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

Just an educated guess, but i suspect cabinet design for a Walsh style driver is much different than conventional dynamic designs. Remember most of the higher frequency sound exits the cone above the cabinet so less energy is imparted into the cabinet all other things aside. So resonance effects are much different I suspect and the design may lend itself to less issues in general with the cabinet.

In any case, its not something I’ve even thought about before mostly because I have had no reason.

My Dynaudio monitors are very inert with double isolated cabinet design.

But guess which speakers I choose in the end?  

So I find it an interesting question but not sure it matters much as long as the end results satisfy.

Of course as always, YMMV.

Also note that both my Walsh speakers use older refurbed pyramid shaped cabinets not new ones. So I can’t speak to how the newer cabs work compared to the old, but I do know JS in general attempts to tune each to achieve a certain similar sound.

One other thing I can note is that my impression has been JS views cabinet volume as the key design criteria for selecting OHM models  with larger cabinets able to deliver more bass as needed.

Also I would add that with my two pair of OHM Walshes, I find that once teh floor interactions are dealt with as needed (similar to any speaker not just OHm Walsh) there is nothing I hear that I could attribute to unwanted cabinet resonances, Although of course room acoustics in general are always a big factor in what you hear.

Accurus I recall you were using something to correct for room acoustics and may have mentioned earlier on what that measured in your room, prior to Subdudes I believe.    I'm wondering what you are reading now with subdudes and if any significant anamolies if room acoustics can be ruled out.

Definitely with the Ohms I am hearing half way down the cabinet midrange from the woofer part of the Walsh driver. Just seems like it can't be any good to have resonance from the cabinet as typically most manufacturers go for inert cabinets and market them as such. As pointed out by myself and others the cabinets seem certainly on the cheap side especially the bases which I may one day replace with a solid piece of granite or polished corian just to give the speakers a more high end look.

Mapman you are correct that I have acoustic treatment in my room. I have four GIK Acoustics corner traps running floor to ceiling in the front that have the diffusion panels on them and I also have two ASC tube traps in the rear that have the diffussors our as well. This weekend when I actually had time to listen I did install two more ASC traps on their side with the diffusors in front of the wall directly to the side of each speaker. I got a perceived increase in bass response from that. At some point I will remeasure the room using Dirac to see how the response has changed how I have moved the speakers a bit so the measurements I am sure will be a bit off from the first. However I will say a couple things about the subdudes and the measurement I did get with Dirac.

The subdudes improve for my height and high listening chair the needed boot to get the Walsh drivers to where I think the soundstage is level in the room rather than hanging low. Additionally the bass is more airy and more dipole like in nature, however until my 3.6s they can't provide the feeling on certain types of bass that the entire front wall is a driver. I think that is something where the laws of physics kick in on a small Ohm speaker vs a 6 foot tall line source. However bass dynamics with micro or macro are greatly improved with the Ohms. The other thing that the subdudes definitely do is remove pretty much all of the bass vibrations out of the floor which gives the perception of less bass, but it is tighter and better defined. My left full wall still vibrates if you play bass heavy music such as Daft Punk, Lorde or the Interstellar soundtrack.

In regards to Dirac and room measurements from the last measures I got Dirac is saying that I have a fairly smooth response in my room down to 10hz. It dips a little below 20hz by 2-3 db but no signifigant deviation. Not bad for a speaker rated to only 30hz. With some exceptional trapping and fiddling I could get Dirac to correct my Magnepan 3.6s down to 20 hz or so in room, however you would easily hit the dynamic limitations of the driver and have the mylar slap the magnet structure. So I believe the measuremens are legitimate even though I am measuring some insanely low bass coming from these speakers. Playing Lorde's "White Teeth Teens" the bass of the Ohm 2000's easily surpases a push/pull M&K MX-80 that I have setup in my office system. Frankly I really can't see with the proper amplifcation and speaker model choice with the Ohms would ever need a subwoofer. I know my Mark Levinson 432 at 800 watts into 4 ohms is pretty overkill for the Ohms, but I have yet to have a session with the Ohms where they or the Mark Levinson show any signs of strain or frankly any sign of anything but a natural sound (with Dirac engaged). My ears give out long before the speakers or amplifier ever do.

I will continue to break in the drivers and provide more measurements as time allows, but definitely think the Ohms are a superb speaker, but I would like to see improved cabinet construction. As a Magnepan I think Ohm and Magnepan share a similar value philsophy, however as Magnepan owners know they do benefit from the numerous modifications out there including an improved frame.

"It dips a little below 20hz by 2-3 db but no signifigant deviation. Not bad for a speaker rated to only 30hz. "

That's pretty exceptional for most any speaker of modest size to be able to deliver below 20hz  I would think and frankly didn't know the smaller OHMs had it in  them.

I do know they are champs at going loud and clear with whatever amount of clean power thrown their way though.    They nor my 500 w/ch Class D amps never break a sweat.

I use only my ears to measure, so you are way ahead of me.... :^)

My sound is totally detached from the speakers.   That includes drivers as well as cabinets.   

John does use some higher end veneers by request I have read.   Anything might be possible for a price.  But he seeks to keep prices down and sound quality high.   My guess is he feels the standard cabs are all that is needed to do the job right.  Only one way to know:  ask him.

It would not be hard to add acoustic damping material inside as an experiment if desired once one is comfortable with removing the driver boards.  

My 5s have the 4 3 way level adjustments on each which provides a lot of flexibility fitting speakers to room as needed.   Similar to current 5000s.   Other models do not have those so more like most speakers there.