+1 on the Omegas... I'm with @jayctoy @ihor @jmolsberg recommending the Omega speakers, and the owner Louis C is fantastic to work with, bar none!
I've owned Klipsch Heresies for a few years, I've owned the Zu Essence for a couple of years as well and I've listened to Druids, but none of these sounded as good to my ears as the Omegas. I had a pair of the Super Alnico monitors, which I then traded up for the Super Alnico HO monitors, and I also still have a pair of the 3i. The Omegas are speakers that I have held onto for substantially longer than any other speakers in my system, and really not looking to change anytime soon.
What have my Omegas brought to the table compared to these others? As others have said, and IMO as well, they are extremely "musical", and have the naturalness, richness and necessary speed that consistently puts goosebumps on your body when you listen to well recorded performances, especially with voices, guitar, piano, strings, horns, etc. They throw out a better holographic and dimensional soundstage where performers don't feel like flat cardboard cutouts, the instrument tonality is spot on, and detail is tremendous, without the glaring, etchy sound of the others. They also do pretty well with less than stellar recordings. And in case you are wondering, even though they are boxes, they don't have a "boxy" sound to them.
I notice that the Omegas only get better as your upstream components get better, and yes, wires are a also a component IMO. That, my friends, is ultimate transparency; garbage in, garbage out! BTW, I have to mention that I am a SET tube guy, and I prefer to power the Omegas with my 300b based Coincident monoblocks, but I have also gotten really good results with a class D Red Dragon S500 amp, as well as a First Watt F7 class A amp, both of which I owned as well.
Now all this being said, 2 important points to realize: 1) if you are looking to rock out at high decibels with Metallica, you'd be much better off with the Klipsch or Zu speakers and 2) since I have monitors, I get awesome results with a subwoofer in the mix; I might get by without a sub, but it only adds to the enjoyment of the music by getting those lower octaves, even though I am not a bass hound.
I've owned Klipsch Heresies for a few years, I've owned the Zu Essence for a couple of years as well and I've listened to Druids, but none of these sounded as good to my ears as the Omegas. I had a pair of the Super Alnico monitors, which I then traded up for the Super Alnico HO monitors, and I also still have a pair of the 3i. The Omegas are speakers that I have held onto for substantially longer than any other speakers in my system, and really not looking to change anytime soon.
What have my Omegas brought to the table compared to these others? As others have said, and IMO as well, they are extremely "musical", and have the naturalness, richness and necessary speed that consistently puts goosebumps on your body when you listen to well recorded performances, especially with voices, guitar, piano, strings, horns, etc. They throw out a better holographic and dimensional soundstage where performers don't feel like flat cardboard cutouts, the instrument tonality is spot on, and detail is tremendous, without the glaring, etchy sound of the others. They also do pretty well with less than stellar recordings. And in case you are wondering, even though they are boxes, they don't have a "boxy" sound to them.
I notice that the Omegas only get better as your upstream components get better, and yes, wires are a also a component IMO. That, my friends, is ultimate transparency; garbage in, garbage out! BTW, I have to mention that I am a SET tube guy, and I prefer to power the Omegas with my 300b based Coincident monoblocks, but I have also gotten really good results with a class D Red Dragon S500 amp, as well as a First Watt F7 class A amp, both of which I owned as well.
Now all this being said, 2 important points to realize: 1) if you are looking to rock out at high decibels with Metallica, you'd be much better off with the Klipsch or Zu speakers and 2) since I have monitors, I get awesome results with a subwoofer in the mix; I might get by without a sub, but it only adds to the enjoyment of the music by getting those lower octaves, even though I am not a bass hound.