Listening to Clari-T-Amp w/ Omegas...

Vinnie R. · « **on:** 4 Mar 2005, 09:35 pm »

All,

I am planning on meeting up with Louis of Omega Loudspeakers for a listening session with the Clari-T-Amp with different Omega speakers.

It looks like we'll be able to do this on Monday or Tuesday evening and I'm really looking forward to it

I know some of you are using your Clari-T-Amp with Omegas and getting great results, and I've been itching to hear them as well.

How sweet would it be if Louis has his hemp-cone prototypes ready to listen to!

I can only wish...

I'll post about our listening session next week (hopefully we'll be able to meet up. Louis is also a very busy man these days!)

Regards,

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #1 on:** 6 Mar 2005, 02:41 am »

I forgot to mention that I will bring a modified Sharp SD-EX111 to our listening session, along with the Clari-T-Amp

mcgsxr · « **Reply #2 on:** 6 Mar 2005, 04:47 pm »

I will be interested to hear what you think of the single driver thang Vinnie, and to hear what Lou thinks also - I suspect great fun will be had, wish I could be there!

smargo · « **Reply #3 on:** 7 Mar 2005, 01:47 am »

Quote

It looks like we'll be able to do this on Monday or Tuesday evening and I'm really looking forward to it I know some of you are using your Clari-T-Amp with Omegas and getting great results, and I've been itching to hear them as well.

Let us know about both units with the omegas and any stuff in the works , etc.

thanks,
smargo

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #4 on:** 7 Mar 2005, 02:13 pm »

Quote from: smargo

Quote
It looks like we'll be able to do this on Monday or Tuesday evening and I'm really looking forward to it I know some of you are using your Clari-T-Amp with Omegas and getting great results, and I've been itching to hear them as well.

Let us know about both units with the omegas and any stuff in the works , etc.

thanks,
smargo

Will do!

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #5 on:** 7 Mar 2005, 07:06 pm »

...I'll be meeting with Louis tonight for a nice listening session.

I will bring the Clari-T-Amp, Custom battery SN DacKit, as well as the modified Sharp SD-EX111. I'll try to listen to a few different pairs of Omegas with this gear, and I will report back soon...

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #6 on:** 9 Mar 2005, 01:17 am »

Quote from: Vinnie R.

...I'll be meeting with Louis tonight for a nice listening session. I will bring the Clari-T-Amp, Custom battery SN DacKit, as well as the modified Sharp SD-EX111. I'll try to listen to a few different pairs of Omegas with this gear, and I will report back soon...

Vinnie,

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #7 on:** 9 Mar 2005, 04:21 am »

All,

Last night was a blast hanging out with Louis and listening to his Omega Speakers paired with the Clari-T-Amp with Custom battery-powered SN DacKit! It was a big ol’ 4-hour listening session, but well worth every minute

First things first… I really found out how much of a great guy Louis is. When I walked in, I found him hard at work building Super 3’s. He was nice enough to take the time out to give me the Grande tour of his new facility, and his various speakers cabinets, finishes, etc. I was impressed with how solid all his cabinets are. Also, if you think the Omega speakers look good on the website, they look better in person! Louis’s craftsmanship is excellent. He is planning on building a sound room in his new facility as well, but since it wasn’t finished, he was kind enough to go out of his way to drive us to his dealer in northern NJ.

At the dealer’s soundroom (medium sized room…sorry I did not get the dimensions), I connected the Custom battery-powered SN DacKit to a massive Pioneer Elite transport. The DAC was then connected to the Clari-T, and we were good to go!

Grande 8’s – I was surprised by the physical size of this bookshelf speaker (much bigger than I expected), and was even more surprised by how much deep and tight bass we were getting with the Clari-T-Amp’s volume barely up loud. This is the Omega speaker with the most SLAM (for my tastes, I would never need a subwoofer with the Grande 8’s)! I put my Bela Fleck UFO Tofu CD and was able to ‘feel’ the music with this very efficient speaker. The medium-sized room we were in was filled with a very big sound. That 8” single driver Fostex speaker even does a nice job with midrange (no crossover to muck things up). I’ve heard of such negative things as “speaker shout” with certain single driver speakers, but I sure wasn’t hearing this with any of the Omega speakers last night…

Super 3’s – This was my favorite speaker I listened to last night

. Talk about a lightning-fast little speaker! It was unbelievably fast, tight, and dynamic, with a gorgeous midrange and plenty of detail. We played my Jacqui Naylor “Shelter” CD, and I was treated to a very wide and deep soundstage and such midrange purity. These speakers also image beautifully! Whatever Louis does to make the little 4” Fostex speaker sound so full, he does it VERY well. The Super 3’s cannot hit as hard or go as deep as the Grande 8’s, but they superbly do everything else. While not as efficient as the Grande 8’s, the Clari-T-Amp was able still able to drive them to loud volumes with such ease.

