Introducing the Omega Speakers Latest Release - The Sticks

Incredible imaging, cohesive sound, great tone - we hear these terms so often in audio reviews that it feels that they have lost all meaning.


So how do I go about describing the Omega Sticks without using these over used, stereotyped descriptions?  How do I go about describing these port tuned speakers that are the new design by Omega Speaker Systems?  Well I can't, I can only give you examples of the emotions that these tall, slim speakers somehow dredge up out of me. 



For me The Sticks are about emotional connection. When I hear the notes of a piano through The Sticks I have flash backs of growing up.  The tone strikes a chord so right that I'm back home with the family piano being played.  Two of my younger sisters were formally trained and while the endless playing could drive the most devoted music lover crazy, it also has embedded my love of great musical composition and the recognition that great tone is difficult to replicate through music reproduction.  This doesn't just happen with a piano or even just stringed instruments, it happens with every instrument.  I can listen to a jazz composition and the pitch of a trumpet hits me with the same spine tingling sensation that I first experienced when I heard a great trumpet player live.  This is happening time and time again no matter the genre.  The performance doesn't change weather it's a single instrument, an orchestra, or the greatest instrument of them all - the human voice.



Omega Speaker Systems is a one man outift located in Norwalk, Connecticut in the USA.  This one man is Louis Chochos.  Louis is a strong beliver of single driver speakers.  There are many things that indicate to me that Louis is a perfectionist of the highest order.  His cabinet construction is impecable, his driver design is manufactured to his specifications and the attention to detail - from selection and alignment of the timber veneers to the use of brass screws in the driver mounting show that Louis is serious about his sound.  As a small company Louis has the flexibility to make speakers his way.  He doesn't need to adhere to budgeting issues from bean counters, all he needs to do is walk into his workshop and build the idea and test.

Now there are a few haters of single driver speakers (also known as a full range speaker).  They will quote the same old lines of power handling problems, trouble with playing really condensed passages of music and not being able to play the full range even though they are called full range drivers.  I sometimes wonder if these guys have listened to modern single driver speakers or if they have listened to old drivers with poorly designed cabinets and decided that all full range speakers sound like this.  I will admit that most single driver speakers lack some of the bottom end (below 40Hz), however I have found this with most speakers on the market.  I prefer to use two sub-woofers in stereo in most set ups as I can locate these at optimal positions and the subs have no way of causing resonant problems if they were to be located in the same cabinet.



I could write all day about all of the features and benefits that Omega Speakers have - such as the triple sandwich cabinet design, high quality drivers or the research and development that Louis has spent getting all of his speakers to sound the way he wants them.  I recommend that you visit his site and explore these features for yourself at http://www.omegaloudspeakers.com/

What I believe matters the most is how they sound, trusting in your ears is the most important of all.  There is no point to great design if the end product doesn't perfom well.  I asked Louis what his intention with The Sticks design was and the main thing he mentioned was imaging.  And boy did he get it right.  The sound stage is wide, deep and wonderful.  They have the ability to bring the music alive through this soundstaging.  Instrument seperation is clear without being sterile, articulate without fragility.  For me and my room which is quite long with high ceilings, The Sticks benefit from the use of two Omega Deephemp Cube Subs.  It's not that The Sticks have trouble producing base it's just when the subs are added the lower body of music really fills out the way I like it.  In a smaller room the subs wouldn't be needed to the same extent.  With a bottom port The Sticks are easy to place in a room and help with producing realistic tone down to 36Hz. 



The Sticks provide that unique cohesive sound that only single drivers have the ability to do.  A single point source with no crossovers to colour the sound make sure of this.  With a sensitivity rating of 93dB at 8 ohms The Sticks allow you to concentrate on quality of signal rather than trying to provide outright power.  Feed them with a clean and clear signal and they will reward you with glorious sound.  Coupled with the Red Wine Audio Signature 30.2 The Sticks highlight the tube warmth and sweetness while having a solid grounding that Red Wine Audio is renowned for.  The combination is outstanding.



I'm not going to tell you that The Sticks are perfect.  I don't believe that they play full-on heavy metal well.  It doesn't help for me to be objective about this as it isn't a genre I enjoy.  I know that I have fallen into the trap of using all of the sterotyped cliches that I was hoping to avoid but I guess there's only a certain amount of ways of describing how a speaker sounds.  So please excuse me as I'm about to go for broke.

With their natural tone, responsive driver speed, outstanding imaging, cohesive sound and effortless performance The Sticks bring about an emotional response that has you going back for more.  After all isn't that what good music is all about?