[Alwayswantmore]

Any day now the UPS man will grace my doorstep with a new set of Compact Hemps. I’m creating this thread hoping to spark dialog on how to get the most from Omega / Single Driver / Hemp spkrs. Topics I hope to see covered include:

- Break-in tips
- Room placement / listening position tips
- Care for the wood (oil vs wax)
- Anything else you care to add!

To get things started, I found the following picture of Robert Everist Greene’s downstairs listening room (one of two rooms in his home). REG has written for The Absolute Sound for the more than twenty years. The speakers you see are Harbeth Monitor 40s, which happen to be 30” tall (i.e. a large monitor).



Note: These are not single driver speakers
 
I brought the picture into an editing program and did my best to measure the distance between speakers -- which appears to be just under 9 feet (measured from the center of the speakers). My guess is that the listening chair is actually a little less than 9 feet. And clearly he has the driver pointed pretty much directly at his head.

So what do you do to get the most from your Omegas? What tips to you have for Hemp-newbees? All contributions are appreciated. Best, Kent

[Dmason]

I would suggest playing them hard at first when you are not around. The Hemp 8 goes thru a VERY ...weird break in process, up and down, sounding really bad, to tolerable, to good, to far worse, then around 100 hours, they start making sense of it, and the liquidity, warm and resolution these drivers are becoming known for, show up. After around 300+ hours they become sonic windows. Some of the most clairvoyant midband I have ever heard. Mine have well over 500 hours and they sound unreal. Addictive. Consider yourself forewarned. I would have preferred not to have been around for that madness. But now: 

[Alwayswantmore]

I would suggest playing them hard at first when you are not around. The Hemp 8 goes thru a VERY ...weird break in process, up and down, sounding really bad, to tolerable, to good, to far worse, then around 100 hours, they start making sense of it, and the liquidity, warm and resolution these drivers are becoming known for, show up. After around 300+ hours they become sonic windows. Some of the most clairvoyant midband I have ever heard. Mine have well over 500 hours and they sound unreal. Addictive. Consider yourself forewarned. I would have preferred not to have been around for that madness. But now: 

Thanks, I had heard this. My wife is home most of the time, and does not like loud music, so getting to 100 hours will be tough... But I read about someone who put a new set of speakers in his garage facing each other, wired them out of phase, covered them with a few blankets, and let them blast for a few days. I'm considering doing something like this

[Dmason]

that is the quickie way, and works a treat. If you have access to a tone generator, synthesizer, home keyboard, etc., I would run them in the garage at a Fs ~45Hz, at a volume where some healthy X shows up, then cover them up and forget them for one day. Having said that, it is NOT as though they are "unlistenable" until some hazy point in future time, just that the first 50 hours are reeeeeeeeeelllly strange, and sometimes musically "nauseating." The accelerated breakin process softens things up, and gets you faster, to the sweet stuff. I would have taken mine downstairs and blasted them for a day or two.

[Alwayswantmore]

FedEx Ground just drove off, leaving behind my new Hemps!!! 

Beautifully packaged, super nice finish, and an instruction manual that addresses many (most) of my questions above. I'll post pictures and impressions in the future. Thanks Louis.

[Canyoneagle]

I highly recommend Skylan's 4-post stands for the compact hemps.  I have a pair of the original Compact Hemptones (narrow baffle), and the Skylans are not only very well made (and beautiful to look at) - they provide a good platform to allow the speakers to open up and sing.

I've been playing around with placement a little bit (much more of that to come), and I've found that I like them best about 18" from the rear wall and toed in to cross just behind my head.  My room is about 12'x17' with 8' ceilings, and the speakers are set up on the narrow wall, about 7 feet apart.

I have not done extensive room treatments (I'm in a rental house) except for some strategically placed thick tapestries and area rugs, and they help quite a bit.  I feel corner treatments would really be beneficial, and plan to invest some time and money on treatments.

I think you'll love the Hemps, and I'll post anything I find as I play around.

What will you be using to drive your new beauts?

Warmly,
Michael

[Alwayswantmore]

I highly recommend Skylan's 4-post stands for the compact hemps.  I have a pair of the original Compact Hemptones (narrow baffle), and the Skylans are not only very well made (and beautiful to look at) - they provide a good platform to allow the speakers to open up and sing.

I've been playing around with placement a little bit (much more of that to come), and I've found that I like them best about 18" from the rear wall and toed in to cross just behind my head.  My room is about 12'x17' with 8' ceilings, and the speakers are set up on the narrow wall, about 7 feet apart.

I have not done extensive room treatments (I'm in a rental house) except for some strategically placed thick tapestries and area rugs, and they help quite a bit.  I feel corner treatments would really be beneficial, and plan to invest some time and money on treatments.

