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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
 
It looks like the forum police stole my last post.....must be my dirty mouth Im guessing.

asvjerryif I read that right (I might be wrong) I said something wrong about your knowledge
when it comes to the Walsh driver??? We actually spoke about five years ago as I was in
the market for a set of speakers. Unfortunately I had cancer and $10k was a little strong
at the time, especially not knowing if I would be kicking a year later or not.
I bought the 4/5000 not knowing much about The speaker, but I liked the originals so I took a leap of faith. When I got them I was basically out of it for about a year physically and mentally. But slowly I realized that something was missing. They did sound great with most
music, but I was missing something. And that's basically how things started.
Im not going over the story (if interested go back many many pages and read it from the beginning, it's a fun crazy read.
A few days ago I started to think that there might be a better 12" woofer/midrange driver
ot there somewhere. Something that cost more but might give me an extended midrange
clean up to 4khz and wouldn't you believe it, there it was about $250 not bad, so I might get a pair to try em out see if I can squeak out a little bit more out of the "Walsh" driver idea.
Love to try one of Jerrys babies.....hmmm

Its late time to go to bed......🇸🇪

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,182 posts
 
The real Walsh trick is to develop a full range Walsh driver that is reliable and does not self destruct.

Dale Harder,  who posted on this thread earlier is the only one attempting to do this commercially these days it still seems.

http://www.hhr-exoticspeakers.com/

If I understand the principles of a Walsh driver correctly, any driver can function as one but only certain ones make good ones.   Knowing how to find  or fabricate those seems to be the trick.  It's been proven doable for limited range in the lower frequencies with OHM and higher frequencies with German Physiks and Harder seems to to best carry the torch regarding full range Walsh speakers.

bondmanp
1,808 posts
 

I guess I should put in my 2 cents, too! ;-)


IMHO, I agree that current Ohm Walsh speakers are not true Walsh designs. That said, I am aware that true Walsh driver based speakers are available (German Physiks, Dale Harder, and a few others). But with one exception, the prices are generally much higher than the Ohm products. That exception is the guy that makes tube amps and a few different speakers and has an omni with a ribbon tweeter for ~$2500. I can’t recall the name right now (senior moment). So, when evaluating Ohm products, I look at the value proposition. I think John Strohbeen is a master of speaker voicing, and has produced an inexpensive line of high-performance quasi-omni speakers that kick much of the competition (price-wise) in the pants. So, for those of us with neither the money for an HHR product or the time and know-how for DIY, Ohm offers quite an attractive alternative. Plus, most of the competing omnis do not offer a 120 in-home trial, which was a big factor in my purchase decision.


Rebbi - nice to see you here again. Thanks to this thread that you started, I ended up with my 2000s, and they may well be my last speakers (if I don’t win the lottery and buy a pair of German Physiks or MBLs!). Sorry for your loss.


Just an update: My 2000s have been in the same position for over seven years. When I got my Sound Anchor craddle bases for them, I toed them in slightly for what I assumed would be a somewhat warmer sound, with a little less treble energy (since the tweeters would now intersect in front of me, rather than being aimed at me ears). I have been happy this way, although I have long wished for a more widespread soundstage (it is wide, but weighted in the center), and better image stability with changing frequencies (the images can sometimes shift about the soundstage, unnaturally). Well, a few things I read on line made me curious enough to reposition them, aiming them straight ahead so that the tweeters point roughly at my ears. Whoa! I can’t believe the difference from such a small shift in position. The first night, I did notice some unpleasant sharpness on brass and electric guitar recordings, but since I didn’t listen to these prior to repositioning, it could have been the recordings. But Sunday night, I had a long, exquisite listening session in which nearly every track was wonderful. The soundstage is bigger, wider, and more evenly distributed. The highs seemed cleaner, more stable and more filigreed (a quality I associate with expensive speakers). I got chills up my spine. Then I realized that the last time I had them aimed straight ahead was during my trial period, when they were on my uneven basement floor before the bases arrived. I also realized that I have changed some things in my rig since then, most notably the preamp (from C-J PV11 to McIntosh C220), as well as some cable upgrades, and repositioned my amp to be closer to the speakers and shortened the speaker cables.


Sorry for the long-winded post, but I was quite happy Sunday night as I sat there grinning at how good everything sounded. And I have a new IC on the way to connect my DAC to my preamp. So, even though I was thinking that it just can’t get any better than this, maybe it can!

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,182 posts
 
For me its all about the sound. If it sounds best to me that’s all that matters and the OHMs still do for me both at lower price points and highest.

Granted there is a lot of very good sounding competition out there but still nothing I know of that sounds and works as good for me at competitive price points. Good meaning most hours of time spent listening to all kinds of music at any volume over almost 10 years going now with my current OHMs..

JS is definitely goes for delivering his sound as affordable as possible in a way that works best for most in their homes and does not seem to care about what people might think about bling and parts used. In other words I do not think he cares at all about "high end audio" only good sound.

When I read his blogs on his site it only convinces me more that this MIT educated guy knows exactly what he is doing perhaps as well as anyone.

Regarding cost and competition if one is smart about how they go about it there are many ways to get better OHMs for less. My F5 series 3 OHMs, essentially equivalent to current 5000s that list for over $6K (lots of really good $6K speakers out there but none I know of sound the same) ended up costing me $2400 with summer sale pricing (should be coming up again in June) and maximizing trade in for 40% discount trading in two old pair of refurbishable OHMs (my old Walsh 2s and a pair of old C2s I picked up on ebay for about $100 and had shipped straight to OHM for the trade-in).


The Ls I refurbed myself with a pair of $400 Morel woofers sound very good but I suspect a refurbed pair from JS for $500 total would sound even better even with less $$$s in raw parts because I have no doubt JS can design speakers better than I and for less.


t8kc's avatar
t8kc
61 posts
 
There seem to be 2 camps here; those that are interested in the technical side and those that aren't.
I don't see why those that are on either side need to disparage the other. Why not just let the stories unfold and contribute when you have something constructive to say.
Leave your egos and bruised emotions aside and let the chips fall where they may.
This thread is about Ohm speakers and how they sound and not about the feelings of the posters.
BTW, John S. is perfectly capable of defending himself if he wants to and doesn't need any help.
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