[uncola]

that burl veneer is beautiful, the black wavy lines in it match the driver cone well too

[Kray]

Certainly: Mind if I ask the dimensions' Weight ? and if Im not being to nosey price ?  They look sort of like the big Harbeth with that stand. Might just be pic angle etc... I am not allowed to have anything that pretty, My wallet forbids it 

The amps in the pic look very similar to Sonic Oli. Care to share that info ?  I like to live vicariously through others wallets

They are 20" tall by 11' wide by 14" deep at 35lbs each.

The SAM's start at $1995, then add extra for any customer veneer, etc. it's not a lot only a couple hundred unless you go crazy exotic. I bought the WBT binding posts and sent them to him.

As for stands... I was gonna go with the Skylans, but found an eager local woodworker wanting to get some exp. he custom made mine at 20" to size of speaker base (11w x 14d) for dirt cheap.

Yep all my amps are Oliver builds.
Top left is based on 307a, drivers are C3M, rectifier 5AR4... uses OD3 as screens so it's tetrode.

Under the 307a is an amp we brainstormed together. wanted to try something different and got the idea from Thomas Mayer blog Vinylsavor. It's a 6HJ5 (which is very similar to a 2A3) driven by 6N7 with 5R4WGB rectifier.

Next to 307a (can't see it much) is my dual chassis preamp, uses 37 or 76 tubes. power section is just 4x 12AX4's

[seikosha]

Have the amps been reliable?  I had a 2A3 from him a number of years ago.  It sounded great, but it blew a capacitor with a large pop and smoke right after I purchased it.  Oliver actually came out to my house and fixed it, but a few months later it did it again.  I liked the amp, but at that point, I was scared that thing would burn my house down.  Very frustrating.  He does interesting things, but I’m scared to buy anything else from him. 

[joessportster]

Cool info Kray, I have owned a couple Oliver amps they were bullet proof and sounded superb. I wish I had another SET amp now  I just landed a pair of Horning Aristotle ultimate speakers I would love to hear them with SET. It would also be great to hear my Omega Max Hemp with SET. The Canary CA330MKII sound phenomenal but are not "TRUE" SET design amps. Going to have to watch for a good 45 amp I suppose...............My wallet is already CRYING 

[Kray]

Have the amps been reliable?  I had a 2A3 from him a number of years ago.  It sounded great, but it blew a capacitor with a large pop and smoke right after I purchased it.  Oliver actually came out to my house and fixed it, but a few months later it did it again.  I liked the amp, but at that point, I was scared that thing would burn my house down.  Very frustrating.  He does interesting things, but I’m scared to buy anything else from him.

Honestly I've had about 8 Sayes pieces over last 5yrs and not had any issues at all except one with the cheaper Yamamoto 45 clone, had a little excess hum, but he fixed it...

Your issue sounds inherit to that particular amp being cursed for whatever reason, but nice to have him so close. I wouldn't judge all his work based on that one amp.

[Kray]

Cool info Kray, I have owned a couple Oliver amps they were bullet proof and sounded superb. I wish I had another SET amp now  I just landed a pair of Horning Aristotle ultimate speakers I would love to hear them with SET. It would also be great to hear my Omega Max Hemp with SET. The Canary CA330MKII sound phenomenal but are not "TRUE" SET design amps. Going to have to watch for a good 45 amp I suppose...............My wallet is already CRYING 

I believe at one time you had his 71a I was coveting and was to buy it but was too slow.

[joessportster]

You are correct I did have his 71a with all vintage sansui iron. It was a wonderful amp that I kick myself for selling. At that time I was sure I would never have speakers effectient enough for a 3/4 WPC amp again.................."LOOK AT ME NOW MA"

[stylerb]

Ordered some Omega Alnico towers yesterday! They’ll be two tone with chestnut and a surprise choice by Louis! Will definitely post pics down the road. Also interested in one of his amps but they are in limited supply. I also have a Decware Zen Torii 5 on order but I’m on page 13 of the waitlist. Will be selling my Ayre integrated and my Perlistens. Getting back to my audio roots. TT will be next.

[tranchautuan]

Hello everyone, My SAM has been with me for 4 years now.
Things has been good and bad.

-Drive with proper power amp (FW F5 in my case) will give SAM more authority, in a bit sacrifice of transparency, without enough powercord and interconnect it is hardly notice
-Power conditioner (UPS online, iso transformer in my case) will benefit for speaker transparent as SAM. Not all UPS online is the same, pick one without remove the third, fifth... order harmonic.
-Better source ( mini PC with Linear power, OCXO USB card, DDC, proper fiber isolation, good OS and playback software) will also benefit SAM, more transparency, reduce digital glare, and surprisingly , bass respond.
-Room treatment help a lot (ASC, some diffuser,..) in term of bass eveness, and soundstage. quite critical in my small room, but I do it last.

