Omega Super Alnico Monitor/Aric Audio SE KT88

I had been eying these speakers for over a year now and finally a pair came up for sale with the matching Skylan stands and I just could not resist. The previous owner had ordered them with contrasting wood veneers, cherry front and back and darker wenge on the sides and top and the quality of the workmanship and the attention to matching the veneers is excellent. They look beautiful. Anticipating this eventual purchase, I came across and purchased an Aric Audio Single Ended KT88 amplifier to match his preamp which I had bought a couple of years ago. Coincidentally and completely out of luck the preamp and the amp have the same exact matching silver chassis.The preamp/amp combination sounded real good even driving my Vandersteen 2Ci speakers but with the Omegas they really came to life.  I already have a single driver back-horn loaded speaker pair in my upstairs system but these Omega speakers are in a completely different league. I'm still trying to optimize their placement since I arrived on Saturday but compared with Vandersteen 2Cis in the same exact system/room their level of transparency and speed is truly exceptional. The Vandys have a warmer sound with more rounded musical edges and a bit better soundstage but the imaging and the level of detail out of the Omegas is highly addictive and a real treat. The bass is not quite as deep but is clearly more defined and tighter. In some respect for most of the type of music I listen to I actually find the bass sound more "real" and not as loose and I think I'll be able to get the soundstage and the bass better dialed in with some room placement experiments. As a bonus, the room looks much less cluttered with the standmounts in the same spots.
I think I finally get why such a buzz about these speakers. And Aric's SE KT88 amplifier is also a very nice piece of gear.