Like many music lovers who have the great
good fortune to have discovered at some
point in their musical lives that highly realistic
and refined music reproduction adds
immeasurably to the depth, intelligence,
emotional and spiritual life of the music
they listen to, I wanted my wife Deborah to share
the excitement and pleasure I experienced
by making her an important part of the decision
making process of what speakers we buy.
Let me say that Deb is a wonderful sport about
all things audio...for one thing she probably
enjoys music even more than I do...her father
was an avid music lover and amateur musician
who collected records and had a profound love
of Jazz...Deb’s exboyfriend had a thorough
knowledge and appreciation of classical music...
and listening to music was an important part
of their relationship...so when Deb and I got
together she had a wide and deep appreciation
of all kinds of music...her favorite music being
women Jazz singers from the 30’s up to the
present...especially the ladies from the 40’s and
50’s...including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan,
Dina Wahington, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald,
Nina Simone, Elis Regina, and more recently
Casandra Wilson...it was Deb who really turned
me on to their interpretive genius and we listen
to all of them regularly...can’t live without it!
When we moved to this mobile home in Ojai, California
I sold my Maggie's...Deb felt they were too big for the
space and I agreed completely...she asked me to look
for monitors that could go on stands...DMason had
already extolled the virtues of single driver full range
(Dan likes to call them “wide range”) drivers and I
began to look into what was available...
I looked at almost everything that was available...
including folded horn or back horn floor standing
monolithic speakers...but I quickly felt that they were
too heavy for our needs...our penchant for moving
every two years or so would be much better served
by a comparatively light weight monitor speaker...
but I really wanted to experience the wide
range single speaker phenomena...and I trusted
DMason's auditory experience and aesthetics...
Dan really liked the Fostex 8” 207E driver at this time
and purchased a pair himself...along with several other
single drivers to experiment with...
By perseverance I finally found Louie Chochos
and the Omega web site...after spending time
reading about his solution to using single
driver’s in bass reflex cabinets I became
convinced that here was exactly what I was
looking for...his enclosures were light weight,
beautifully finished and he believed he had
solved most of the problems that the folded
horn heavy floor standers said could not be
solved with this kind of cabinet...
I called Louie and spoke with him...I immediately
liked him...here was an honest, intelligent,
passionate, well informed, thoroughly charming
and extremely accessible professional
innovator and designer who knew what he
was talking about and who put me at ease
and inspired me with his understanding of
what his intent was as a creative speaker designer.
I trusted him...and on the spur of the moment I
ordered a pair of Grand 8R’s...something I did
not have the intention of doing when I called...
I should mention that this is rather uncharacteristic
of me...I am usually circumspect when it comes
to expensive (for me) purchases and my budget
demands prudence and careful attention to
all the facts before I make these kinds of decisions.
I told Dan that night about my purchase and he
reminded me that he had mentioned Louie to me
a few weeks before...which I immediately remembered...
I also remembered at that moment that I had
read the very upbeat and positive review of the Omega 6's
from Sam Tellig of Stereophile...
Dan seemed to be as excited as I was...he told me I was
in for a paradigm shift...and he could not have
been more right...as he always is about all things
audio...
After a painful break-in period the 8’s began to sing...
I also ordered a pair of speaker stands from
Noel Nolan, our friend from Canada who makes
Skylan stands for Louie’s speakers...a lovelier guy
you will never find in Audio...like Louie he is honest,
extremely well informed, full of helpful ideas and his
stands are state of the art...and...they look fantastic...
I could not be happier with them...and I highly recommend
them to anyone who wants to get the most
out of their monitor speakers...they are light
weight but you fill them with play sand from
Home Depot which cost $5 dollars and they
begin to function on a very high level of
physics to eliminate any unwanted resonances
that your speaker and cabinets might be
generating...Noel makes everything easy
and he packs his stands to perfection...
a classy and scientifically sophisticated product...
Deb could not believe what she was hearing...
Her favorite singers came to life and stepped
into our room and sang just for us...intimate,
compelling, seductive, fleshy, human, breathy,
real and “there”...their sheer presence in the
room was startling...
Everything sounds so detailed, so warm and
present that all of our CD’s have taken on a
life they never had before...
DMason was right...I was experiencing another
kind of audio paradigm here...
Now I am thrilled knowing that soon I will be
getting one of Louie’s first examples of his
new hemp 8” speakers...in a matter of weeks...
and according to Louie the level of sophistication
will increase exponentially...
Deb does not believe it!
She is so thrilled with the Grand 8’s that she
refuses to believe that the new speakers could
be that much better...but from what Louie says...
and I trust him implicitly...which is why I purchased
the Grand 8’s from him originally...his new hemp
drivers are something one has to hear to believe...
Even DMason is excited to hear them...his experience
with single drivers far exceeds anyone I have ever
read or heard about...he builds his own speakers
and is always experimenting...but he admitted to
me that he thought the potential for a well executed
hemp driver could really come close to an ideal
wide range speaker...
So I wanted to share with everyone my excitement.
Thanks to DMason I have entered a world of musical
pleasure I thought was impossible on my limited budget...
thanks so Louie Chochos and his
revolutionary approach to implementing
single driver speakers, Deb and I are
enjoying music that the audio world would
say we have no right to enjoy...
And now Louie is on the verge of implementing
an entirely new driver...a totally new material
based on Louie’s own design parameters
is about to be launched...
And today I told Louie to start to build
me a cabinet of his new Macassar Ebony
wood...
I would like to point out that Louie has
redesigned his new drivers since the
Canada show...several important
features of the new drivers have
been modified to conform more
perfectly to the performance level
Louie feels these new speakers are
capable of...to make them even better!
Just sharing my excitement with everyone...
Thanks Louie, thanks DMason, thanks Noel...
you have given Deborah and I the gift of supreme
musical pleasure...and now with the new
hemp drivers on the way...my expectations
have just risen to white hot excitement.
Warm regards -Richard-