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

Overdriving is possible if speakers are way too small to do what’s desired, but I suspect you would have to go to very uncomfortable volumes in most rooms to cause damage from having them go too loud, assuming the amp is up to the task. Clipping is probably a greater risk with a lower powered amp trying to go too loud.

Having said that, I’ve played all my Ohms very loud off 500w/ch amp and they never sound strained. The amp always gives up before the Ohms. Note that my current Ohms are one generation older, not current XX00 line, but hopefully those would be as robust or better.

In the recent online youtube interview with Steve Guttenburg, John S. says he does not use third party drivers, rather Ohm assembles the drivers custom using purchased parts, something I was not sure about. Also I know he likes soft dome tweeters due to their dispersion pattern for use with the omnis. Conventional folded ribbon tweeters and their ilk probably would not cut it in an omni design.

I’ve heard people on this thread and elsewhere say they undertook projects to upgrade and customize their Ohms Walshes with better drivers, etc. themselves but no reports of ever finishing or sharing any results.

Maybe I’ll pick up a pair used on the cheap someday and give it a shot, if/when I retire. another thing to add to the bucket list....

I have done some custom upgrades to my late 70’s vintage Ohm Ls (pretty conventional box designs not Walsh) that needed some work. I put a pair of $350 used Morel woofers in those and added John’s sub bass activator circuit but I still have a way to go with those if I ever feel inclined: crossover, tweets, etc. They sound just fine in very limited use in my unfinished basement area for use during table tennis matches, etc. The bass is very good! :-)   I did those upgrades prior to getting my big Ohm 5s.   I almost didn't pull the trigger but glad I did.

As for playing loud.

They can do that, and do it in spades. They simply do not lose composure. They can be a little dangerous as they don’t get real bright when pushing them like that, so you don’t realize how loud they are.

A story however... A couple years back picked up some used Pro-200’s, probably damn near 30 years old. Wanted just to check them out. Had some DynAudio contour 60’s at the time which I liked a lot, but I knew they weren’t my last speakers.

Plugged these fairly beat up Pro-200’s into my Pass Lab’s 250.8. I was floored. Not better than the Dyn’s at all, but they did something the Dyn’s didn’t and I really liked it. I also knew right then, I knew what the Dyn’s were missing for me. Big soundstage.

Huge freaking soundstage, and shockingly good bass out of these little cylinders.

So, for kicks and grins I decided to see what they could do and for how long (like I was 15 again, in fact Motley Crue was the selection).

After about 15 minutes of blisteringly loud playing one of them started to smoke. My kids walked in "cool" was the response. Yet, it was still playing. So, unplugged them had a good laugh and figured I would open them up and start farting around.

Called John for kicks... said play it and see if it works... I’ll be damned. Things still played and sounded good.  This was a 30 year old, beat up speaker, that was playing at crazy levels through a powerhouse of an amp and survived!

Now, not normal listening and The Pass 250.8 is a beast of an amp for those speakers. But pretty amazed.

I picked up some used 5000’s for a great price shortly thereafter. I’ve heard other speakers I like better, but it’s a lot more money. (In fact I had something else on order, but family budget considerations and surprises likely have killed that dream for a long time)

Side note - if you are doing a home theater they do a nice job, and you really probably won’t need a center channel.

The one thing you learn over time is that all loudspeakers have pluses, minuses and trade offs.  It seems that John has designed a speaker that meets what his ear tells him sounds "right"....and it would seem that tens of thousands of people agree because you rarely see his speakers on the resale market.


Assuming that the crossover is really 3k or higher...meaning that the Walsh drive is really carrying most of the load...then it is the Walsh driver that is really determining the overall sound...but it might be really interesting to see what a high end (maybe Be, maybe diamond, maybe RAAL, etc. would do for the top end ambience).


To really move "up" the Walsh driver category requires buying something super expensive from German Physiks...and there is no guarantee that when you get it home...it will really sound better in your room with your equipment.  Granted, they probably don't sell a ton of these in the U.S., but again, you almost never see these in the resale market....but they do look really cool!


My current loudspeaker is the Salk Veracity ST...with dual 6" seas midwoofers connected to a transmission line and crossed over around 1700 hz to a RAAL 70-20....massive soundstage, beautiful detail from the low end all the way up to the cymbals...a loudspeaker that transports you to the front table in a small club...and there is Billy Joel right in front of you.


I've wanted to try a pair of Ohms for quite a while...and sooner or later I'm going to fly to NY or find someone that has a pair and see how they compare...although I would probably never get rid of the Salks because the wood finish is just so darn beautiful. 


Each time I've upgraded my system, I've just hung on to the replaced component so that I could fire up a second system with a little more certainty of the sound.  I'm also lusting after the new but not quite ready to be released Digital Amplifier Cherry Preamp...which if its like their amps will also be a shocker.

I’ve heard the GPs. Very nice but voiced different. The DDD Walsh driver does the higher frequencies but not the lower. Higher frequencies are inherently more directional than low and they need a lot of distance from walls accordingly like mbl so not practical for most. But the DDD driver does make for a much different presentation than Ohm for the higher frequencies.

Whatever the frequency of the cut-over is, if you listen the Walsh driver seems to do most of the work with Ohms.

Take a look at this showing what elements of music occur at which frequencies. If the Walsh driver is handling up to 7khz, it handles most of the content in music which is ideal. The higher frequencies that some can hear are mostly about harmonics, air, etc. The icing on the cake per se. Sweet is not a term I would apply to the Ohm Walsh. GP more so.

https://www.reddit.com/r/classicalmusic/comments/8qxglt/musical_frequency_spectrum/

So with the Ohm Walsh design, if you want more air and high order harmonics, you might want to orient them so the tweeters provide more direct exposure at your primary listening position. Soundstage will likely narrow a bit that way as opposed to extending wall to wall. Or get the 5* models and tip up the top end with the level adjustments provided.

With mbl or GP omni high frequency drivers, you can get same level of air and high order harmonics anywhere in the room IF you have a room well suited for proper imaging with full omni speakers, which means substantial distance from walls. Planars like Magnepan need that too but more so to just the rear wall.

I have a framed print of that chart on the wall in my listening room. It helps me understand what I am hearing.

Also as with with any speaker gotta throw in the qualifier that all rooms are different and that will largely determine the exact end results. Lively rooms will reflect more sound in different ways.

My main listening room with the big Ohms is L shaped, not particularly lively. Magnepans and tower floorstanders did not shine there. The Ohms were just what the room needed. They put the music live and wall to wall located in the base of the L while I can listen from anywhere in the long portion and just the perspective on the soundstage changes.. Its like moving from one seat to another in a cozy Jazz club. The Village Vanguard is the well known one I’ve experienced that comes to mind.