Is anyone thinking about building Walsh drivers?

It's been 6 years since I've tinkered with building my own Walsh drivers. It seems like yesterday - the years do fly by. I was involved with the DIY Audio Forum then and my contributions to the thread start here:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/30689-ohm-acoustics-walsh-f-speaker-remakes-2.html

Here's my old post with the parts and materials - then costing about $200!

Build your own Walsh loudspeaker for about $250 in parts and materials:

Woofer: PIONEER W25GR31-51F 10" BUTYL SURR WOOFER (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=290-088)

Tweeter: TANG BAND 28-847SA SHIELDED NEODYMIUM DOME TWEETER
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=264-822

6.8 uf high pass capacitor (metalized polypropylene) to tweeter (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...Number=027-427)

4 ohm power resistor in tweeter circuit.

Sonotube: nominal dia. = 12.5 inch height = 37 inch
Stuffing: acoustastuff ~50% of internal volume

SPEAKER REPAIR GLUE 1 oz. BOTTLE http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=340-076
This speaker glue has consistency of Elmer’s glue when wet, dries fairly quickly (water base) to form a clear and very flexible soft clear rubber with excellent damping characteristics.

Walsh Loudspeaker: two-way X-over first order (6dB/oct) high pass filter to tweeter at 8 kHz
Woofer – full range (no crossover)
Alignment: Acoustic suspension (Vb=2.5 cu. Ft; Qtc = .816; Fc = 49 Hz (-3dB))
Frequency Response: 49 - 20,000 Hertz (-3 db, +0db)
SPL: 89 dB/watt Max Power: ~100W

Illustration: Cone with felt damping applied with speaker repair glue.
Photos #1(schematic) and #2: woofer with felt dampers and felt variovent in dustcap. Variovent consists of ¾” dia. Hole cut into center of dustcap and hole covered with three laters of felt to provide resistive vent.
Photos 3-5: final loudspeaker.

Photos of the loudspeaker are posted at the forum link above. Now the purists will say that this is not a true Walsh because the cone angle does not provide for perfect phase-time alignment - I don't know. The thing is, the proof is in the listening and these loudspeakers sound so good. In fact, I'm still using them as the fronts for my dedicated home theatre. Guests are awestruck by the wrap around seamless sound field with such clarity (I am using side and rear conventional box speakers for the side and rear channels of course). My trusty Kinergetics bsc-100 stereo subwoofers are still performing yeoman's service after over 20 years (thank you Louis Nolemi). Now maybe my improvised Walsh has slight time-phase error, and perhaps passes a parallelogram rather than a square wave - I don't know. I've come to the opinion that the ear cannot hear small timing distortions but can hear frequency response-power response disparities. Anyway, for a few dollars and a few hours of labor, you can build these and I do predict you will like the sound a lot. In fact, these were so easy to build and the materials so inexpensive that I built three pairs and gave two pairs away to a neighbor and the church pastor.

Previous to this project, I built some true Walsh steep cone drivers. Yes, they sounded excellent. But, the time and effort needed to build them was great indeed. You can achieve excellent sound from properly selected conventional woofers using the modifications I listed above and careful cabinet alignment, with a lot less time and effort.

I visit Dale Harder's site periodically and his work is just gorgeous. I have had a hankering to buy a pair of his true Walsh F loudspeakers but I can't justify it at this time. I have my Walsh 5000s and I love them. I listen to them every night and pray that they never fail; because I've finally gotten by system to sound just right in my dedicated listening room.

While I would love to build another Walsh project with different higher quality drivers in mind, I will likely never get there. My medical practice is very busy and leaves little time left over for family. Also, after a 20 year hiatus, I picked up the french horn again 7 months ago. Practice is time consuming, exhausting and rebuilding one's performance and endurancer takes many months. My goal is to win a seat in amid level amateur orchestra. I want to get back on stage - I miss performance with a good symphony orchestra. I don't know if I'll get there but I will do my best and stick with it.

Hi Mamboni.

Great to hear from you. It's been a while!

Mamboni's writings on the various audio sites about the newer OHMs and Walsh drivers in general was largely responsible for my giving the latest generation of OHM Walsh speakers a try a few years back when I was in major upgrade mode.

I auditioned everything under the sun with price no object including large dynamic designs, the latest Maggies, Quad Electrostats, Magico, Gallo Refs, and others before deciding to try the newer OHMs in house first. It took me awhile as well to get everything dialed in just right in my main listening room as well but I am still so glad I did!

Mamboni's postings on the DIY site regarding DIY Walsh speakers are the most extensive, practical and best thought out technically that I am aware of. Anyone looking to DIY a pair of Walsh speakers should start there.

Yo Mapman:

Thank you for the kind words.

I'm listening to Fistoulari conducting the LSO in a performance of Adam's Giselle, a Mercury Living Presence CD reissue, on my Walsh 5000s and I am there: it is alive!

Living presence indeed! You need a Walsh to get it.

"Living presence indeed! You need a Walsh to get it."

Yes, would have to agree.

I just received the 51 CD MLP box set and am in process of ripping to music server. I am looking forward to quite a treat!

If you take a good MLP recording to the limit with OHMs or similar wave bending Walsh speakers in general, you are sitting pretty for pretty much everything else IMHO. And it does not have to cost a small fortune to accomplish either! I really do not know of any other way to accomplish that practically?

THe wave bending and how that enables a single driver to function wide range coherently and with 360 degree dispersion so efficiently is the key it seems to me.

When I consider the physics behind this, it makes a lot of sense in terms of getting the most possible out of a dynamic cone driver.

Lincoln Walsh was worlds ahead of his time! Not sure anybody else has come up with a better way yet even after all these years.

In my mind John Strohbeen and OHM are one of the best kept secrets out there in the high audio world. Other than the sound of the speakers these days, nothing about OHM screams "high end".

I find the whole thing quite fascinating and I admire John Strohbeen immensely as a guy who is obviously brilliant but knows how to keep his ego in check and just let his products and customer service speak for themselves.

I just heard the tls 5 dale is talking about. I'm fortunate to be in Cleveland and to get to hear them. They are some of the clearest speakers I've ever heard. Plus some how he was able to crossover with no audiable issues. I a/b'd them with the big brother tls4 and they do hold there own. obviously the tls4 has better bass but my god these are amazing and truely compact in size. I ordered a set on the spot. I also have his tls4's. My wife will like the smaller size for the den and now I can move the tls4's to my bigger living room where they really belong. Beleive me you won't be sorry if you pick up a set of these for a smaller room.