Okay,
Things settling down a bit with my folks, and I got to spend some quality time with the 100's and Micro's last night. A little "audio therapy" if you will! Impressions...
If you go back to my 2/28/09 post, you'll see that I was impressed by how little the Micro's give up to the 100's, and that's still true, perhaps even more so. The smoothness, tonal balance and imaging and enveloping soundstage are all there. What the 100's add is authority in the bass region and - I can add this now - more convincing dynamics. The 100's really swing from soft to loud pretty effortlessly - and this is with an 80 watt Unison Unico integrated - and I hear it most dramatically on orchestral recordings. Not that the Micro's DON'T do orchestra well - they do, and to a level that belies their tiny size. But when you compare them side-by-side with the 100's, you hear the added weight and presence of the larger driver.
So: I think that anybody with a small room who likes the fundamental Ohm "sound" would be VERY happy with the Micros - happy with the sound, and happy knowing that for $1000, they've snagged a real bargain in the world of high-end audio. But if that same person had another $700 to plunk down, they'd get the added benefits of what the larger driver and cabinet have to offer.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep the 100's and ship back he Micro's next week. The Micros still do sound the slightest bit more open and airy than the 100's, but I have to believe that thatÂ’s a matter of much less break-in time on that larger driver. So the 100's should keep getting better with time.
Oh, and one other thing. Once you dial in their placement, the Ohm's do a very fine job of placing instruments and singers in space - nothing "vague" about their imaging, although it takes some fiddling.
Over and out...