I think you'll love the Hemps, and I'll post anything I find as I play around.

What will you be using to drive your new beauts?

Warmly,
Michael

Thanks for all the info Michael. How are you finding the bass on the compacts?

What will I use to drive? I have RWA Signature 30, which I absolutely love. I've worked with a number of solid state amps over the years, and nothing comes close.

My source is a Wadia 830 CDP, with a new factory upgrade that adds a second power supply board. I also use a Transparent Audio Super AC cord, which does result in a slightly smoother sound. As far as spkr wire, I have some bulk Anticable I plan to use to get things started. I also plan to try the Hudson Audio Audiopath Copper. Oh, I also use the Audiopath 8-wire silver IC, which was a big improvement over my older Audioquest copper IC.

As far as stands, my Skylan's should be here on Tuesday, and the sand is already in the garage waiting to go!

Thanks again. Kent

[Canyoneagle]

Hey Kent,
I'd love to hear what you think of the Sig 30 with the Compact Hemps.  My next step is to get a Sig 30!

From my experience so far, the Hemp drivers in Louis's cabinets make for a magical listening experience.  I have what is an equivalent to an upgraded Clari-T, and can't wait to see the magic that comes with the addition of a Sig 30.

Enjoy!
Michael

[Alwayswantmore]

Hey Kent,
I'd love to hear what you think of the Sig 30 with the Compact Hemps.  My next step is to get a Sig 30!

From my experience so far, the Hemp drivers in Louis's cabinets make for a magical listening experience.  I have what is an equivalent to an upgraded Clari-T, and can't wait to see the magic that comes with the addition of a Sig 30.

Enjoy!
Michael

Hi Michael,

I've got the speakers tucked away in a back closet facing each other, wired out of phase, covered with blankets playing AC/DC's Back in Black at a pretty loud setting. Because of battery recharge I'm getting less than 20 hours a day, so it will be a few days before I get a good listen (I want to get somewhere between 100 - 200 hours before putting them back in my listening room). I'll post pictures and impressions as soon as I get a decent listen.
Kent

[Dmason]

So, in your closet, under wraps, out of phase, one could hear AC/DC playing 'Back in Black'  That is classic. Louis will luv that.

These hemp cones are not shrinking violets. You can really crank them, and there is no cone break-up. This is hemp doing its thing. High elasticity, and stiffness, under grotesque stress. Several hundred G's and NO CONE BREAK UP. Mmmm smooth. The higher the mileage, the better these things sing. No question.

The Signature 30 is The Best solid state amplifier I have ever heard, heard plenty, owned plenty. Magical SS. The hemps will translate what that amp and the Wadia spinner are capable of. I have a Sony Playstation 1001 purchased for $5 on eBay which I prefer to my former Theta Miles, with the SuperHemps; just mo' betta'. Mo' Magic. Hemp for cones, Signature 30 for Solid State, you have a KILLER set up right there... triodes sound impossibly good with these things; Roger Modjeski's 13EM7 amp is just wonderful as well. 3 watts or 30, or 300, anything sounds good with the Omega Hemps.

[Louis O]

Hi Kent,

Great Topic and very happy you received the speakers. The break in is the most important right now and all the suggestions are very good. I would try to play them loud enough to get the drivers moving. At low volumes it takes longer. Dan right about the AC/DC, just run this on repeat and it will do the trick.

Skylan Stands are the best stands to use and make sure they are filled to the top. I would also use ebony blocks between the speakers and stands with a little amount of Blutak.

Here at the shop the speakers are slightly toed in and about 10 feet apart. The distance from me to the speakers is about 9 feet. I have them out from the wall at 2 feet. All rooms are different so I would experiment. The best cables are the R cable or the DNM Reson from Concert Sound.

The finish is a catalyzed 2 part and very strong. All you need to do is wipe them with a damp cloth.

Thanks again and many thanks for the great posts,
Louis

[Alwayswantmore]

At low volumes it takes longer...

Skylan Stands are the best stands to use and make sure they are filled to the top. I would also use ebony blocks between the speakers and stands with a little amount of Blutak.

Thanks Louis,

How loud can I go? Right now they're playing louder than I would care to listen for an extended period of time. I can also see some vibration in the accordion suspension material. Any other guides as to how loud to go / not go?

What do you mean by ebony blocks, and where do I get the blocks? Also, please explain how the blocks / Blutack are configured (or layered or whatever).

Thanks, Kent

[jrebman]

[quote author=Dmason link=topic=35512.msg316493#msg316493 date=11682775
triodes sound impossibly good with these things; Roger Modjeski's 13EM7 amp is just wonderful as well. 3 watts or 30, or 300, anything sounds good with the Omega Hemps.
[/quote]

dmason, don't mean to hijack the thread here, but want to know if you've tried the 13em7 on the B-200s?  I bought the last of Roger's prototypes and will eventually be trying it on the Revolutions, but they will most likely see action on my Abbys in my office setup before that.

