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

I fell asleep on the sofa....

2am it was, YouTube blaring in the background, I think I started a RMAF round table, discussing.........???

Anyway I had stared at a plate of proverbial spaghetti for 2 hours, my kids stopping by asking if I built it, my wife reminding me that I bought it!!!
The bowl of Italian delish was nothing but a crossover from Brooklyn. In Sweded we would say "Vad i helvete".

Pictures would say more than I could ever convey on these pages
but in the spirit of the season I will abstain from showing the mess
on these virgin pages. 

I can totally see JS sitting in a meeting at the factory floor discussing
(late seventies) how can we make the speaker more exciting, more options, wider, deeper, more holographic, better bass and what ever else. At this point most designers would have said something like...
We need to time align the cabinet, or let's try aluminum instead of paper. But the Ohm guys bless their heart said nahhh lets make the most complicated crossover.....EVER.......more switches, more hot melt glue and miles of wiring :( lol
The only thing missing was a bong hit for good measures.

A new day it is, and I will make effort to decipher the 13+1 wires
going on and out of the small switches. The other strange wiring mystery is the out of phase main lead ?? So I'll crack the other 
crossover to see if it's the same or something happened in the production. If anyone has any experience with the (switch magic)
circuit, feel free to chime in. 

My my personal philosophy is that less is more, less solder, less wiring, and higher quality parts.

Time for a double espresso......🇸🇪

I have not looked at the innards of my Walsh F5 Series 3 speakers since they arrived.

Cab came in separate box from driver (which connected via a single connector and mounts using 4 wing nuts that I do tighten on occasion) and separate box for the cover. Been too busy listening (and tweaking elsewhere as needed). Must be fun though tearing these things apart to see what makes them tick. Mine have original refurbed OHm F cabinets probably from the 1970s which were pretty darn heavy I must say as I recall from having to lug them downstairs to their new home.

They sit on easy to move and lock casters so size and weight has not been an issue since when tweaking placement. Very practical!

Floor is concrete foundation with thin dense padding and carpet. No need for additional platform there.

With my smaller Walsh 2 size models upstairs, I set those on Auralex subdude platforms which cost about $100 pair and work great to clean up the bass (by isolating from lively floors there).

No doubt setting most any speaker on an acoustically inert platform however one achieves it is a good move, but even more so perhaps with the bottom ported OHMs.

I do value the castors and level adjustment switches on my F5s. They make it much easier to get the speaker tuned into the room properly which is always task #1 for best performance out of most any speaker. That alone makes my OHMs hard to ever replace in my challenging (and not dedicated) L shaped room. Not an issue with headphones of course. :^)

I too tend to favor simplicity in design but the F5s sound pretty spot on as I have them set up so for me at least the value of the onboard level adjustments outweigh any possible downside. The F5s and smaller Walsh 2 models with same driver design but smaller (8" versus 12") driver and no switches tend to sound pretty much alike when set up well in the same room (I’ve actually done this comparison) so the switches are a net + for me. Definitely one of those things where YMMV.

Thank you Mapman....

I can see how the switches adds a certain "ease of use" for most people, and being
able to shape the tone curve to your needs and environmental complications is very
satisfying.
Im coming from the school of change the environment to meet my needs kind of guy.
with that said I'm old enough that Loudness buttons, tone controls, and other secret sauce
was part and parcel in most pre-amps or receivers.

As for these switches........got to be honest Mapman, nothing good can come from
adding these in the audio circuit, it might sound "fine" but every time the audio signal is processed "shaped" filtered or otherwise manipulated to meet a certain criteria, a sonic degradation will be the end result. I do love the concept of the Ohm's and I know that deep
inside of the crossover is a path, a pure path a path of no resistance, adding some thing to the music that can be explained as........ Nothing, nothing at all my friend.

If the speakers a boomy, pull them away from the corners, back walls or any other
room boundaries. If the sound harsh, you might need to soften the surfaces in the room
add art, plants or area rugs for a less sibilant perspective. Etc etc

So looking at these switches, the surface area, and quality of the the said part
I hate to say it but all those expensive speaker cables are funneled in to a switch
with the surface area of (maybe) 30 gauge wire or worse. We will find out when I take one apart later today.

Its late enough that I can start doing some tone sweeps without hearing from some
upset teenagers lol ......🇸🇪 

peter part of the value of the switches for me is I can place the speakers in a location that provides cleanest soundstage and imaging and then use teh controls to adjust the tonality without having to move them again. The same location rarely works out best for both without additional tweaks to room acoustics and or some other kind of room equalization.

Its just another convenient and effective means to an end. Many ways to skin any cat.