As to performance. I think most everyone who follows this circle has heard a large number of reviews of the RS5 based HO speakers. This version is a bit different in that Louis widened the front baffle to 14 inches to match the bottom cabinet he was building for the 8 inch dual woofers. So stacking the monitors on the sub cabinets provides a symmetrical look and stability.
I mentioned I use a lot of AudioCircle companies. Between the monitor and Sub cabinets I am using Herbie Audio Labs Von Schweikert Special fat dots for module decoupling. This uses four Big Fat Dots plus one Square Fat Dots per speaker. They have some tackiness without being messy that keep the monitors very secure and appear to work well in decoupling the cabinets.
Behind the speakers are some GIK Alpha 6 bass panels with some diffraction plates. I wanted to try and control some of the back wall influence - especially since the subs of open baffle.
As a mentioned earlier, for the bass I feed a signal into a Mini DSP 4x10 that controls level, crossover and room correction. The Omega Monitors receive a direct RCA from a Decware Super Zen Triode so I am not altering the signal to the monitors at all.
After running many REW test signals I finally ended up here:
This is the Left/Right channel overlaid on each other. As mentioned earlier I like a house curve and I have purposely tipped the bass region up about 5 db. That is why between 20 - 200 the measured SPL is around 82 and 200 and above is around 77 db.
For just the bass region here is a view with no smoothing (sorry this picture is a bit blurry):
This resulting response in this image was helped out quite a bit by the GIK bass panels as there were a number of rather large dips most likely being generated by the back wall interference/cancellation.
So what does this all mean.
I am not sure if all of you know about OB sub response. Well, I would describe it as super fast, no overhang, and finely defined. Drums really sound like something hitting a drum head, not mushy. Bass guitar you can hear the string being plucked. When you add this with the Omega Monitors which are also super fast, very articulate and layered, the sound field that is generated is mesmerizing.
Now, I also added the RAAL tweeter. In this set up it is a must add. The extra reach the high end has is a perfect match with the now complete bottom end. However, a word of warning. Do not add this type of ambient tweeter if you are only running the Omega Monitors. While the Omega do reach down below 100 hz, due to their size there just is not what I would call the OOMPH. Adding the extra extension without the bass tips the presentation too much to the treble. Louis has it correct, no extra tweeter is needed with just the monitor alone.
Some recent examples that may connect with some of you were striking to me.
One was with Pandora off the OPPO (which by the way is integrated extremely nice and sounds great. They have somehow added the rear channels as ambience very similar to how Meridian did Trifield).
It was Fleetwood Mac's The Chain. If you know this song it has some heavy drum and about 3/4 of the way into the song there is a solo bass section that leads into a drug progression. That section with these speakers was so good. You could hear each pluck of the bass and each drum strike and add into the harmonies on the vocals the Omega adds it sent shivers down my back.
The next example, was Pink Floyd's In the Flesh? off the Wall album. I am going to steal for Wikipedia to help set up this song. As with the other songs on The Wall, "In the Flesh" tells a segment of the story of Pink, the story's protagonist. This song marks the first of a series of songs in which Pink, in a drug-induced hallucination, believes himself to be a fascist dictator, crowing over his faithful audience; this particular song is his hallucination that his concerts can be likened to a political rally. He begins exhorting his fans to show their devotion to him by throwing undesirables such as "queers", Jews, and "coons", "up against the wall". He punctuates the end of the song with "If I had my way I'd have all of you shot!". The incited crowd then chant Pink's name as the song segues into "Run Like Hell".
The introduction of the song features an explosive organ sequence. Following this, the song then moves into a slightly quieter choir chorus, before the lyrical section. The end of the song features another organ sequence, and the song fades out to the chanting of "Pink! Floyd! Pink! Floyd!".
Not mentioned in this description is that each time they sing "up against the wall" there are tremendous drum strikes. The dynamics of the Omega Monitors in the quite choral sections punctuated by the heavy heavy drum strikes is so good.
What I also find fascinating is that the noise level of this set up is super quite and black. Now this is where I have to give Dave at Zenwave credit. I have added several of his companies products into my system and with each addition background noise, hiss and all factor of AC influence have been greatly reduced. Backgound noise, even with super effecient Omega speakers and the Decware SET amp, is remarkably low and when music is played the illusion is that sound emerges from Inky Black. You have to put you ear right up to the drivers to hear any noise. This is a testament to both Louis and Daves work.
The final thoughts I want to convey is these speakers are also fantastic in a home theather set up. I have removed my center channel speaker and run Phantom and this set up works great. Some may scoff but unless you are way off center you do not lose anything. Now, add the subs into the equation you are get bliss. I find movie theather soundtrack playback to be horrid when you go to the theather. Way too loud and way to much bass (at least way too much muddy bass). It hurts my hearing. At home the explosive soundtracks do not hurt my hearing and with how fast the bass is now the reproduction of loud events have a more viseral feeling. I can play very loud (even with a 2 watt SET amp) and the Omega's do not strain. Every thing is crystal clear and the impact is crazy.
An example of this was the last couple episodes of Game of Thrones. When the zombie bear atacked in episode 6 it was so freaking real sounding and litterly had me jump out of my seat. In episode 7, when the Night King took down the wall with the zombie dragon the impact was amazing. So much good bass and extension. The Omega's never strained and the bass was better than anything I have ever heard.
Now I do have to add that I have another OB Sub (triple 12's from GR Research) that adds the very bottom end so I am sure that plays a factor, but in total, this set up is everthing I have ever wanted and Louis' work helping me with this experience has resulted is something amazing (to me).
Chris
