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Ownership and Review of a pair of Ohm Super Sound Cylinder

Greetings all - I recently ordered a pair of Ohm Super Sound Cylinder speakers, or SSC-4900's. They are in the middle of the Ohm Walsh lineup, and are about 38 inches tall and the cylinder cabinets about 12.5 inches in diameter.

Specs are listed at 88 dB for a 2.8 V input, and a response curve of +/- 3 dB from 25 to 20,000 Hz. 

This whole process is part of a "high end, high value, USA made two channel system" thread I started a couple of months ago on another forum. The electronics are the PS Audio Stellar Gain Pre-amp/DAC and a pair of PS Audio M700 mono amps.

The PS Audio equipment has already elevated the Axiom M100's and Martin Logan Electro Motion ESL speakers in terms of performance. The Axioms have a "twin" available in Brick and Mortar outlets from Bryston called the A1's. 

For reference, other speakers which we have or still have in house include: Klipsch LaScala II's, Legacy Signature SE's, Infinity IRS Sigmas, Ascend Sierras, PSB Strata Goldi, VMPS Super Towers and a host of other speakers. 

The Ohm Walsh speakers have been something about which I have read since 1977 (the year I got the audio bug), but have never had the chance to experience. The SSC-4900's sell for $4900 per pair, though the name and pricing are coincidental. The "4900" is due to the idea that the speakers are "almost a 5000", but with less controls - one switch vs. 4 for the 5000, but also a lower price.

John Strohbeen, who is he president at Ohm and who has been with them for almost 40 years, was gracious enough to spend an hour talking on the phone about our room, the associated gear, and also that there would be a review thread. It was after this discussion that we decided on the SSC-4900's. 

I am purchasing the speakers, not getting a review pair. They are under the 120 day return policy. John is well aware that my daughter sings opera, my son is adept at classical guitar, and that live music is the reference. He was actually quite pleased about this. 

This will be fun (at least for me), and hopefully informative. Comments are welcome. 

I honestly have no idea what to expect from the Walsh sound. They are so different from other speaker designs that the only thing to do is set them up properly and hear what happens! 
craigsub
jstrohbeen
7 posts
 
Hi Folks,

I just caught up on this thread.  Thanks for all the comments.

Cone material:  I don't care what the material is -- just how it works for our requirement.  Yes, we have used and still use a variety of materials from paper to polypropylene to metals.  Each has to be used differently.

Capacitors:  I hope that people spending many dollars and many months choosing the best component enjoy themselves.  The changes made in developing speakers are quite audible. How big a change is critical? At Ohm, we invest our time and money researching changes that are bigger than just moving the speakers a foot.  Changing the value of a component can often make that big a change, but changing brand with matching specifications has not. -- unless the judge knows which is which while comparing.  Then, the placebo effect of expensive parts is very powerful.

Paper tubes vs. Birch plywood:  Tubes are stronger, lighter and generally better than flat birch plywood cabinets. We offer both. We sell the Walsh 4000 using birch plywood for $5600/pair and iy has no controls.  This is $700 more than the SSC4900 which has a room size control. The big difference is looks -- not sound. Listeners should enjoy the looks of their speakers as they will be living with them for some time.

With Ohm Walshs, you do hear the music -- not the speakers.

Good Listening!
John Strohbeen
President/Owner
Ohm Acoustics Corp.
bondmanp
1,792 posts
 
Hi John!  Thanks for sharing these thoughts with us.  Neat little story:  Last night, I had a friend over who owns a B&M audio dealer near me.  I thought he would find all sorts of reasons why I should not have bouoght my Ohm 2000s.  I could not have been more wrong!  I know this guy has access to some incredible (and incredibly expensive) gear and speakers, but he was very kind and complimented me on the sound of modest rig.  He stopped by to help resolve some subwoofer issues I was having, and we made a lot of progress.  After a 6 month hiatus caused by an amplifier failure, I can really enjoy my system again.
bondmanp
1,792 posts
 
Also, @jstrohbeen - Since we have your attention, have you ever played around with folded ribbon tweeters in combination with your Walsh line of speakers?  I have been wondering what such a combo might sound like.
jstrohbeen
7 posts
 
@bondmanp Yes, our Japanese distributor had us use the ESS Heil Air Motion Transformer ($700/pr). We found turning it into a monopole by putting a good size cavity on the back made it possible to cross over to a Walsh 4000 driver; the problem that we never overcame was the frequency response at different distances from the tweeter. Since in the highs it was rolling off linearly with the distance as a line source many wavelengths long, and the Walsh driver was dropping off at the square of the distance. At one spot, it could sound superb; farther back it was harsh and closer up, it was dull! When we attenuated the front to make it shorter, it didn't have enough highs. All designs are tradeoffs. Our current supertweeter goes beyond 24 kHz on axis, and beyond 20kHz in most listening positions. I think that's high enough - especially for old folks like me. And all CD users.
snapsc
666 posts
 
John, it’s great to hear from you directly!!

One of the points that ohm emphasizes is good sound throughout the room.  For many of us with a prime listening position, a widely dispersed sound is less important than live, realistic, dynamic, music with great pitch and tone with scale and image at the prime listening position.  

Many companies refer to their unique speaker design (concentric tweeter, open baffle, high efficiency, ribbon tweeter, etc.) as the solution to realistic sound.  And frankly all the marketing hyperbole is confusing. 

Can you talk talk a little more as to why the Walsh 2000 or 3000 is an ideal affordable loudspeaker for people looking for a musical and emotional presentation... at their prime listening positions for a wide variety of music at reasonable (under 90 dB) listening levels. 

Thanks!!
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