Ohm Walsh Micro Talls: who's actually heard 'em?

The joys of settling in...

It's a pleasure being off the speaker merry-go-round and just enjoying music for awhile!

Had a brief chance to listen today (parents' health situation not yet totally resolved... but getting there...)

Two more "Ohm Show Pieces," both from Steely Dan Gold: Expanded Edition.

Century's End and True Companion. That signature Ohm "fill the room with music" thing is definitely happening in spades.

Steve

PS: Thanks for the recommendations, Marty!

Interesting... there's a guy here on Audiogon right now with a pair of rebuilt Ohm F's (!!!) for $1200! Here's the address:

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1244825082&/OHM-F-

He's got some negative thoughts on the current Ohm company, too, which make for interesting reading.

Yeah, I saw that.

A good price if you can pick them up and are truly restored to good working order. That's the tricky part.

Many who loved the original Fs are skeptical at best regarding the CLS design that supplanted them.

The unique thing about them is that they were single driver full range (to 16-17 Khz anyway) and omni-directional.

Thats rarified ground. Pretty much only rebuilt Fs or As and and perhaps one model German Physiks, at most, available these days, as I recall (their horn loaded model).

Their achilles heel was that the driver was easily over-driven and damaged. OHM CLS design eliminated that problem by foregoing the top end with the Walsh driver, but for some that is where the magic was, so they will look elsewhere these days.

Rebbi.

Now that some time has passed, do you have any last thoughts on MWT's? You had mentioned that they don't give up much to the 100's. I'm just wondering what you think now.

Hope all is well with your family!

-P

Parasound,

Good to hear from you. Thanks for asking about my parents. Both are, thank God, on the mend!

I shipped the Micro Walshes back to Ohm a couple of weeks ago, but I'll answer your question from memory.

The overall sonic character of the Micros and the 100's is remarkably similar. Both have an airy top end, beautiful mids and solid bass. And the soundstaging capabilities of both are tremendous. I doubt that many other speaker designs "energize the room" quite like the Ohms do. They also have a general coherence of sound - a "seamlessness" - that is very pleasing.

So how are they different?

Mostly I think it's a matter of dynamics and scale. According to John at Ohm, the 100s will play louder with less power than the Micros. Additionally, in a side by side comparison, the 100s have an authority or "solidity" that the Micros don't quite muster.

Yet, as I said earlier, their similarities outweigh their differences, so much so that if you're on a budget (and who isn't these days?) I'd audition the Micros first and see how they work in your room. In smallish rooms, they can really get the job done!