Some speakers are designed to blend in with your home. Others are meant to stand out. The OMA Imperia adorns any room you place it in with the aura of a modern sculpture. Seriously, look at the darn thing and tell me it doesn’t feel like a magnificent work of art.
Billed by OMA as their “ultimate speakers,” it’s a freestanding multi-horn speaker that’s designed to overwhelm you with awe before swamping your ears with beautiful sound. That’s right, not just one horn or two horns, but a veritable array of conical speakers all facing at you like a full-out brass band. The darn thing’s just wild.
Designed by David D’Imperio, the OMA Imperia is a four-way horn system consisting of two large conical horns that cover the 100Hz to 20KHz sound frequency and two smaller rear-loaded subwoofer horns handling the sound at 20Hz to 100Hz. Powered by its own solid-state amplifier, it boasts Cogent DS1428 field coil compression drivers and a 21-inch neodymium woofer, with the outboard crossover network coupled via a solid slate patchboard.
The wooden horns, by the way, are made from buyer’s choice of black walnut, cherry, or ash, each one hand rubbed in oil and wax to preserve its natural beauty and color, with the woofer horns cut in aluminum alloy. Features include black wrinkle-finish frames, waterjet-cut grills for the twin bass modules, and a circular compression chamber for the bass horn driver. It measures 86 x 41 x 60 inches (h x w x d).
Want one? Prepare the Swiss Bank Account because the OMA Imperia will cost you $288,000.