Ohm Walsh Micro Talls: who's actually heard 'em?

Batch - As usual, I fully agree with Mapman. I have a pair of 2000s, in a basement that is about 20' X 18' X 6' (yes, a low ceiling), so it is in the upper range of the cubic footage for the 2000. I power them with an Odyssey Stratos HT3 w/cap upgrade (150 watts/channel). I do cross them over, first order, to a pair of Vandersteen 2Wq subs, so the power demands are reduced somewhat. Although I believe I have enough juice, one day I would like to try some really high powered amps with them, based on what Mapman and others have said.

Arion Audio makes some very sweet sounding Class D and tube hybrid class D monoblock amps with either 250 or 500 watts each. I'd love to hear my Ohms on those, but due to financial considerations, I'll have to wait. They are not crazy expensive, and based on hearing them on several occassions, I think they are a terrific value.

All that said, I did briefly hook up the 2000s, full range, to a vintage 1993 Onkyo surround receiver. I was knocked over by how good they sounded driven by the Onkyo, which is rated at about 80 watts/channel. The bass was full and deep. The bass was so good that if I didn't love my Vandy subs, I might consider running the Ohms full range and selling the subs. But I do love my Vandy subs!

I am hardly unhappy with the sound I have now, even if every now and then I wonder if more power would improve on the already stellar Ohms. I may upgrade the amps someday, but the Ohms stay!

THe thing is, I have yet to hear the OHMs run out of gas at any volume one might listen to. The amp seems to practically always be the bottleneck first. Even my current 500w/ch CLass D amps cannot seem to phase my larger OHM 5s or even my smaller 100s when used with those practically.

I used my 180w/ch TAD 125 Hibachi monoblocks as a substitute in my main rig when one of my BCs was out for repair recently. They did very well particularly at low to moderate volumes, but could not deliver quite to the same level at the higher volumes.

I'm using the TADs now in my second system with my 100s only (also with a sub) and the sound is quite exceptional in my large family room/kitchen area, even if not quite up to par technically at very high levels with the BCs and 5s in comparison.

As you know from my previous post, I switched my 5000's from being powered by a SUMO Polaris II (130 wpc) to a McCormack DNA-250 (250 wpc) and experienced a "fuller" bass. The midrange and highs seemed the same. So while the Ohms run fine on moderate power they do seem to light up more with muscular amps, though one needn't go overboard. Keep in mind that Ohms present 6 ohms, rather than the more typical 8 ohm load, so a given amp (customarily rated with an 8 ohm load) will put out more watts at the lower load. I myself am somewhat skeptical of high output tube amps, and think that a tube preamp coupled with a ss amp is more appropriate for a speaker like the Ohms, if one is looking for a "tube" sound. That's not to say that it can't be done with all tubes; it's just much easier. And tube rolling with a preamp is easily done because the power demands don't overwhelm the different tubes that one might use. My preamp uses 300B's (granted, overkill) and 6SN7's, with the option of rolling out the 300B's for 2A3's. But I suspect that the Ohms will sound good with just about any decent amp, even modestly priced integrated ss ones from one of the chain stores.

I would really like to hear the OHMs on a SOTA high power tube amp but am probably not brave (or rich) enough to own such a rig myself and I really can't fault the sound with a good SS amp behind it.

Modern high quality Class D amps and OHMs practically are a match made in heaven I would say. Definitely a case of innovations in technology helping to push the edge further than practical prior.

I only have one question. I'm ready to purchase the new OHM 3000. Has OHM ever offered these $4,000 speakers at a discount on the day after Thanksgiving? If not, I will go ahead and start the process of purchasing these speakers now.