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


Hi,

I'd love to hear the impressions of people who've actually spent some time with these speakers to share their sense of their plusses and minuses. Mapman here on Audiogon is a big fan, and has shared lots on them, but I'm wondering who else might be familiar with them.
rebbi
There are automatic digital room correction devices available today that users swear by and I suspect can do a very complete job of adapting speaker output to rooms if done properly.    One way to skin the cat fairly completely in one blow if desired.

There are many other more traditional ways as well to address the problem that work well with some trial and error over time.

My opinion is one of the most common and significant problems many aspiring audiophiles face are floor interactions that often muddies the bass.   Muddy bass not only sounds bad but obscures other good things that may be happening.   Any modern construction home with suspended plywood floors is susceptible to this I believe including mine,   The solution is to use isolation devices under speakers like isolating pads or stands.   Heavy rigid spiked stands  or spikes under floorstanders alone do not solve the problem.   its a big problem that probably effects teh majority of listeners these days.

How do I know this is a problem?   I use my OHMs and other speakers both in two finished basement rooms on solid concrete foundation, and same speakers one level up in two rooms with suspended plywood floors.   In basement the bass with all speakers is both clean and articulate in both rooms.   Upstairs teh same speakers have muddied bass that greatly impacts the sound quality.  

It took me many years in my house to discover this.    Isolating stands (I use Isoacoustics brand under smaller monitors) and pads (I use Auralex subdudeunder my smaller Walshes upstairs) are the cheap and easy solution.  In the basement, I allow the speakers to couple to the solid foundation (opposite of isolating) with no ill effects.

Most modern houses and floors are built  to have some give to provide earthquake resistance.  Good for that but bad for sound.  If you can jump up and down and things in teh room move or vibrate you have a problem.   Your room essentially "rings like a bell" except at a much lower frequency.
Roger that, Mapman!  I have my 2000s on Sound Anchor craddle bases, tri-spiked into the shallow carpet-over-cement-floor in my basement Man Cave.  Bass is tight, well-defined, powerful, extended and bloat-free (I crossover the 2000s to my pair of Vandy 2Wq subs @80Hz).  Bases are required for stability.  That cement is solid, but not flat.  Basement man caves rock!!!
Well been doing a lot of reading and finally took the plunge and purchased a set of Ohm Walsh 2000s with cherry veneer. I am a long time Magnepan owner and currently they are replacing my Magnepan 3.6s. Need to down size some stuff with a baby on the way. 

So far the break in process is going well with about 20 hours on them thus far. I am fiddling with positioning and by and large really enjoy their sound. There are only a couple things I am not quite getting out of them vs the 3.6s. Vertical height happens but isn't quite as big and broad on a consistent basis as the Magnepans seems recording dependent. Also there are points where instruments like cymbals are clearly coming from the tweeter in the speaker lose that in air feeling. They are lack the finesse and air of the ribbons. Overall though an extremely musical speaker and they make me rethink what a cone speaker can do in terms of producing a sound stage vs big planars.

Any thoughts on placement to solve the couple of issues above?
Not sure what can be done about image height to make more like tall planers.  Dispersion pattern is much different.  Two different beasts in that regard.  

YOu can experiment with toe out perhaps in order to get more direct exposure from the tweeter for more air and such abovev7khz or so but it is a soft dome tweeter which seldom sounds like a ribbon.   Ribbons tend to have narrower dispersion patterns so not a good fit with a speaker like Ohm that goes for very wide pseudo omni sound. 

I have ohm 5series 3 with the 4 three way tone adjustments the uppermost of which boosts or cuts treble.  I have older ears and find the 3db boost possible with that of benefit sometimes but I can easily do without it.  Mileage will vary on that for each. 

Also I will say the tonality of the ohms is very dependent on the signal fed it.    I've done tweaks like wires and minor wall treatments to fine tune the sound.  Also had to switch amps twice since replacing my Maggie's in order to get things right.  The ohms can be like like Maggie's or quad Es on steroids in many ways but there are differences.