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
peter, after wrestling an F1 around a track for a few hours with your 'stay alive' competing with 'go fast', I would chug some bubbly from a used condom. *L*  But it'd better be mine...;)

enginedr, pete..."Kiss Principal" protocol.  If the ESS is centered over the lf driver, time alignment is Done,  Rotation not necessary unless you absolutely have to have the base cabinet at a right angle to the wall.  Since we're all familiar with 'toe in/out' of conventional speakers, that becomes the aesthetics of how you want the cabinets to look in the room...

Yeah, the ESS driver is a heavy little punk.  Mine mount with 2 1/4" bolts vertically through the case.  Those can go into either a T-nut or a threaded insert into a base plate of nice ply or even a plate of metal if one taps the holes in it..

BTW, been there, done that...I do this sort of thing daily, making 'things' go together...and making it look Nice....

Put a piece of rubber or Sorbothane between the driver and said plate.  Although I've really not noticed any spurious vibration from the driver, even at 'full song', granted it could be an issue...

Mounting plate could be suspended above the base cabinet and the woofer with 4 threaded rods and some sleeves of metal tubing to set the height as desired.

A variation of the above could allow the ESS to be rotated and cinched down fairly easily.  Since you're mating a dipole with an omni, and if you'd rather not rotate the base cabinet, it's doable without too much more fuss.

*L*  I've gotten so used to doing the improbable with so little that mounting an ESS over an Ohm is Easy.

Of course, 'resale value' heads out the window, but...if you're 'doing a clone', that point goes moot...or *poof*. *L*

I could send a sketch of what I'm jabbering about, but I need to know that address...I do that sort of thing, too...;)  And would be quite happy about doing so....*G*

Oh, yeah....keep screwdrivers and such in control around the Heils.  That magnet structure will suck it out of your hand.  Right into the element if you're really unlucky and the tool is Just So...

I haven't had that happen, but it could really ruin your day....

Peter - I am a bit curious - wouldn't putting a large tweeter above the driver in the Ohms ruinn the upward radiation of sound?  AFAIK, I think that is a big part of the Ohm sound.  I have thought about adding a supertweeter to my Ohms, especially one of the omni designs out there, but short of mounting it on a high stand just behind the speaker, I am hesitant to place anything above the cans.  I love the hieght projection I get from my Ohms, and I would hate to lose or diminish it.


Separately, I am trying new wires for my DAC-to-preamp run, and it is very interesting.  First, I was thrilled to hear that the 2000s easily and dramatically revealed the differences in the original cable and the new one.  The balance has shifted, and now, the occassional rough patch in the lower treble-upper mids that I attributed to the speaker has moved down in frequency, to the midrange.  It is the lesser of two evils, and the cable needs more time to break in, so I am hoepful.  Most of all, the issue I was having with voices, in which the sibilants seemed separated in space from the rest of the voice is gone.  Just like that - sibilants are anchored to the voices in space.  And my soundstage is bigger than ever.  On most recordings, the 2000s simply vanish, replaced by music that just hangs in space across the front of my room.  Wonderful!

With all that surface area and 2000 watts per side even a small movement will energize the room, no strain, no chuffing ports just pure energy......amazing. If you feel wanting for good deep vibrations.

I can attest to Peter's subwoofer system; the house does shake. It is better than most movie house systems - hands down.

My 2.2000 Ohms (on loan to Peter) sound really good on his system. I couldn't get them to play well using a Parasound 1500A (205W@8Ohms), but with 500W/channel, they come alive. This is doubly true when paired with the subs.

OTOH, my Walsh 4XOs sound wonderful using the same Parasound amp and have really good bass. I know the 4XOs are more sensitive (90db verses 88db) and this might be the difference.

t8kc - Maybe it’s your room? My 2000s do fine with 150 watts per - Odyssey Audio HT3 with cap upgrade. I had borrowed Arion Audio 500 watt monoblocks for a few weeks about 5 years ago. The sound might have been just a little more open, but not enough to make me want to give up the exceptionally good sounding Odyssey Audio amp. I did, however, hear real problems when I plugged the Odyssey into a PS Audio Quintet power filter. Going straight into my 20 amp dedicated outlet fixed that.