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Review of Analysis Audio OMEGA Ribbon/Panel (APOGEE KILLER)

Posted by DIAVOLO (A) on February 11, 2005 at 20:05:09

Hey There!

I just heard the Analysis Audio OMEGA loudspeakers at Audible Arts, Inc. in San Jose, CA. I am a former employer of the owner, but we still have business together related to a new product he will be my dealer for my K2 Edition Media Server www.niveusmedia.com - shameless plug!

As a former audio dealer I have heard tons of speakers I have sold in the past & dozens & dozens more between other stores, dealers, friends, CES, T.H.E. Show, Stereophile,(Dali, B&W, VSA, Meadowlark, Newform Ribbons, Avalons, Maggies, Quads, Apogees, Wilson, Krell, Martin Logan, MBLs (they are my fav too), Avantgarde (top 5), & plenty of others too, etc)

I love Von Schweikert speakers & have owned them in the past & was considering the VR-4SR Gen 4, but they have been held up again until April.

I was waiting to hear the APOGEE-LIKE Analysis Audio speakers, & it was so worth the wait.

I happen to be at the store when DHL arrived yesterday (1/31/05) & I wasn't expecting them as I had been told by Jeff, the owner, they would arrive Thursday. We were happy to see the wood crates off loaded from the truck which could only be panel speakers judging by the rectangular slim crates.

We set them up & put them on some ASL Monsoon (100wpc/rms/KT88) mono-blocks which are about $3K, unless they when up in the last 6 months.

The Apogees would bare register with such a small amount of power, but the Analysis can be driven with 50 watt tube power, but I found that 150wpc of good solid state was much more enjoyable. (Feedback of good solid-state works well with these speakers)

I am a SET tube nut, I own an Art Audio Diavolo 13wpc SET amplifer. I love this amplifier & have sworn never to part with it. I was praying I could biamp the Analysis speakers with the SET on the ribbon & the solid-state (DKDESIGNGROUP VS-1 150WPC tube-hybrid integrated) using the remote/volume of the VS-1 to match the gain with the Diavolo.

Now you know my biases & tastes more clearly.

Out of the box the Omegas were really magical & were doing things that was making me very optimistic. Within in moments I was like, WHOA!

The midrange was too forward at 1st, but still exhibited signs of beautiful coherence, pin-point imaging, great delineation between images, & a very palpable SET like sound.

Within an hour, the midrange was falling into place, we adjusted speaker position & that improved the midrange position in the sound stage as well.

This OMEGA & the AMPHITRON both handle 22Hz-20 KHz, so I wanted to know could these bring the bass.

Over the course of the next few hours several things occurred rapidly.

1) Bass- Sense of scale, definition, amplitude began to come into its own. By this I mean what was at first tight, thin, but articulate became quickly full, rich, detailed, tight, & downright gut wrenching sense of scale on crescendos, tympani, orchestral pieces, & organs.

2) The soundstage exploded in size with great depth, width, & height.

3) The micro dynamics & small subtle ambient cues materialized in very emotionally provoking ways, again very SET like.

4) Midrange was no longer the only thing that was perfect; everything became a complete cohesive wall of perfect sound.

By evening time we attempted bi-amping the OMEGAs with my 13WPC Diavolo SET on the mid/tweeter ribbon, & the DK Design group 150wpc solid-state integrated on the bottom end.

The midrange was greatly improved, but unfortunately my volume was limited too much by the Diavolo. I just couldn't see the 2 ever being an adequate match. The input sensitivity of the Diavolo is very high & to get the solid-state amp to play synergistically together was just not worth the pain of constant adjustment.

I felt so depressed.

I then bi-wired the DK Design Group integrated onto the Omegas solely.

GOOD GOD IN HEAVEN I HAVE HEARD THE SOUNDS OF ANGELS!!!!

#1 The $3,000 DK DESIGN GROUP is a very musical piece of solid-state that I bought because it had a bottom end that was better than $6K Class A amps from Plinius/Threshold. It also has a very nice midrange that is better than most of the solid-state amplifiers out there under $6000. As a SET lover for me to even buy a solid-state amplifer was tantamount to heresy! (Albeit a hybrid with a nice tube input -- USE THE MULLARD ECC NOS tubes the stock tubes are not indicative of what this amp can sound like.)

This is a very well built amplifer with a great build quality, great looks, & a sound that it just doesn't deserve to have at its $3K price.

The sound of the OMEGAS with the DK powering them was nothing short of breathtaking. Within minutes I exclaimed at the top of my lungs to my audio-buddy Mike & the store owner, Jeff Wells, "I'm selling my SET!" I just couldn't find flaws with the things I was hearing.

To get the ambience, decay, micro/macro detail, soundstage, depth, palpability, coherence, transients, tonal richness, detail, transparency, sense of scale & impact, unbelievable gut wrenching bass, impact, & any other descriptive you can associate with perfection was so overwhelming with these speakers & this amp that I am selling my Diavolo on Audiogon tomorrow.

I ordered my OMEGAS today & wish the price hadn't gone up already, but I don't care ($10K to $11,500!!)

These are APOGEE/SCINTILLA KILLERS. They have everything they had, but so much more, & without the need for 1000's of KRELL watts to make them come alive.

The best sound we heard that night was setup as follows.

Analysis Plus (coincidentally) Silver interconnects, Silver biwire speaker cable.

BENCHMARK DAC1 directly driving the DK Design Group VS-1

The Monsoons are great too, we tried the EAD & I didn't care for it.
I still think good solid state is really optimal for these speakers though.

SideNote: (This was the following weekend at Jeff's store, 6 guys, all afternoon, having a ball with the Omegas)---The Spectron Musician II went very well with these speakers, & I never liked that amplifier until I heard it with the Omegas. These speakers deserve low distortion & high resolution power & will reward you kindly in return with chills, and it wasn't bright or grainy or too analytical either.

I don't even like orchestral pieces because they are hard to reproduce convincingly without congesting, compressing, etc.

These speakers made me want to listen to classical & big orchesstral pieces.

Ciao,

Joey Carcopo
j.carcopo@niveusmedia.com

(OMEGA's are the 2nd to larger or top of the line AMPHITRON -- Priced at $12,500 which is the new higher price because of the EURO & the new crate cartons they are shipped from Greece instead of card board boxes)

• Pictures of the Analysis Audio Omegas Ribbon/Planer speakers   (Open in New Window)

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