Grande 6’s – Unfortunately, the dealer did not have the Grande 6’s

. Instead, we listened to the older 6” speaker (TS2) that was replaced with the Grande 6’s. Louis mentioned that the Grande 6’s are similar, but have much improved bass. I’ll be very honest…I only listened to the TS2 for two or three songs (they are discontinued after all). They didn’t have the weight and slam of the Grande 8’s, and they didn’t have that magical speed and imaging of the Super 3’s. That being said, they still were a decent sounding speaker.

The Minuet – Holy $hit, my jaw dropped when I heard how much SLAM these little speakers had

! These speakers look bigger on the Omega webpage, but they are quite the small bookshelf speaker. They sound anything but small. I was hearing bass output on levels that were close to the Grande 8’s! These twin-firing 4” speakers also had a clean midrange and plenty of detail. I was left wondering why the Minuets haven’t become as popular as other Omega’s.

So how about the modded Sharp SD-EX111 with the Omegas? Again, driving them (this time with the Sharp) was a piece of cake. One thing that jumped out at me was that I was able to hear the differences between the sonic signatures of the Clari-T-Amp and Sharp much better with the Omega speakers than with my modified Triangle Titus 202’s. How could this be? I thought it would be the opposite because the Triangles have a tweeter and would be more revealing. I was dead WRONG! We just sat down and listened as the Omegas told the story. There was no doubt about it, the sound of the Clari-T-Amp was more pure, more intimate, more of that “open window” effect. Combined with the battery dac, there was complete background silence. This is not to say the Sharp didn’t perform well…it believe it certainly did and I am very confident that if I used Omegas to compare the stock Sharp to the modified Sharp, it would be quick and easy work to hear the improvements in bass speed, tightness, as well as midrange purity and detail. What struck me very odd that the Clari-T-Amp seemed to act more powerful with the Omegas than the Sharp! On paper, the Sharp is the more powerful amplifier. Last night, the Clari-T-Amp tossed mere paper specs out the window! It clearly had more muscle, more grip, and superior speed and dynamics.

So how did Louis like the Clari-T-Amp? He liked it very much…more so than his $2,000 solid-state amp that is rated at 50 watts per channel! Please don’t ask me to mention the name of this piece that he was comparing it to, but he found the Clari-T-Amp to have more power and not sound anything like a solid-state amp. I’d say he was very surprised indeed, as I was with his speakers. Without saying more about this, Louis will be buying a Clari-T-Amp, and I will be buying a pair of his amazing Super 3’s. I fell in love with the Super 3’s on the first song. “They had me at hello. They had me at hello.” Sorry, just felt like doing a cheesy Jerry Maguire movie rendition

I want to give a big “thank you” to Louis again for inviting me down and taking time out of his insane, work-a-holic schedule (we are very alike in that regard) to give a listen and let me listen to my products pair with his products. He was also very kind to share his experiences with starting up his speaker company, and naturally I was all ears…

GHM · « **Reply #8 on:** 9 Mar 2005, 09:18 am »

Cool vinnie..It's great you got to hear what the ClariT/Omega owners hear everyday! Yeap the FR single driver speakers are the most revealing speakers I have ever owned! That's why it cracks me up when someone post they are looking for a neutral speaker and say the single drivers are colored. HUh

. It seems just the opposite to me..they are uncolored and some can't deal with knowing their upstream components sound like crapola

.

I'm finding out by severly towing the speakers in to cross in front of you does away with the shout. It also makes the images in the soundstage rock solid! At the same time in doesn't effect the width or depth of the soundstage as it does with multi driver speakers.

Sounds like a match made in heaven to these ears!

MegaMe · « **Reply #9 on:** 9 Mar 2005, 11:48 am »

Just wondering... could the clari-t drive the minuet well enough. just because they arent as efficent as the fostex's, and i assume they were wired in series for 8 ohm impedance. On the omega website it lits a 10 watt minimum for drving the minuet. did you notice having to turn the volume higher compared to the fostex's?

pity about the lack of grande 6's. Perhaps the ts33 would be better suited to the clari-t than the 6's because the are similar price, the same size, but can be wired in parallel for 4 ohm impedance?

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #10 on:** 9 Mar 2005, 01:30 pm »

Quote from: MegaMe

Just wondering... could the clari-t drive the minuet well enough. just because they arent as efficent as the fostex's, and i assume they were wired in series for 8 ohm impedance. On the omega website it lits a 10 watt minimum for drving the minuet. did you notice having to turn the volume higher compared to the fostex's?

pity about the lack of grande 6's. Perhaps the ts33 would be better suited to the clari-t than the 6's because the are similar price, the same size, but can be wired in parallel for 4 ohm impedance?

