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

"Regarding the OEM source of the amp modules in D-Sonics amps, if you read the 6Moons review, you'll see that Dennis ain't talkin'. IMHO, that's his prerogative. It's all about the sound. If the amp sounds good, what difference does it make, really, which amp modules he is using?"

Bondmanp, I see your point but in our internet-centric audiophile world, competition almost demands disclosure. We are after all, obsessive-compulsive types and we NEED to know because it is also OUR prerogative to pass. There is simply too much competition to not disclose IMO.

Wtf: Exactly! Dennis is not obligated to disclose information about his amps, and you are not obligated to buy one. Similarly, witness the absence of Magnepan reviews in Stereophile. Stereophile requires bench testing for all full reviews in the magazine. That's the editor's prerogative. Magnepan won't allow this bench testing, because of the unique nature of their speakers, which produces, in their view, test results inconsistant with the speakers' performance. Magnepan's prerogative, and an impass. So, no Stereophile reviews of Magnepan speakers. I guess Dennis would rather lose some sales than disclose information which he feels gives him a competitive edge. For every audiophile who skips D-Sonic amps because of this, there is probably another one, like me, who cares mostly about the way the sausage tastes, not how it's made. YMMV, as they say.

And, I must say, that this topic is very relevent to a thread on Ohm speakers, since John Strohbeen is somewhat quiet on some of the ingredients of his own special sauce.

YEs, I thought the same thing regarding D-Sonic and JS/OHM.

One downside with OHM that results is that many CLS drivers look the same on the outside but are different by design internally. That makes it very hard to know exactly what you are getting second hand. Even direct from OHM, you do not know anything for sure really about whats inside, only how it sounds.

One difference is that what makes the OHM sound is JS/OHMs design, whereas in the case of D-Sonic, what makes it is determined by what amp module is used, and D-Sonic does not design or make that hence they have limited control of that over the long term. AMp A today, amp B tomorrow? How are they different? How is the sound affected, etc? Very hard to say, whereas with OHM I think JS designs his products to have a particular sound and he has a lot of control over how to do that, especially given the nature of Walsh drivers and how those are quite tunable to produce a certain result.

As a manufacturer it blows me away that anyone would expect a manufacturer to just openly give away the specifics about anything he makes. In todays world with widespread copying of every single minutia, I congratulate Dennis for standing strong, and not give anyone proprietary info no matter how much you think he owes it to you. I had one of my parts stolen from me, copied all the way down to my own f*uck-up (misaligned holes) in a diverter and the offender (chinese) didn't give a crap if I was upset or if I would call my lawyer.

Peter

Mapman: I am not sure I agree with you on Class D amps. While many Class D manufacturers take OEM modules, almost all of them have their own approach to power supplies, input stages, etc. AFAIK, the amp module itself can be made to sound drasticly different depending on the builder's choices for these and other parts of the finished product. Heck, your Bel Cantos use an OEM Class D module, don't they? Yet they are known to sound much better than other brands using the same modules. I could be way off on this, but even the D-Sonic amps include a circuit board and other parts of the signal/power chain that are of Dennis' own selection (if not design). Just my $0.02.