a 1.5 is that it can be positioned further from boundaries (i.e., you can pull the speakers into the room and position them for imaging).  It prevents the speakers from sounding thin or bright (and avoids the need for a corrective filter that most single-driver speakers need).

It's similar to the "loudness" button on vintage receivers.  If it sounds bass-heavy (LOL), you just pull the speakers into the room a bit more. I've never heard it sound bad.  The only downsides I can think of is the expense, and the resulting impedance could be an issue in some situations.

[guf]

Hey just realized that this orb mini fits in my HO SAMs. I only have one so I can't comment on the sound but I'd like to try.


https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Tec-Athletics-Extreme-mobility-massage/dp/B01N213PGX/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=orb+mini&qid=1553978942&s=gateway&sr=8-3