Magnepan, Ohm, Spatial or ??

Jerry are you talking about the original Walsh driver patent Expiring (I’m assuming there was one) or the newer one for the “Walsh Style” CLS design that JS and Ohm have used since the early 80s?

I know there are other Walsh drivers in the original mold like GP DDD driver. I don’t think they could have done that if an original Walsh driver patent were in effect.

The original Ohm A and F Walsh speakers sounded great but the single driver full range design was brittle and not suited for the masses. Hence the CLS approach or DDD approach which only covers higher frequencies.

I’ve always found the OHM CLS design to be virtually indestructable. I’ve put mine through a lot of abuse over the years and nary an issue. They just get louder more dynamic and clear the more juice you throw at them so JS nailed that flaw with the original design.

Dale Harder is the guy who claims to have solved a lot of the original Walsh driver issues with his newer designs but don’t hear much about those. Would love to hear them though. Hoping he does CAF sometime.

John Strohbeen at Ohm pays a lot of attention to getting that certain sound he is looking for (his favorite seats in Carnegie Hall) but keeping costs minimal to achieve it. IMHO. He could care less about “high end”, only about getting better sound to more people.

I’ve been to Carnegie Hall and felt quite at home there in regards to what I heard. 🏅

I, too, had a set of Ohm Fs that I purchased in 1975 or so. I've never heard anything since that came close to throwing a magical, ethereal, 3-D sonic image that just floated in space. I regretted selling them almost immediately.

That said, I really like my Ohm 1000s. For $2K, there is nothing else that I would own.

Just wanted to 'type in' for the nanosec....busy @ the moment, but I'll ramble @ length later....

Yes, there's a lot to cover here...Cheers, Jerry *S*

@audioconnection 
so my Spatial M3 Sapphires that some posters asked about are not on rollers. They are IsoAcoustic Gaia Footers that couple the speakers to the hardwood floor. Amazing Results using them. I was a Vandersteen owner for 30 years and thought I would miss their warmer sound. The Spatials give me more of everything plain and simple

soundchasr, that there is so many choices and options is either paradise or hell. *G*  That does give rise to the 'spirited discussions' in these forums  I've listened to many over my years; few of the current ones, next to none of the vaunted 'phile megabuck selections.
I quit the audio stairway to heaven some years back.  It was becoming too expensive of a habit to maintain...geoffkait comment elsewhere that it has all the elements of a drug addiction, so one does need to keep ones'  perspective in hand. ;)

Anyway....keep your conscience and wallet in mind...unless you fall in love.  Then you're doomed and on your own. *L*

mapman, Yes....there is/was a patent on the original Ohm/Walsh drivers:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3424873

I'm basing what I do on this, the 75 deg. cone slope, but reducing the size of the 'main cone'.  There is a point where the cone shifts from a radial radiation pattern to a pistonic motion to create your major bass fq.  

Those get handed off to a sub, both physically and via xover.
In this case, actively.

The same goes for the higher fq.  Where the CLS uses its' 'Tufflex Transmission Block', I opt to actively xover to another smaller Walsh directly above the main cone.

This cone is modeled after the Infinity 'ice cream cone' driver, of which I owned a pair of the tower version.  It was basically a 'super tweeter'; my biggest issue was that it was 'upside down', best enjoyed sitting on the floor....😏

Actually luck to have an extended series of conversations with one who actually engaged in building the prototypes on (you guessed it) a kitchen table....  I'm lucky to have a more 'refined' place for my efforts...

By having the cones vertically aligned, I get to dodge phase and time distortion.  And since I literally 'tri-amp' and have an active crossover (Behringer DCX2496) that can do almost anything I'd care to throw at them.

Some of us have rather unique obsessions....;)

Dale Harder opined that my cones were too heavy, which I readily agreed to.   The originals were 5 mil litho aluminum, which I got a sleeve of 100 sheets gratis from a friend 2 decades ago.  Since I've moved on to 2 mil alum and titanium.  The tweets are 1 mil alum, and a PIA to form; look at it hard, and it creases...

Dale ( http://www.hhr-exoticspeakers.com/HHRhome.htm  ) does the closest thing to the original Ohms that I (and likely anyone else) does...

The prices are what I would call reasonable for owning any of his units.
His 'normal gig' is owning a company that (I believe) makes laser equipment....HHR ES is his labor of love, and it shows. *S*

I've never had the chance to hear them.  He 'does' shows occasionally, but likely only those that happen to be nearby.

Imho, the original Ohms suffered from being 'ahead of their era' in terms of the available adhesives and material tech and application.  Dale appears to have managed to solve that.

The single driver conundrum is a hard nut to crack, even with direct radiator drivers.  With an omni, the stakes grow higher...

JS would probably be the first to agree with that.  He (and Ohm) have arrived at a reasonable and rational compromise that works, and does so at a series of price points vs. unit sizes and capabilities.

I used to own a pair of ESS AMT1c, the largest speaker pair I've owned.
Like many who note that they'd wished to still own 'X', I'm part of that crowd too. *S*  And the Kenwood LO7 mono amps that drove them.
At that time, I began applying room eq with an Audio Control eq that had a calibrated mic.

That was 3 decades ago.....time flies...

I'm just striving to have perfection with a smaller footprint, and a SAF of 9/10....literally, a stark column.

Think lipstick, writ large.

BTW...when there's 4 of them, in a 'surround' arrangement....immersion is easy, even in 2ch.  Loud is good...each main cone is eq to a 10"+  driver.  Big issue was cooking the voice coils...

"Ah, the stench of a cooked former...." (*sigh*  Back to the workbench...)

I haven't bothered with Dolby anything....yet. ;)

Enough....at this point I've certainly cemented my 'outlier status'.  And I've runneth off at the keys yet again....*L*

Cheers, Jerry
Keep the faith and Play Loud