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

Parasound and Zkzpb8,

Thanks for the nice comments. The media center unit was a kit from Crate And Barrel, of all places. It's handsome and solid as a rock, but the openings in the back for cabling are too few and too small... the cable situation in the back ain't pretty. If I can find somebody with the right tools, I may remove the back this summer and see if I can make some more openings in the back to neaten things up. I know some folks swear that the way cables are "dressed" affects the final sound...

I was in NYC recently and finally made it a point to attend a performance in the main Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.

In the back of my mind I also had the unsubstantiated assertion I had read a while back on the net that OHM Walsh speakers were voiced to sound like Carnegie Hall. Could that be true? If so, what does Carnegie Hall Sound like?

I asked the ticket clerk at the hall to recommend good seats to listen from. I sat in the front row of the "Dress Circle" level, just right of center and well elevated about 2/3 of the way up above stage level.

The program included various chamber orchestras and choruses performing various spiritual pieces. It was a most enjoyable performance overall and I would have to give at least some credit to the venue itself for making it that.

I think Stern once commented that the hall is an instrument in itself, which I would have to agree with. The hall delivered fantastic clarity and detail to the performance. Soloists and percussion in particular seemed to smoothly and cleanly resonate within the venue. My eyes teared on several occasions.

So what of the assertion regarding the OHMs? I'll just say that I felt right at home, albeit on a larger scale, with what I heard and leave it at that.

One thing I found very interesting was that a lot of the sound that reached my ear was reflected from the rear stage walls. I say that because the sound of soloists performing at stage level seemed to eminate from a point that was a good 12' or more vertically over their actual location, a very surreal effect I do not recall ever hearing to this degree anywhere else.

A while back I wrote a review about the Walsh 5's wherein I likened their soundstage to Carnegie Hall (the old hall that is, the one that the architectural genius Tuthill designed and built, before Stern and his nouveau renovators ruined it into just a 'good' hall), front mezzanine center to be exact. I performed at Carnegie and attended concerts there. The magical quality about Carnegie is the combination of tons of scintillating air, a vibrant yet critically damped acoustic, and astounding lucidity of instrumental and vocal articulations. In the old Carnegie, one could sit on stage rear and hold a conversation with someone sitting in the balcony without hardly raising the volume of one's voice. The Ohm Walshs recreate that magical acoustic space in my listening room. Mercury Living Presence and RCA Living Stereos, as well as live recordings from Carnegie Hall itself, enjoy a special synergism with the Walshes.

Mamboni, thanks for sharing that.

I picked up the recently recovered Monk/Coltrane recording from Carnegie at the Hall's gift shop. It is a real treat.

One of the most amazing sounding recordings I own on the Walshs is the "Classic Concert" recording with Mel Torme and company from back in the 80's.

I think it is at the end of "Round Midnight" on this recording where Torme hits an extended high note that seems to come from behind and above me off the Walsh 5's. There were a few moments sitting in the hall involving a celeste or cymbal of some sort where the high frequency sound did a similar trick while I was sitting a good ways up and back, front row, Dress Circle. It was very cool!

Well after reading this for months I pulled the trigger on some Walsh 2s then had them refitted by Ohm. Set them up yesterday right next to my Ohm C2s. Very interesting. Not blowing me away out of the box but definitely good stereo separation, bottom end. Listened to a variety of things yesterday....Alison Krauss, Shelby Lynne, Diana Krall...all pretty good. Bill Evans...a little tinny on the piano sound. Hotel California...just ok. Tommy Emmanual-great acoustic instrument sound. Running off an old Mcintosh MA5100 integrated. Will work on breaking them in and finding the right placement. Not an ideal room as I have them about 15 inches off the front wall but there are shelves on both sides loaded with cds about 20 inches away. I will have to keep my ears open and maybe even run them off my separates later and see if there is an improvement. There does seem to be something of an "Ohm" sound but at this point the C2s seem to have more detail but less of a clean and low bottom end.