Ok, it has been a little longer than a year since Louis sent a pair of ALNICO drivers to me for evaluation in my MaxHemps. I have been away from the forum for several months, mainly for personal reasons. But I thought I would return to update you on where my system stands.
While there have been a lot of changes to my system in the last 14 months or so, my commitment to and fondness for my MaxHemps has not waivered and increases as time marches on. If you component match your system wisely, I just don't see how you can do any better than a pair of Louis' creations working at the business end of your audio chain -- at any price. I listen to mostly jazz and classical music, and am constantly amazed at the sonic clarity, the dynamics, and richness of the presentation. I feel less qualified to comment about the performance of the speakers with rock music, but only because I don't listen to very much rock even though I have about 1,200 rock LPs in my vinyl collection.
Since I last posted I have upgraded my Slim Devices Squeezebox Duet to a Transporter. I have also built a dedicated headphone listening set up around the AKG K1000s. The integrated amp on the left is a Melody I2A3 and used to power the AKG ear speakers. I currently have a SME 309 tonearm and ZYX R100 Fuji FS Silver moving coil cartridge on the way and they will got into my SOTA Star Sapphire as soon as they are here. For now I am using a vintage SME 3009 Series II tonearm and Ortofon Jubilee cartridge. The photo was taken with an Ortofon Kontrapunkt A mounted, which I also own. The Benz Wood M2 that some of you might have seen when I was regularly posting here is no more. The stylus seperated from the cantilever and I had to find a replacement. So now I have three high quality MC carts on hand (soon to be four). I don't want to be without vinyl again should a cartridge fail on me in the future. Having a backup is a must.
I can't emphasize the importance of component matching when buying a pair of loudspeakers. This applies to any speaker and not just Omegas. I have known several people who came away disappointed with their new speakers only to learn later that they did not choose their amp very wisely. Since last year I have done some tube rolling with my 300B mono blocks and now I am running with NOS Tung Sol 6SN7s, Sophia Princess 300B mesh plate tubes for power and Sophia Princess 274B mesh plate tubes for rectifiers. It has sweetenend the sound to a noticable extent and I consider these changes very worthwhile upgrades. Tones are slightly warmer. Attack and decay of notes is impoved and gives the music greater presence. These are characteristics that fit well with what I believe jazz should sound like. It also bodes well for a lot of classical music, especially that in which the violin and piano figure prominently.
I can't promise that everyone will be happy with a pair of Omega speakers, since there is no "one size fits all" solution as far as loudspeakers are concerned. I will say that the chances that Omegas will find favor with your ears are greatly enhanced if you match your amp to them. Of course, there are other factors that will shape your perception of their performance -- not the least of which are the sonics of your listening space, the quality of your sources, and the kinds of music you listen to.
I don't see myself changing loudspeakers or my 300B Woo Audio mono blocks. They are perfectly matched to each other and the sound that I am currently getting is simply breathtaking.
--Jerome
