What would you choose for about $1k, ZU DW, SVS Ultra bookshelf or Tekton Lore?

Gosh...anytime you can get a $2,250 pair of loudspeakers directly from the manufacturer for $1k, I'd say go for it. Well done! I have not heard the Omen, but based on other Zu products that I've experienced, I'm sure they will impress.

I'm actually listening to the SVS Ultra Bookshelf speakers as I type this. This speaker is popular with the home theater crowd, but I think it deserves a place in dedicated 2-channel listening rooms too. Build quality is in a completely different league than the Elac Debut or Uni-Fi lines. These little guys render well-recorded piano as well as anything I've heard and image like bandits. Played at reasonable levels, they don't need subs. One could easily do worse for $1k, IMHO.

Of course, they are not going to party like the Omen's... nowhere near it. Enjoy those Zu's!

  Congrats on your Omens. I too have a pair . I’m running a Schiit Yiggy to a Rogue RP-1 to a Had Inspire SEP. I have Klipsch Heresy II’s and KG1.5’s in the closet. The Omens smoke them both even with a sub. Also have JBL 4312A’s but currently lack an amp to run them . Anyway my share is this . I have really thick shag carpet and run the Omens 10 feet apart and the baffles 28” off the back walls . I am using the provided spikes set to max height with a slight upward facing tilt and very slightly toed in . Sounds great . I purchased a pair of 16”x16”x3” solid walnut bases from Timber Nation . Beautiful pieces . Used the provided spikes and spiked the Zu’s onto metal cups . Sounded like a transistor radio in the bottom of a barrel. Talked to the man himself at Zu. Played with the magazines , felt pads, big gap, little gap, and no gap . It was a huge tonal flop . My $400 bases are in the closet waiting for reassignment . I thought the bases would lend a more open sound with greater bass . It was an extreme opposite. So seriously experiment with placement . Also when I roll KT-120’s in place of KT-77’s the bass ( not the fish ) is so profound that I can turn off the sub . Most of the time I run SED Winged C 6550’s. After you’ve had some quality time with your system , might I suggest some low wattage tube power . Your components are well thought out and a petite tube amp would be a cost effective addition that would provide huge flexibility in an allready nice system . I also think that you will have great results with cable selection . Best of health and Happy Listening , Mike B.

@nietzsche007  Congratulations on your choice. And thanks for keeping us updated as well as providing your rationale and thinking. Very helpful. Looking forward to hearing how the Omens work out!

I think you will really enjoy the Zu's especially for providing that "you are there, live music sound".  Make sure you give them a couple hundred hours of burn in time to really smooth out the midrange and get the bass flowing.  If they are at all like the Tektons, then somewhere around the 100 hour range, you can start to gradually tweak the toe in/out and the tilt up/down to really optimize the sound and sound stage...and yes, we all want to hear continued reports of how its going.