Ohm Walsh speakers; Anyone have any experience

Zorpman: I don't doubt that the Dynaco's are stable driving the load. Quite honestly, while the Dynaco's may be up to the task in terms of brute force, i'm certain that there is plenty of room to move in terms of improved sonics. I'd be curious as to what amps, if any, that you've tried on the F's other than the Dynaco's and the results that you've obtained.

Also, are you using the factory speaker cable at the base of the speaker or are you directly connecting to the binding posts at the driver ? If you are running the internal factory wiring, you are in for a REAL treat once you bypass it.

As far as the foam surround goes, it may still be quite healthy and in "perfect shape". That does not mean that it is the appropriate "stiffness" or that the driver is properly aligned. In severe cases, you may even be running into the driver binding up, resulting in limited excursion and a lack of deep bass. That is EXACTLY what i ran into on my second set of F's after a "world famous" speaker repair facility claimed to have repaired them. I then had to pay someone else to remove the fresh glue & foam and re-do the whole job. Evidently, the first shop knew that they must have screwed up as they refunded the entire amount.

My biggest problem with all of this was that these speakers spent well over a year in "limbo" due to all of these problems. Obviously, not all speaker repair facilities are up to refoaming these drivers, so be VERY careful with whom you trust the wellfare of your "babies" to. Sean
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I recently purchased a pair of OHM Walsh speakers and ended up returning them. I had more than one discussion with them on the problems I thought they exibited and they were genuinely concerned and interested in my thoughts. They even indicated they would make some changes to them to taylor it to my needs, but I declined. I realized that I was chasing that old OHM sound that I so fondly remembered but they were not even remotely close to that; but then what speakers are? With the right amps those old OHM's were magic!

Here are a few websites that discuss the Ohm A's, F's and later "Walsh series" of Ohm brand speakers. As a side note, i've included a link that discusses modified Hill Plasmatronics. Since Plasma drivers are "mass-less" and radiate in what is basically an omni-directional pattern, they are theoretically the most accurate transducer available. Only problem is that they aren't capable of high spl's, have phenomenally limited low frequency response, produce harmful emissions of ozone and are generators of mass levels of RFI ( in most cases ). As such, there are drawbacks involved : )

Brief overview of Walsh design from Singapore. This one kind of combines info on the original Walsh drivers with the later "Walsh series" type drivers that i commented on above.

Ohm A, F & Walsh series written about as being "unique speakers". Also includes comments about "skinny speakers" : )

Modified Plasmatronics, comparisons of Ohm A cone vs Ohm F cone Let's just say that the results obtained with the modified Plasmatronics make ANY other speaker known to mankind look "really bad"... The owner of the Hills that runs this website sold his Ohm A's after getting the Plasma's to do what he wanted out of them.

There was a Walsh driver based website on AOL that is no longer running, but it may have been moved and i simply haven't found it yet. I do know how to contact the person that ran the site and am working on finding out the current address, if still up and running. Sean
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I have had a couple of pair of the newer "Walsh" designs by Ohm, both purchased used on Audiogon. The first pair were Ohm 4X0 cabinets that had been upgraded with the newer Walsh 200 MK2 drivers. The second pair are the newer Walsh 5 Mk2 speakers, about a year old.

I bought these speakers to see if they would sound better than the Ohm Model I speakers that I have had for 22 years. (I recently upgraded all the drivers in these speakers). I wound up keeping the Model I's for my primary audio system, and relegating the Walsh 5 Mk2 for HT duty. I sold the Walsh 4/200's on Ebay.

The biggest problem I had with the Walsh 4XO speakers was how they reacted with the hardwood floors in my living room creating 10+db spikes at certain bass frequencies. The downward firing speaker ports (comb filter effects)had something to do with it and Ohm offered to send me a modified Walsh pyramid cabinet with a front firing woofer to take some of the load off of the main driver. I did not take them up on that. It sounded too ugly.

The Walsh 5's in my HT room do better with the ceramic tile floor versus the hardwood in the living room (audio room). I think they would probably sound best in a room with wall to wall carpeting. Also, the Walsh 5s are big, about 49" tall. Needs a large room to look good and sound best. The Walsh 5 sounds good, strong mid range, very clean and smooth, especially with female vocals and strings. I am happy with them.

I still prefer my Model I's for the stronger bass and highs. I have yet to hear any speakers better than the Model I's I have. When I bought my Model I's 22 years ago, I compared them side by side with the Model F. I prefered the openess of the Model I's by alot over the F's, which probably were not powered as they should have been on the demo.

Overall, Ohm Acoustics is an excellent company to deal with. I have purchased sat speakers, center channel, and various upgrades for my speakers from them. They are easy to work with, back up thier products, and if something doesn't work out, take returns without a hassle. I recommend them. All that it costs to home trial a set of speakers is shipping.

Regards,
Rick

For a short time, you'll probably be able to see the inside of a set of Walsh 5's as they have a pair partially pulled apart on Ebay. I will only say that these look a LOT neater and better put together than the set of Walsh series that i previously saw. Sean
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