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

OHM has been sold direct to buyers only for a number of years now since the 80s.  Despite being pretty unique, others in the business have little business reason to give them much if any special attention.   There are not many substitutes if one likes them.   The closest things are other omnis like mbl and German Physiks and a handful of other very small brands.  The successful ones seem to be the ones that stake out the high end in terms of cost and quality that has a very limited market.  Most people have no special interest in weird looking speakers.   Despite that how many thousands of speakers has OHm likely sold since the introduction of teh Walsh line back in 1981 or so?   The basic design has remained mostly unchanged, just tweaked and improved over the years.

That the basic Ohm-Walsh design has remained the same for decades, accounts for the stable "voice" they make.

I like the fact that the design has been refined over time, but not changed. This is called 'development'; think Volkswagen Beetle for example. Rather than being driven by maketing forces (whiz-bang selling points), the Ohm-Walsh speaker evolution is driven by engineering forces (thanks, John).

Mapman, you are correct to say that there is little interest in the greater audio comunity because this competitive business is extremely marketing-driven; the latest and greatest fads are headline material. While performance is part of that equation, it is sometimes secondary to how something looks and/or is marketed. Many consumers need to have a visual representation of how 'cool' there equipment is.

Imagine, if all audio electronic equipment was housed in non-descript black boxes with only the manufacturer's name on it; that would be a marketer's nightmare. Components would have to be sold only on their sonic merits - ouch!

Ohm-Walsh speakers are like that. With only a couple of visual face-lifts over 4 decades, this product line has been remarkably stable. The fact that the company is still in business speaks volumes (excuse the multiple puns) about the sonic quality of the speakers themselves.

I have the utmost respect for the Ohm company for staying the course in this extreme marketing-driven segment.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been re-visiting every post on Ohm speakers (including my own) on this particular thread.  I started my journey with Ohm speakers in September of 2009 with the micro talls, and I was so smitten with them that I soon upgraded to the new 1000's.

I have to say that that even after 6 years of ownership that they still continue to amaze and delight me!!  The 1000's seem to excel at acoustic guitar and piano reproduction.  Both sound so real, and actually being able to hear clear differences in piano's is amazing.  Every other speaker I've ever owned or heard made all piano sound pretty generic.  The Ohm's bring out textures and tones that show the differences..The same applies to acoustic guitar.  I can clearly hear string oscillations on familiar recordings that weren't apparent with other speakers or even on headphones

Other surprises include when I'm listening to FM broadcasts or a streaming site such as Pandora.  Even with unfamiliar recordings, I can hear the Ohm's work their magic, throwing a a massive soundstage, giving a dimensional presentation of voices and instruments that makes them so appealing  There are times when I'll hear something on the Ohms, and have to stop what I'm doing and just listen (with a big smile on my face)

I love my Ohms, and the fact that they still continue to amaze me speaks volumes  As a matter of fact, I think I'll go throw on K.D. Lang's " Ingenue" and get the party started.......Ohm on, everyone!!!

I hear you Joe.  I think it's an omni thing and particularly unique when done with a wide range coherent Walsh style driver.