I've had Omega SAMs for at least a few years now. Always kept them on cheap Target end tables. They always seemed to do the trick. But as an audiophile, one always believes they can do better in a never ending reach for audiophile nirvana. In my quest, I've had a number of cheap and relatively expensive amplifiers in my system, and I've found a really great integrated that isn't too expensive but sounds phenomenal. As such, I haven't spent too much on my system this year, and I thought a pair of stands were in order. I've heard good things about Skylans, and I figured at the worst, they would tidy my rig up. What follows is the typical audiophile tale of ups and downs whenever any new piece of gear is introduced into a system. Read on if you're interested.
I got the stands about 5 days after I ordered them. Noel was kind enough to talk me through a few things before we completed the sale. Assemblage was a bit more complex than I imagined. It was a bit art as much as science. Some parts are cautioned about not being overtightened, and there was a bit more of a tradeoff than the directions let on between stability, rice leakage and the stated directions. After pouring 30 lbs. of rice into the stands, I tightened everything, flipped them over, and carefully positioned my speakers on top. I then turned on my amp and the sound was blah. It was significantly worse than the target stands, believe it or not.
I thought it was my ears, so I listened for a few hours. I would hear new details and harmonies in some songs, but the tradeoffs in the mid-range were too great for me. I felt a bit disappointed, but I thought, you just have to optimize things a bit. In went several different pairs of interconnects. Subtle, but not significant changes were apparent; but I felt now like I was not only missing my mid-range signature, but some of the bass was gone. Noel warned of this as a possibility of overtightening the tension rods. I thought to myself: Which would be easier, re-tightening the rods or turning on stereo subs? So, I turned on the subs. A noticeable improvement, but I still had mid-range issues. I also noticed a bit of etchyness in the highs. Fooled around with various supertweeter settings and positions...no help.
I sat down this afternoon, and thought: What am I missing? Well, I thought: Perhaps it's the power cable? Sounds nuts, especially b/c with this amp, it seems to prefer skinny cords. Well, I took a cord off one of my monos that I had tried before with this amp. It had previously made the bass too prominent. Well I tried it. Plugged it directly into the wall. Subs off. I'm now sitting here with a stellar soundstage, liquid highs and all the bass I could need. I might turn on the subs later, but right now, the system sounds great. The match with the Omega SAMs is excellent, and well worth the investment.
Happy Holidays.
