Hey guys!
Hope you don’t mind my jumping into this thread, (Infinite Jest got nothing on this thread). I began reading it a couple of weeks after my Ohm Walsh’s, (I believe they called them F-4049’s) arrived. They are refurb pyramid cabinets with new drivers, bought on sale.
I wish I’d come across this thread earlier, as I had a number of misconceptions about these speakers, and might’ve chosen differently. Having never heard, or even seen them “in person”, I was concerned about bass reproduction. From the pictures, I thought the cans were much smaller than they are.
As you all know, I needn’t have worried. But I was certain I would need Super Walsh’s, with their built-in subs, and of course the biggest driver I could afford. And when I first looked at the “beta” F-5015’s on their site, I thought, “Hey, I can almost afford these!” I was ready to pull the trigger. Then I noticed it was the “per speaker” price. Ugh, I hate when speaker companies do that! Who buys one speaker? Four grand was really my upper limit, and yes, I needed more than one speaker. Long story short, the sale came around, and I decided at the time that I would deal with non-existent problem of bass later.
I have always purchased used equipment. You get more for your money and, as a working guy, that’s what I can afford. So I had no idea what to expect in terms of break-in. Out of the box, these speakers sounded terrible with most recordings. Very fat on the bottom, and recessed in the upper mids. They had a weird, hard to describe character, almost as if I was listening with a cardboard tube next to my ear. Yet, with certain types of recordings, mainly acoustic recordings, or sparsely-arranged amplified instruments, they sounded quite decent. They were very unforgiving of most multi-track rock recordings. To my ears, they had a very pronounced mid-bass, and I felt very much that I was hearing the cabinets. I was expecting a much more airy, non-cabinet/non-boxy sound.
Into my fourth week, much of that seems to have worked itself out. Certainly the high end has opened up, and whether I’ve gotten used to the sound of the cabinets, or whether that has worked itself out too, I cannot say. It should be noted that I was used to folded-ribbon tweets, as I’d long been listening with ESS Heils. These were a modified/upgraded pair of AMT1-a’s which, aside from what the tweets did, made very transparent bass, (passive radiator design). Different in every way from the Ohm Walsh’s. As I say, these initial problems have worked themselves out, one way or the other. I do wonder though, whether I should’ve (could’ve) went with smaller, (and cheaper), drivers?
This particular set of speakers comes with one three-position switch. It’s a low-end cut, although I don’t know exactly what it does. In the end, I settled on the bottom position, which provides the most trim, or whatever. I was having trouble frequencies in the mid-bass, or low-mids, and that bottom switch position seemed to tighten everything up. And it didn’t hurt bass response much at all. For instance, last night I pulled out Snoop Dogg’s classic “Doggy Style”, (now there’s an audiophile record, my friends!), and played the side with Gin and Juice. There’s a lot of very low-end synth bass throughout these cuts, and the Walsh’s conveyed that to my diaphragm very nicely. The highs are smooth and sweet, neither recessed nor harsh, with the sleigh bells sounding positively magical. I felt immersed in the music. Laid back, indeed!
A big reason I bought these speakers was because I thought they would solve the problems of fussy seating and fussy speaker arrangement. As it turns out, more the former than the latter. I’m fairly limited in how far I can pull them away from the wall, and I have them about as far out as I can get without impeding traffic - 20” from the center of the cans. Nevertheless, this seems to work, again, as long as I use the bottom position of the switch.
All in all, as these speakers open up, I’m becoming happier and happier with them. I have to admit, I was having second thoughts at first, but I knew I had to give them a chance to break in. So many people rave about these speakers, I thought, there must be something to them. As others have mentioned, I am now able to go to recordings that the Heils had problems with, and the Walsh's tame them. In fact, lately, I’m throwing all sorts of recordings at them - from Loretta Lynn, to Minor Threat, to Thelonious Monk, to the Feelies, to Led Zeppelin, to Stereolab, to Dr. Octagon - and they handle them all nicely.
Living-room = 20’ x 15’ x 8’ = 2400 sq. ft.
Speakers and seating are along the long walls.
Speakers are 10.5’ apart, and about 11’ to “sweet spot” (triangle). I sit off to the left of this spot, though.
They’re driven with a McIntosh MC352, off the 4 ohm taps.
