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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
peterr53
184 posts
 
Its 1:30 am house is quiet but my brain is racing like a well tuned 
F1 car. I love F1 the technology, the aerodynamics and the material science, wish I had the dough to use some of the technology for the speaker up grade, but my wife is looking at the project with eyes shut wide.....she misses nothing IE. This is not her first rodeo.

After dealing with the X-over last night, I decided to go with an
electronic crossover. I'll be able to play with so many variables
build memory for each setting, but mostly that I can test and probe the different possible settings without having to rebuild the X-over.
buying new parts etc....

Im happy.....🇸🇪
frazeur1
345 posts
 

Peter, believe me, I get your thoughts and maybe a bit of frustration on the way things are somewhat hap-hazardly thrown together here. This has been a subject of my ultimate frustration as well on things in the past regarding "quality of build".

I could go on about this very thing, but will not, as it doesn't do any good to harp on it, and in the end, I still think the Ohms are very good sounding speakers and maybe some of this has absolutely no bearing on sonics. I will say this, at least your can/switch/wiring/crossover assembly there do look a decent deal better than what I have witnessed in the past, for whatever that is worth.

As to the cabinet blocking part of the driver, while in theory maybe not a good idea at all, and maybe a general lack of attention to detail etc., keep in mind that most of the sound/music is being driven outwards from the cone surface and not so much down, and I doubt that there is much if any real "loss" of information due to the cabinet not being perfect. But, perfectionists to a fault maybe some of us are.

I will be interested in your electronic crossover here, as I do think utilizing active crossovers can yield some good results. Not always though, and sometimes it ends up being more complex in the end, which may be the case with the Ohms here, but worth a try!

Thanks for the pics along the way too, that to me is the most interesting part for several reasons....Will continue to watch this space!

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,333 posts
 
frazeur good point. I’d expect cabinet interactions of Walsh style drivers (and tweeters mounted essentially in total isolation from cabinet) to be much lesser than in most cases where drivers are mounted and coupled directly to cabinets. Exclusively in teh bass as I understand it. Many would regard a design that reduces cabinet interaction in and of itself potentially a good thing and based on listening I would agree.

Of course there are many factors that go into good sound. What matters most will vary case by case, design by design.

The Ohm Walshs are essentially a "black box" in the sense that transducers are totally enclosed (in the can) and out of view. That makes for a lot of wiggle room that would not be tolerable aesthetically otherwise.

I hear the beautiful music but all the ugly parts are out of view.

Kinda like just driving a car versus looking under the hood. I will look in there for routine maintenance or if I suspect a problem but that’s about it.

Also I think we are talking about refurbed Walsh 4 cabinets here, not new cabs.   

My F5 series 3 OHMs use refurbed OHM F cabinets, which was a big attraction for me.   Many still regard OHM Fs as one of the best speakers ever (at least when they were not broken).    So the cabs cannot be too shabby.   The drivers are much different but the topology relative to the cabs is essentially the same  although most new Walsh speakers are ported not sealed.   5015 models with powered subs on board are the exception.



bondmanp
1,818 posts
 

Wow! I finally got to hear a DOUBLE PAIR of Ohm Fs. I was at an audio club event in New Jersey at Harry Weisfeld’s home in Holmdel, NJ. Harry owns two pair of restored Ohm F speakers, with a wooden bracket that allows the second pair to be placed, upside-down, over the first pair. They are connected in series. I had seen these before, on static display (and even saw a similar pair for sale on ebay for $10,000). I don’t have the money or the room for such a set up, nor do I have the amplifier power.


This pair of pairs of Ohm Fs sounded very good. Smooth, fairly extended, and with all of the soundstage attributes you’d expect. Sadly, the room was on the the small side for these speakers, and the amplification was a restored Marantz receiver from the 1970s. I suspect (and have heard from others who have listened to these pairs) that a larger room and more powerful amplification would have made them really sing. Still, I am glad I got to hear them.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,333 posts
 
I've seen those on Ebay.   VEry cool.
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