MegaMe, the Clari-T-Amp was able to drive the Minuet very well, but yes, I remember having to turn up the volume a little more than the Fostex based speakers. The Minuet are 90dB at 8-ohms.

I did not hear the TS33s (96dB at 4 ohm), but I'm sure they would work out great with the Clari-T-Amp, as will the 95dB 8-ohm Grande 6's. Both are quite high sensitivity and will be a piece of cake for the Clari-T-Amp.

Regards,

MarcD in NYC · « **Reply #11 on:** 9 Mar 2005, 02:25 pm »

Vinnie, thanks for all your thoughts on the pairing with the Omega speakers. I have been patiently watching and learning about your amp for some time now, to determine how it would fit into my system. And then you had to go and audition the exact speakers I own. I have similar conclusions about the Grande 8's and Super 3's. I love them both for different reasons. I swap them in and out of my system about once a month. There is something amazing about the dynamic speed of the Super 3 that is unique and amazing. Now... what if I start swapping in the Clari-T amp...Hmmmm?

JLM · « **Reply #12 on:** 9 Mar 2005, 03:31 pm »

Vinnie,

You're impressions of the various Omega models and of Louis matches my own. Glad you guys hooked up.

GHM,

Yeah, I guess "those guys" have never heard a "real" single driver speaker (other than car stereos).

miklorsmith · « **Reply #13 on:** 9 Mar 2005, 03:35 pm »

into an existing system? My strategy is 1) sell the old stuff; and 2) replace with new stuff.

My super killer tubed pre is even teetering on the brink, in favor of a cheesy source selector box. The tubed CDP is safe though. For now.

Louis O · « **Reply #14 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 12:39 am »

Hi Vinnie,

Many thanks for the great post and your kind words regarding me and the speakers. I'm so happy that we got together. It was great to finally meet you in person and hear the Clari-t amp. To say I’m thrilled with the amp is an understatement and I was very impressed. The synergy with all the speakers is amazing and this is the best SS amp I’ve heard. Dynamics, pace, rhythm, and scale where amazing. I also couldn’t believe the output with just 6 watts. It drove everything we played with no problems at all. The super 3s really got my attention with the imaging too. I was hearing such a huge soundstage.

I really can’t wait to get mine and hopefully soon the soundroom will be up and running with all the speakers, so we have to get together again and listen to all the new stuff.

Thanks again for the opportunity to listen to the Clari-t. It a fantastic amp and an unbelievable value.

Talk to you soon,
Louis

JLM · « **Reply #15 on:** 13 Mar 2005, 01:11 pm »

Vinnie,

After you've shipped my amp out, perhaps it'd be a good idea to offer samples to other speaker manufacturers similar to Louis to get their impressions/endorsements. I'm sure several here could give you suggestions.

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #16 on:** 13 Mar 2005, 03:42 pm »

Quote from: JLM

Vinnie,

After you've shipped my amp out, perhaps it'd be a good idea to offer samples to other speaker manufacturers.

What do mean after he ships out your amp?

What about my amp?

Is there any reason why your amp would be more important then my amp? :

:

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #17 on:** 13 Mar 2005, 03:50 pm »

Vinnie,
Like JLM said, I have a suggestion... Why don't you send his amp out on tour to various reviewers and manufacturers? :

: What better way to show your appreciation, Jeff?

smargo · « **Reply #18 on:** 13 Mar 2005, 04:46 pm »

Quote

Vinnie,
Like JLM said, I have a suggestion... Why don't you send his amp out on tour to various reviewers and manufacturers? : : What better way to show your appreciation, Jeff?

I woke up this morning and found 2 cents in my pajamas that i would like to contribute. What the heck would vinni want send his amp out to different manufacturers for? That sounds desperate!

He has such a winner - let them come to him - it's already starting to happen. He's got the gold - they will soon all come running.

The pennies were burning a hole in my pocket.

Thanks,
smargo

mmitchel · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 Jul 2005, 01:58 am »

I know this is going backwards in time but I am thinking about the Minuet vs. the Super 3

It seems the speed makes the biggest impression with the Super 3's as opposed to the Slam that the minuets have. I'm probably more of a slam kind of guy.

What I want most though is too have my room (about 15 x 15) filled with sound with the infamous "disappearing" speakers. I would lean torwards a minuet with all else being equal but I'm curious how these 2 speakers would compare on these 2 criteria

BTW, let's assume we are using a Clari-T amp