Germanboxers really said it all in his response.
I converted to a Single Drive Low Watt setup last year. Mentally it was a big step and truthfully, I don't think I could have done it if I hadn't gotten a chance to hear this approach before I took the plunge. After having lived with my setup now, I'm a total convert.
What I get with my single drive Omegas is a speed, coherency and a very unbox like sound with the best soundstaging and imaging capabilities of any speakers I've owned. I have two systems set up, besides my Omega Decware system, I have another that I rotate Kef LS50's and Harbeth P3ESR's in and out of. I have to say, it's hard to listen to the Kefs and Harbeths after listening to the Omegas. Both sound slow, boxy and very discontinuous. It's like you can hear the transition from the midrange to the tweeter and I also hear an odd phasiness with those speakers that the Omegas don't have. It's common for two way speakers to have the tweeters wired out of phase with the woofers and both the Kefs and Harbeths are designed this way. It's possible that I can now hear this after living with the Omegas. Before I owned the Omegas, I never even heard these colorations, now they jump out at me instantly. When listening to the Omegas I am often reminded of the sound I used to get with some Magnepans I used to have.
That said, I can understand where the single driver concept isn't for everyone. Shortcomings of my system and I can easily live with them is that the sound ultimately isn't as big or with the impact of traditional speakers. After all, this is a single small driver and at the end of the day, it's not going to move as much air as a big multi way system. For me, it's not an issue, but for others, I could understand how it could be. I know some people play their music quite loud and for those folks, I'm sure some of them would miss some of the big sound you get from multiple driver setups.
Also, ultimate bass response is limited. According to my SPL meter, in my room, my Omega's start to roll off right at 60hz. I'm not a bass freak so it's not a big deal and there are other single driver speakers with larger drivers so as you move up in driver size, this should become less of an issue.
Don't get me wrong, my system will play loud and with impact, but if you are the type of person that blasts Midnight Oil with 100db+ peaks, you'll notice that they don't have the slam that a comparable well designed two way with bigger drivers has.
As far as music styles, I'm all over the place. Basically everything except for hardcore rap and heavy metal.
Today I sold a turntable on Craigslist. Guy who bought it came to pick it up (he's got a vintage Mcintosh tube system) and didn't really know anything about the flea power single driver approach. Before telling him that my equipment was two watts and one little driver, I played a song for him. After a minute, I took the grills off and said, "this is just a single driver crossoverless speaker" and I told him the amp powering it was two watts.
He got a funny look on his face and thought I was playing tricks on him. Wanted to know if my corner room treatments were actually the speakers or if there was some more drivers on the back of the Omegas. He seemed to really be impressed and just kept smiling.
Good luck with your decision and let us know how it ends up.
I converted to a Single Drive Low Watt setup last year. Mentally it was a big step and truthfully, I don't think I could have done it if I hadn't gotten a chance to hear this approach before I took the plunge. After having lived with my setup now, I'm a total convert.
What I get with my single drive Omegas is a speed, coherency and a very unbox like sound with the best soundstaging and imaging capabilities of any speakers I've owned. I have two systems set up, besides my Omega Decware system, I have another that I rotate Kef LS50's and Harbeth P3ESR's in and out of. I have to say, it's hard to listen to the Kefs and Harbeths after listening to the Omegas. Both sound slow, boxy and very discontinuous. It's like you can hear the transition from the midrange to the tweeter and I also hear an odd phasiness with those speakers that the Omegas don't have. It's common for two way speakers to have the tweeters wired out of phase with the woofers and both the Kefs and Harbeths are designed this way. It's possible that I can now hear this after living with the Omegas. Before I owned the Omegas, I never even heard these colorations, now they jump out at me instantly. When listening to the Omegas I am often reminded of the sound I used to get with some Magnepans I used to have.
That said, I can understand where the single driver concept isn't for everyone. Shortcomings of my system and I can easily live with them is that the sound ultimately isn't as big or with the impact of traditional speakers. After all, this is a single small driver and at the end of the day, it's not going to move as much air as a big multi way system. For me, it's not an issue, but for others, I could understand how it could be. I know some people play their music quite loud and for those folks, I'm sure some of them would miss some of the big sound you get from multiple driver setups.
Also, ultimate bass response is limited. According to my SPL meter, in my room, my Omega's start to roll off right at 60hz. I'm not a bass freak so it's not a big deal and there are other single driver speakers with larger drivers so as you move up in driver size, this should become less of an issue.
Don't get me wrong, my system will play loud and with impact, but if you are the type of person that blasts Midnight Oil with 100db+ peaks, you'll notice that they don't have the slam that a comparable well designed two way with bigger drivers has.
As far as music styles, I'm all over the place. Basically everything except for hardcore rap and heavy metal.
Today I sold a turntable on Craigslist. Guy who bought it came to pick it up (he's got a vintage Mcintosh tube system) and didn't really know anything about the flea power single driver approach. Before telling him that my equipment was two watts and one little driver, I played a song for him. After a minute, I took the grills off and said, "this is just a single driver crossoverless speaker" and I told him the amp powering it was two watts.
He got a funny look on his face and thought I was playing tricks on him. Wanted to know if my corner room treatments were actually the speakers or if there was some more drivers on the back of the Omegas. He seemed to really be impressed and just kept smiling.
Good luck with your decision and let us know how it ends up.