Btw, one pair of speaker won't forever, if anyone know any speaker that can outshine SAM in every aspect, please let me know, I know it will be a different price range , more than 2k.
to share my experience, I've test with Scansonic Mb1.b, Dynaudio bs, Gracioso 1.0..... Only Gracioso 1.0 can beat SAM, but not in imaging, and it a 5k speakers. 

[uncola]

wow great veneer on your pair of SAMs

[bakufu]

new from louis:  a pair of alnico compact monitors. 

elekit 8600S 300B amplifier, borderpatrol SE-i dac, belden 9497 cryo silver cables from tuneful cables.

no surprise:  these sound wonderful right out of the box. 

[uncola]

wow that light colored veneer and grey grill go well with your setup!  very unique veneer

[bakufu]

wow that light colored veneer and grey grill go well with your setup!  very unique veneer

i left the choice of grill color up to louis.  always trust his judgement!

[Canada Rob]

If you look on page 12 of this thread, you’ll see this system as it was originally set up.  That was roughly six years ago.  Due to not having a man cave I incorporated the system into our living room with a humble front end (DIY TPA3116 amp and a Modi 2 DAC, but with good cabling) fed with an iPhone or iPad.  Not long after the picture was taken around Dec 2018 I added a sub.

Fast forward to Dec 2024 and after having an iPad Pro as my sole computer for six years I got a computer again, but the speaker in the M4 Mac Mini was not as good as the iPad.  The challenge was my 27” monitor on a tiny 3’w x 2’d desktop tucked into an alcove of similar size.  I needed a physically tiny stereo system so I took a gamble and ordered two Schiit Rekkrs on clearance to run as mono-blocks, and a pair of PSB Alpha P3 speakers which I put on Kanto tilt up stands.  Brown Wednesday and Black Friday were a great help $$.  This system sounded so good it made me think about upgrading my main system, which actually didn’t get much use due to my dislike of the TPA3116 amp paired with the CAMs.  Generally a good amp, but gets harsh when the volume is turned up.  That, and the CAMs are so revealing of upline gear.

Just putting the CAMs on the beautiful Kanto SX26 stands and pulling them out from the wall made a huge difference in overall sound, especially soundstage depth and instrument placement.
However, the biggest change came when I pulled the TPA3116 out and put a Schiit SYS and Gjallarhorn in its place.  Everything improved dramatically.  Over the years Ive had good success with solid state and Omega matchups, but I think this combo is the best yet.  I’ve tried different types of music with it and have no complaints thus far.  I’ve not logged a lot of time on this system, so time will ultimately tell.  I feel like I’m hearing my CAMs for the first time, and feel they’re just as good as the SAMs but in different ways.  Someone said the CAM is the gateway drug to Omega.  Nope, it’s way up the line.  The Super 3i is the gateway drug for Omega and it’s insanely good both in a room or on a desktop.  Happy rant finished.

[uncola]

I'm still enjoying my CAMs in my desk setup, now driven by schiit ragnarok 2.  hmm you're making me consider putting my small sub back in the setup

[billynine]

My Omega SAMs. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture in a proper set-up at the moment.

[uncola]

You inspired me to drag my huge PSA tv2410 dual 12" subwoofer to my bedroom from the living room home theatre.. now I have infinite bass   lol sorry my setup isn't beautiful at the moment

[Oaksung]

Source: Qobuz/Audirvana
Dac: Geshelli J3
Preamp: Schiit Freya+
Amp: Schiit Aegir 2
Speakers: Omega Super 3i Monitors
Subwoofer: Omega DeepHemp 8 Sub
Interconnects: Mogami 2964

[Canada Rob]

Oaksung,
That is one of the nicest desktop systems I've seen.  As a retired dealer I’ve had many different desktop systems, and to this day, the Super 3i is my favourite speaker…hands down.  Why not a Schiit Dac?  I'm very curious about your choice of Dac, as I’ve never heard of that brand.  Went to their website and their gear looks cool.

[Oaksung]

I've had the Modi and the Modius in the past, they were ok for my lower end setup. The BiFrost is in the price rage of the J3 but i've heard it has a lot of personality. The J3 you can roll the op amps which was the selling point for me, I like to tinker. I went for the Sparkos SS3602. The sound is organic and smooth.