Ohm Speakers, thoughts?

Line,

I can claim similar results regarding driving the Walsh 5 S3 and Walsh 100 S3 drivers to high volumes with my system. Never a hint of stress or strain!

This is just a theory, but since the Walsh drivers take a while to break in to best sound, it may not be a good idea to drive them to the limit fresh out of the box, but rather work up to high levels gradually. I tend to do this with most new stuff just to be safe.

MWR0707,

I've heard a lot of good things abut the Outlaw amps. I would probably consider one myself if I had the need.

I don't know a thing about your player, but my understanding is that in general mixed video/audio format disk players are not not up to snuff with comparable cd-only designs, which makes sense. I use a $400 Marantz DVD player in a smaller A/V system with CDs and it sounds good, but I'ved never tried it in my reference audio system. I've used a $600 dollar Denon CD player/recorder in my reference audio system for two years. I am satisfied with it and I suspect I could do better with another CD player maybe, but it has not been an issue for me. The Denon sounds clean, smooth, lively, and great overall! I could easily recommend it for the budget and/or feature conscience. You get two drives and the ability to make essentially perfect sounding recordings to boot.

MWR0707,

The f-5 series 3s are in approx. a 27X20 foot inverted "L"shape room as sketched below with a thinly carpeted solid concrete floor. I do not measure decibels, but I like music to be played at realistic sound levels, including rock music. I push the Walsh 5 drivers as hard as my ears can stand before I stop. I have not reached a point where I notice any ill effect on the sound due to volume. The power level lights on my Carver m4.0t do light to near max levels, but does not appear to run out of juice. You can hear and feel the music throughout the house (~3700 square feet) at this point. Nothing I've ever had before ever came close to being able to produce this level of sonic exhiliration!

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Oh well, my sketch doesn't display very clearly does it?

Suffice it to say the L shaped room is 27' long and 20 wide at the base only. The top portion of the room is only about 12' wide. Most listening occurs within the 12'wide section, though the pseudo-omni design produces a coherent soundstage with not much change in timbre anywhere in the room. No box design speaker can do this. The closest I've come is with front ported speakers with good dispersion sitting right up against the far wall.

I could be wrong about this, but, I was led to believe that Ohm no longer uses Walsh drivers. Perhaps some are actually purchasing the Ohm sound, not the Walsh sound.

Unsound,

Ohm no longer uses the original Walsh drivers that were installed in the F's.

The new drivers are still mounted at the top of the box and fire down into it. The sound still radiates from the sides of the inverted cone. In the new design, this is not full range, and a front-diagonal-firing tweeter covers the high-end. The boxes are ported in the new design. For what it's worth, Ohm began using this new design in the 80s.

With my face close to the new driver, I can clearly hear the sound radiating from most of the circumference of the driver, except for the very high-end.

I still hear the same old deep, wide and realistic image that at this point, fills a very strangely shaped room, and is not focused at a single small sweet spot. No tilting speakers up or down, no adjusting chair position, etc.

Whether called the Walsh sound or the Ohm sound, this is the sound I was looking for. At this point I perceive the same imaging as with the old F's, but not quite the same timbre. The room the old F's were in was much smaller, more regularly shaped and had a carpeted concrete floor while today I am on wood floor. I suspect that may be contributing significantly to the different timbre I perceive.

We'll see what happens as they break in. They definitely play a lot louder than the old F's could. You also had to be careful with the old F's because they were easy to blow up with a bit too much power.