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Hi Ray and welcome to the Omega AudioCircle,The Mini Me is before my time with Omega and I've been with Omega for almost 7 years, and Louis has been constantly perfecting his art since. The first Omega speaker I heard was the Super 5 Monitor which had the 4.5" HempCone which would be a substantial upgrade over the older small Omegas with their Fostex and other drivers including the Mini Me. The Super 5 was the speaker that converted me to single driver speakers. The replacement for the Super 5 is the Super 3U using the current RS5 4.5" driver. The Super 3U is a quantum improvement over the excellent Super 5. I say all this to give you some perspective as to how the Mini Me would compare to the current Omegas.....it wouldn't. Does that mean the Mini Me is a poor speaker? Not at all, it's just progress, not to mention I don't believe Louis ever made a dud speaker. If you can get the Mini Me cheap enough, they are definitely worth a try for testing the single driver waters.The Super 3i is Louis' entry level monitor and would be in the category of the Mini Me in the scheme of things and yet there would still be no contest between it and the Mini Me.Mini MeSuper 3i
The concept makes sense to me, but of the single-fullrange-driver systems I've heard, for every thing they do well, there's three things they don't do well at all.
The Mini-Me was an odd ball, one-off product, Louis' first non-Fostex driver offering - before the hemps. It wasn't in production to very long and as I recall it has the smallest driver ever used in an Omega speaker. I believe it was Louis' attempt to provide something for desktop listening (a concept that was quite forward thinking for it's day). So I'd say, they represent Louis' cabinet building skill and perhaps his "house sound", but not the current sound.But single driver in enclosure designs, especially in near-field listening, provides coherency, imaging, and midrange purity that other designs struggle to match. I've said it many times, there is no perfect speaker, just good matches to your sonic priorities and situation.Have fun Ray and please report back on your impressions. I have logged about 12 hrs on these so far. I moved them back about 18". The sound stage now seems taller. The imaging is sooo good! The bass is obviously thin,however,I really didn't expect any thing else given the size of the driver. The 2 subs are doing a good job of pulling up the slack. Over the last couple of days I have listened to jazz,blues,acoustic,rock,on vinyl,cd,and spotify. I am very,very taken with these obsolete speakers!! At this point,I am going to keep listening and experimenting with placement,and as it stands now,I can't ignore how well this single driver performs in my system.
[quote author=dB Cooper link=topic=138976.msg1480348#msg1480348 date=1448763321The concept makes sense to me, but of the single-fullrange-driver systems I've heard, for every thing they do well, there's three things they don't do well at all. Yes, please tell what those three things are.
In the case of single driver systems, the three things I have heard from all the single driver systems I have heard are:Limited dynamic range. They sound good at modest volume but choke on large peaks or at high SPL levels, sounding compressed. Not the best choice for large rooms perhaps.Significant colorations. I have never heard a system of this type that I would describe as 'neutral'. I think some of what I hear has to do with IM artifacts, as a single driver system must operate well past its cone break up point. The rest I attribute to the difficulty of making a transducer 'flat' over a broad range (simple FR deviations).Poor extension at low or high frequencies (and usually both). Poor dispersion (beaming) which makes for a small 'sweet spot' (a trait they share with planars) so, if you're listening with friends, you'll each hear something very different.OOPS, that was four, sorry I ran over.None of these may matter as much to someone else and I freely admit there is no perfect two-or-multi-way system either. But you asked, so that's how I see hear it.
As far as comparing other single driver speakers to Omegas, I've tried the John Blue JB3 and JB4. I had the JB3s on the desktop driven by a KingRex T20U and they sounded pretty good except they had that HiFi midbass hump which made the bass on some songs boomy. I then got some Omega Super 3i (hemp driver) and put them in the same place - no contest, bye bye JB3. No midbass hump, not to mention everything improved including frequency extension. I then put in a Decware SE84C+ with KingRex UD-01 DAC/PSU MK2 and to this day it was one of the best desktop systems I've ever heard - so balanced.I played the JB4s in a room system with a Decware SE84C+ and they were completely trounced by the Omega Super 5 Monitors. Next up was hooking the JB4s up to a Cyrus 6VS integrated amp in a larger room. This is where the JB4 came into it's own, but it was more HiFi sounding than the Decware/Omega combo. Both the John Blues are in the high 80s for efficiency which makes them poor mates for delicious sounding flea powered SETs. Among other excellent features of Omegas, is their high efficiency. Most other single driver companies are unable break through that threshold into where Omegas are, so more powerful and complex amplifiers are needed taking away some of the live presence that Louis' speakers are famous for when paired with a good flea SET or a musical little chip amp.
In the case of single driver systems, the three things I have heard from all the single driver systems I have heard are:Limited dynamic range. They sound good at modest volume but choke on large peaks or at high SPL levels, sounding compressed. Not the best choice for large rooms perhaps.Significant colorations. I have never heard a system of this type that I would describe as 'neutral'. I think some of what I hear has to do with IM artifacts, as a single driver system must operate well past its cone break up point. The rest I attribute to the difficulty of making a transducer 'flat' over a broad range (simple FR deviations).Poor extension at low or high frequencies (and usually both). Poor dispersion (beaming) which makes for a small 'sweet spot' (a trait they share with planars) so, if you're listening with friends, you'll each hear something very different.
Great question dB Copper,Omegas are the first full rangers I've owned. I've also been very interested in the FH3 with enabled Alpair 7.3 but was too timid to assemble mine and passed it on to another gentlemen. I did hear one full raner about 4 year ago at an audio show from Europe that was easily in the five figures with built in amp and that was amazing. But five figures is not even in the realm of consideration. it did sound absolutely amazing. Don't remember the make unfortunately. I did a review of the Omega Super 3i in the review forum. For the first time, the RS5 based drivers stopped my search - but that's with a pair of subs. May I ask what is it about full rangers that you did not like? UL