BTW, I bought this on your and Richard's recommendations and a little research into the tube itself, and while I haven't been able to use it yet, I'll be getting it going sometime in the next week or two.

The coolest looking little thing too -- looks like a rich man's humidor with a pair of valves popping out the top.  Wish I could use this thing to drive some Sennheiser HD-650s -- that would be amazing.

-- Jim

[Dmason]

JRebman

Not hijacking at all. The 13Em7 will SHINE with the B200 IF you high pass it @100Hz with the shunt capped input Roger has provided, at my original suggestion, which came about because he realized Richard and I weren't as nuts as he thought, with our twinkie open baffle madness: he loved the sound. Everyone loved the sound. Beyond that, the B200, like any wideband driver benefits from being relieved of bass duty; any tube amp, particularly single ended triode amps benefit from having both tube, and transformer relieved of bass duty. Makes for a better sound. IMO, bass these days is cheap, and can be found at Costco, not far from the 10-packs of socks, batteries, and power bars. That is my impression of 'got bass?' these days.

Yes, it could pass for a humidor, or grown from some genetic matter from a Hamburg Steinway. The lid says "Steinway" to me. Roger and I both play piano, so the brushed black lid, and rubbed Walnut is a little kharmic link between us, my view.

My impression of the sweep tubes is, with these things around, who cares about the fashion tubes? Not me, is the answer. None of the new owners of this thing, is another... I can only speak for myself, but these tubes sound far too close to 2A3, and the power side is identical to an indirectly heated 2A3, with the driver side sort of a 6SL7, a very well known, and nice combination in a 2A3 amp, but far simpler, more linear, better curves, no hummmm, tubes are out there in the millions, literally, for as little as $3.00. I have come to the conclusion that the 13EM7 is the clever substitute for 2A3, with all of the good, and NONE of the bad. 3 watts will work with any of Louis' speakers, and would sound fantastic with your Sennheiser phones.

[Alwayswantmore]

I'm hitting about 100 hours now. And my wife is getting tired of the constant rumble out of the back closet, so I think I may put my new Hemps back into my media room and do some listening tonight 

I HAVE A STUPID QUESTION...

Many say keep these out from the back wall by about 2 feet. I assume this refers to the BACK of the speaker instead of the front??? Also, if for cosmetic reasons I need to keep them closer to the back wall (I can always pull them out for critical listening), would it help to partially plug or fully plug the rear-facing port? (Compact Hemps port to rear).

BTW: I assembled the Skyland stands earlier in the week. I've very impressed with their engineering and overall look. Noel was even nice enough to call me in person, just as part of his follow-up.

[Canyoneagle]

Please post your impressions of your listening session!  Be prepared for a night of musical immersion!

Noel's a great guy.  I live (temporarily) in Calgary and Noel is about 5 miles from my house.  I ordered my stands from him, and spent over an hour with him when I went to pick them up.  He had assembled them and filled them with sand, so setup was really easy for me! 

As you play with placement, please share your findings here.
Last night I experimented with toe-in, and I tried a perfect triangle setup (with the listening position the same distance from the drivers as the distance between speakers) with the speakers toed in so they were facing straight towards the listening position.
This worked very well, and actually widened the sweet spot.
As far as spacing from the wall, mine are about 20" from the back of the cabinet.  I have found that the tilted orientation that the stands provide improved bass response due to the ports firing more towards the floor/wall corner.

Enjoy your night!

Warmly,
Michael

[Alwayswantmore]

Please post your impressions of your listening session!  Be prepared for a night of musical immersion!

Noel's a great guy.  I live (temporarily) in Calgary and Noel is about 5 miles from my house.  I ordered my stands from him, and spent over an hour with him when I went to pick them up.  He had assembled them and filled them with sand, so setup was really easy for me! 

As you play with placement, please share your findings here.
Last night I experimented with toe-in, and I tried a perfect triangle setup (with the listening position the same distance from the drivers as the distance between speakers) with the speakers toed in so they were facing straight towards the listening position.
This worked very well, and actually widened the sweet spot.
As far as spacing from the wall, mine are about 20" from the back of the cabinet.  I have found that the tilted orientation that the stands provide improved bass response due to the ports firing more towards the floor/wall corner.

Enjoy your night!

Warmly,
Michael

Hi Michael, I've got about 5 hours listening in now. I've also tried several different positions...

For context, I'm in a small room with a 36" TV (CRT-style) and a couple of large recliners, so there isn't much room to work with. They sound best when pulled out from the wall, angled in the room at my chair. But this is not a position that my wife could live with, so I also played with them on either side of the TV where they are are less than two feet out from the wall.

