Personally, I'm a cruiser guy and not much of a fan of escorts aside from the Defiant. I love that I can switch between being more tanky or offensive, and the cannons are wonderful either way. As much as I loved the Galaxy-X, it just doesn't match up to this, mostly due to the turn rate difference.

My current equipment build is:

Fore: 2x Dual Heavy Phaser Cannons, Quad Phaser Cannon, Quantum Torpedo (though may switch to another Cannon)

Aft: 3x Phaser Turret

Deflector: Breen
Engine: Breen
Shield: Jemhadar

Eng Consoles: Included Tactical Console, 2x Neutronium Alloy (may switch one to the Assimilated Console)
Science Consoles: 2x Field Emitters
Tactical Consoles: 4x Phaser Relays

My EPS is 12 per second, so the loadout works pretty well. Defense hasn't been an issue, sometimes a shield may go down, but the turn rate, EPtS, and my Engineer class skills has made it a non-issue, which is why I'm considering less hull plating.