“It makes me feel weird”
My first thoughts after a decade long journey to the arrival of my ideal sound system at least, for right now, in this space. When I listen to my newly acquired speakers (Omega DynaTens) paired with the rest of my hi-fi gear, the phrase that keeps popping in my brain is: ‘Records are your best entertainment value’.
There is a life to my vinyl playback that simply doesn’t exist anywhere else I listen to music. Nothing else can imitate the immense sound-staging and width of practically any recording that passes through the currents of my system. Don’t worry, I have A/B’d digital, CDs, bluetooth, different speakers, and different amps several times and I’m still sure (until I’m not….) that this is the best my music has ever sounded. I have slowly been building this system, trading up, selling an amp to buy another turntable for the last 10 years and Im excited to reach the end in this particular space (ok, I may swap out some tubes….). My setup is:
VPI Scout 1.1 > ATP-33PTG MC Cartridge > Parks Phono Puffin > Schitt Freya S > Muzishare X7 with Mullard KT88 Tubes> SVS Micro 3000 Sub > Omega DynaTens
I didn’t necessarily have any end goal in mind, but went off a series of hunches and followed my ear to end up here. I like to listen to music loud so I wanted something that was like my previous speakers (KEF LS50 Meta) only…bigger. I’ve found the character of the DynaTens to be revealing without being offensive and warm without too much coloration. Their sweet spot feels wide and I really feel like the player is in the room, an experience I have never had before and one that takes a little getting used to.
So much has been written about hi-fi gear and boutique listening, but I don’t really care about measurements, frequency graphs, or having the electric company route new ultra quiet cable to my listening room. I have a particular taste and am able to follow my ear towards what I like. Someone who streams music and loves that may find my system overly warm and not punchy enough. There is an element of fussiness to all of this, but I really try to K.I.S.S. and I do think that, unlike some hobbies, what you put in, you will get out.
I want to note that I think anyone can have a religious experience listening to a top 40 song on a pair of AirPods and it’s not about having something that is ‘superior’, just a different pallet of colors for a variety of listening.
I’m not sure if there’s “break in”, but I like to give everything a good 5-10 hours to settle, especially tubes and speakers, it only seems right. Since receiving these speakers I have put everything through from Tools latest release ‘Fear Inoculum’ to intimate acoustic fingerpicking from Tidiane Thiam. The reproduction has been effortless and the soundstage seems to scatter across the room and snap into the center with ease. Listening to Sonny Rollins - Way Out West, the compactness of the trio lends itself to the tightness that these speakers bring. The mid-range is sweet and focused and the bass is full and swirls around the whole room. The mid-high range is really where these speakers shine. There is a tightness to the treble that is a nice contrast to the naturally airy aspect of sounds in this frequency range.
Making music is difficult and there is a part of me that feels like I am giving to music it’s proper due when I sit down and listen, usually uninterrupted, to a full record from front to back. The DynaTens (and I’m sure the other speakers that Omega makes) makes the music feel like its breathing. There is such a liveliness to the sound that sometimes I have to restrict my listening because of the emotional response it will inevitably provoke.
I look forward to the hours of joy these speakers will bring where I can contemplate sound and music. There is also a little relief that I can quiet the voice in my head that always seemed to whisper, just above the music, "the speakers could be better”.
Now, if I could only get out of this chair…