When next to the TV I did a large amount of toe-in, so they intersect in front of the listener. This works surprisingly well considering that neither my wife or I are centered on the speakers when watching DVDs. We watched a movie and voices were very natural, and the sound appeared to emanate from the TV. So they work very well for my 2ch AV needs. I also listened to music at a moderate volume level with the speakers in this position. Again they did surprisingly well considering the less than ideal positioning.

When I pulled them  out in the room, the image was greatly enhanced and the sound became more natural. In this position I had the speakers slightly toed-in.

I really like what these speakers do for vocals, woodwinds, percussion and piano. I also like the fact that they sound dynamic and full without needing to crank up the volume.

Impressions...

For starters, I have never heard a speaker that sounds like this. It's kind of like mating the dynamics of classic Klipsch LaScalas, with a more natural sound and MUCH better imaging.

The bass goes fairly deep, but is pretty laid back in most recordings.

They sound very alive and a bit forward. With lots of macro dynamics.

Also, I have a 12' pair of Anticables (with about 50 hours break in). But so far my listening has been with cheap speaker wire. So it will be interesting to see how much difference the better wire makes.

I'm pretty sure that the best is yet to come, after more break-in and more time experimenting with positioning.

Overall I like what I'm hearing and plan to keep the speakers.

Kent

[Canyoneagle]

Thanks for the info, Kent.
Like you, my wife, son and I occasionally watch movies (on our Apple laptop), with the audio output through the Omegas.
The dialogue is amazingly clear, and I do not feel the need to agument the system in any way.  I once owned a full-on AC3/DTS home theatre ('98) with Canton's top-end speakers ($6k / pair mains, $1,200 center, $1,200 dipole rears with passive sub), fed via a B&K preamp ($2800), and four Onkyo Grand Integra amplifiers and custom cabling, etc etc etc.
That system was phenomenal, to say the least, with music and movies (I measured 110dB with no distortion at the listening area during one of my favorite AC3 demo sequences - in Jumanji, where everything gets sucked back into the board).

Nevertheless, I am elated with my simple little system, and feel that the Omegas give me a more involving musical (and movie) experience without all the extra gear.  Yes, I'm not getting the flat response into the low 20's that the Cantons delivered, but I'm finding that the quality of the sound on these hemps is far more involvong.  For me, it is sort of like the simple peasure of owning and driving a nicely tuned '73 BMW 2002tii after having owned a Porsche Turbo.  Don't worry, it's only a metaphor......

I'm really enjoying the richness of the midrange, and, like you, sense that it is a slightly forward presentation.  My little hemps can really kick out the jams with rock, too - very punchy and full.

I'd love to see how these speakers sond with the Sig 30!!!!  aa

Warmly,
Michael

[Louis O]

Hi Alwayswantmo,

Sounds like the system is jelling very well and positioning make a huge difference. With the hemps the bass comes on at the end of the break in and this is when it gets very strong and the balance evens out. They ebony makes for a great tweak and not to hard to get. Herbie's footers makes a great ebony footer that works and I may be able to cut some out as well. I still owe Jim some for his Revolutions and sorry about the delay.


Hi Canyoneagle,

Working with Noel was a pleasure from day one. He's amazing and takes care of everything for me. I'm so happy to have him make custom stands and they are the best I've used.

Thanks again,
Louis

[jrebman]

 ebony makes for a great tweak and not to hard to get. Herbie's footers makes a great ebony footer that works and I may be able to cut some out as well. I still owe Jim some for his Revolutions and sorry about the delay.

Louis,

Don't worry about it.  I am trying some Mapleshade Ultimate triplepoints at the moment and they are simply outstanding.  So much so that I've ordered some custom 4" maple platforms from timbernation and some additional Mapleshade feet for them and this is what I plan to use under my speakers.  I just like the sound better than the rubber feet and "sandbox" stands.  Everything sounds tighter, more extended, and just overall smoother to me with the triplepoints -- and that's just sitting on my bamboo floor with no tilt, so I'm sure when they are up higher they will sound just that much better -- which I can simulate by sitting on the floor on a pillow to simulate the final relative listening position.

It is not unlike when I finally got around to putting my Abbys on their spikes weeks after finding the best position for them -- it was like getting a whole new, vastly improved pair of speakers.

I realize the maple/brass combo is not for everybody because it isn't cheap, but after a bit of experimenting with various setups I just can't go back.

Sorry to say those beautiful Italian Red Gloss stands got cleaned out and are back in the box and moved to my storage locker.  Do you possibly want them back since I'm not going to be using them?

BTW, this is not meant as any kind of criticism of your work or anything remotely like that, just that I really prefer the maple/brass thing with these speakers as it works really well with my floor material and room.

Thanks,

Jim