This review nails it. The comments in the review about solid state amps are interesting and timely. I have both an AMC tube amp (30 watt el-34) and a pair of Le Amps. Early on, I used the Le Amps to break my TS-1's in a bit but attempted no serious listening with them.
I switched to using the AMC exclusively. The other day, with about 200 hours on the speakers (these things take a LONG time to break in) I tried the Le Amps again and was pleasantly surprised. They still sound better with tubes, but I now feel that I am hearing more the difference between the amps than anything to deal with the speakers per se.
The Le Amps are tonally flat in the mids and not harsh at all, with a recessed bass and somewhat soft highs. The AMC is a bit brighter. The bigest difference I hear though is in 3-dimensionality of the soudstage - the AMC clobbers the solid state Le Amps in this respect. The center fill with the AMC is palpable and even non-audiophiles notice it (where is the center speaker?). With the solid state Le Amp, well there is center fill but you have to try a bit more to hear it. Same comments for apparent depth. By the way, the Le Amps have sounded similar to me on two other pairs of speakers (Mission and Chicago Speakerworks models).
Another interesting this is that the tube amp has a much more natural decay. The Omegas sound fantastic at low volumes, and the results is that the decay of solo instruments is really nicely captured, with the tube amp. The Le Amps sound almost like they are turning off at low levels, sort of like the low level sound is getting absorbed in the output stage.
I'll probably stick with tubes, and system synergy is still critical, but it's liberating to realize that the speakers will work well with many good sounding amps of different breeding. I'm sure other solid state amps would hold up better in the comparison to tubes. I've started to call the Omega's "the Microscopes".
By the way, check out the current enjoythemisic review on the Cain & Cains. It also uses a Fostex driver, and the reviewer suggests that the conventional wisdom about single-ended being the only way to go with these drivers may be wrong.
