I agree with Sebrof - hearing a few songs in a foreign room with foreign equipment isn't enough for a full comparison. Furthermore, this was way back in October. That said, I do remember comparing the Soul Superfly system to other systems at RMAF. It was not in my top 5 systems, and I recall coming home to my system and feeling it was definitely in the top 5. The only affordable system that was in the top 5 other than my system at home was the Odyssey complete system - $5500 for everything except source. It rocked, had finesse, soundstage depth/width/height, etc. I'm committed to high efficiency, otherwise I probably would have bought that system and sold off my current one. What I was hearing last night was very much in line with what I liked about those Odyssey Lorelei's driven by the Odyssey electronics. Dynamics, space, tone, etc.
Not that the Lorelei's and Lores can be said to be exactly the same or should even be directly compared - I'm just saying the main attributes that wowed me about the Odyssey system have been introduced to my home system through the Lores.
Comparison to Hornshoppe Horns? Well, last night's listening showed the Horns to be lean and less spatially resolving in comparison. They're great for what they are, but the Lores are a whole other animal. Lores could play louder with greater ease and scale - the dynamics were more substantial. They Horns image well, but the soundstage is greatly expanded with the Lores, in width, height, and depth. There is also greater tone and micro-resolution, most notably with guitar. Then again, I WAS listening to a live Ween concert, so you better believe guitar was where a lot of the action was. In terms of dynamics, percussion was also much more resolved as a result of better dynamic ability. As a former drummer, this was a great result for me.
Ok, guys. Don't take what I'm saying here too far too fast. I just listened to one DVD for a couple hours very early into the burn-in period. I really like what I'm hearing, but I'm no fan-boy, and I'm willing to offer criticism as much as note what I like. I haven't heard Omens, and I'm not trying to make that comparison here. All I can say about my LIMITED experience with the Soul Superfly is that they were "interesting", but did not wow me at RMAF. Lorelei's did then, and Lores are right now, in my room, in my system. Who knows how the Superfly's would do in my room/system, but I'm not that interested to find out given what I was hearing last night. Let's see how the Lores fare with a load of my other music.