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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
bondmanp
1,817 posts
 

frazeur1 - Thanks.  Good points, all, and I concur.  It's like sausage.  Who cares what it looks like being made when the results are so pleasing!


Mapman - The only other omnis I've heard are the MBLs (extraordinary).  I did hear those new electrostatic panel omnis at a show, and was not impressed.  I later was told that they were damaged prior to arrival at the show.  Near me, VPI has a large suburban colonial home in which the entire main floor is dedicated to audio system demonstrations.  One of the speakers Mr. Weisberg has there is a dual pair of the big original Ohm (F's or A's) that have been restored (and modified?), and placed one atop the other, with the upper pair inverted and held in place with a wooden frame.  The one time I was there, KEF was co-hosting an event, so the Ohms were just on static displpay (I don't think there were any closets large enough for them, and I doubt anyone wanted to haul them to the basement).  Oh, well.  Maybe next time.  I've been told by people who have heard these beasts that they might be one of the best loudspeaker systems of all time, regardless of price.

martykl
3,578 posts
 
Not all omnis are created equal, but "better" and "worse" is always going to be in the ear of the beholder.

Omnidirectional response can be achieved in several different ways, each of which has its own particular "flavor", heard varyingly as pluses and/or minuses by each listener.  The multi-material, full-range Walsh design (one variety of which is still being manufactured by Dick Harter) has limited max output.  The MBL can safely deliver crushing SPLs.  Score one for MBL (if you listen loud).  However, the bass response of the MBL isn't as tight and defined as the Walsh.  Score this one the other way (unless you prefer the bass "bloom" of the MBL).  This stuff is always a matter of trade-offs plus personal sate.

The Ohms aren't omnis above 7khz, IIRC, so that's a cheat - if you care about "design purity"..  Bose gets very wide treble dispersion in some models by angling tweeters back against the wall.  The Duevel, Robertson (sic?) and Mirage models use a similar idea (fire the tweeter upwards against a deflector) to get 360 degree treble.  Gallo uses a tweeter with native 180 degree dispersion in the treble, but that only kicks in above 2khz, where dispersion at the top of the mid/woofer's pass and has already narrowed.

Which design is overall "best" and why?   I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that if you played em all for ten different 'Goners, you'd get ten different answers.
accurus
40 posts
 
Been swamped this past week and really haven't had a chance to break the Ohms in anymore. Currently in an extended listening session with them and wondering about cabinet resonance. As I move the speakers around to get the best imaging as am noticing that the cabinet has a lot sound resonating in the cabinet. I can't imagine this being any good for the sound. I am wondering about thoughts on treating it with some sort of dampening material.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,326 posts
 
Accurus are you using the Subdudes?

accurus
40 posts
 
I am using the Subdudes. However the subdues won't address the issue I am raising which is the side of the cabinets are definitely resonating. You can knock on the cabinet and it is clearly not inert. 
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