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

Hey man, great review! I've often thought if/when the time comes, I would move up the line to the 2000's. BTW, your comment about accuracy is one often associated with the Ohm sound. The hyper-etched detail en vogue today, which can be fun, often seems artificial and much too forward in the long run to me. I find the Ohm presentation more balanced with plenty of detail and loads of musicality, hence the reason I keep them. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Thanks for that well though out and detailed review. I would pretty much concur with everything said.  The 10hz response was a bit of a shocker to me,  but in a small room with optimal setup I guess extreme things are possible.   To date, when it comes to pure enjoyment of music, I have always ended back with the OHMs.

Thank you all for the kind words.

Mapman, the 10hz was a shocker for me too however it is definitely confirmed with the Ohms has the Magnepans never measured like that with Dirac and I have measured the room with the Ohms in various positions around 5-7 times as I have EQ'd for each new "ideal" spot they have been moved into. Each time there is clear 10hz output that I can see that is at a level in the audible band. I have also posted some shots prior in the thread as well. Listen to various extreme low bass tracks definitely confirms this as I am just getting tons of room shaking bass that I have never experienced before. Also I have a +10 db bass hump around 45 hz that is being corrected. So I am wondering if the extra bandwidth and is allowing for the 10hz to be better heard since the hump is being cut down so heavily.

I do not recall reading of many confirmed cases EVER of home gear delivering down to 10 hz, even more so especially with the modern trend towards smaller speakers and drivers and for a cost that many might afford.

Its rare to hear any reports of anything useful happening below 20hz. That’s traditionally considered the useful low range for human hearing.

I can only say that the OHMs are very robust and have always taken any load I’ve thrown at them most effortlessly. My current Bel Canto amps are rated 500w/ch into 8 ohm, doubling into 4.

Modern digital room correction products like Dirac no doubt up the ante in regards to what one might throw at a pair of speakers. Also the best modern amplifiers are capable of pushing speakers harder and with less distortion than ever before. Power demands increase exponentially at lower frequencies. Most amps would still likely give up the goat trying to deliver a flat response at higher volume at those low frequencies as well.

So its just not something that one expects to occur very often but would certainly seem withing the realm of possibility especially in a smaller room with a robust amp and digital processing to reduce peaks in the lower bass region.  Published frequency response charts of older OHM Walsh models that I have seen seemed to suggest the bass hump typically associated with most any ported design like most OHM Walsh models.   Newer models with built in powered subs are acoustically sealed not ported I believe.  Imagine what those might do even off many less robust external amplifiers used, including tube amps if preferred!

Accurus thanks so much for sharing your findings. You provide a lot of useful new objective information about the OHMs and their capabilities. Few people take the time and initiative to leverage them to their max and share their findings as you have.

Dirac is definitely moving up on my audio wish list especially as I move more towards using commercial computers as a digital music source.

Just to add my 2 cents I would say that the Ohm's make good recordings sound really good but their ability to make lesser recordings sound enjoyable is a trick too few speakers can pull off.  What good are ultra high resolution speakers if they render 95% of your music collection unlistenable?