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

Rebbi: Good luck with the Shrimp. I've heard Manley gear at shows and always came away impressed. IMHO, the tube-pre/SS-power combo can be marvelous. If you really miss the remote, you can do what I did - I positioned my rack and preamp so that the controls are within arm's reach from my seat.

Mapman: Are you looking for a new power amp? If so, what are your parameters & budget?

Well, I continue to burn-in my 2000s. While they do some things extremely well (timbre, soundstage, detail, lack of compression, et. al.), I am still on the fence about some aspects of the Walsh 2000's presentation. I have moved the 2000s to a more radical toe-in, with the flat face of the front of the speakers intersecting at the listening chair. I am trying to tone-down the super-tweeter a bit, and this is what Ohm suggests. Too early to tell if this will do the trick. Ultimately, John has offered to swap out the drivers to lower the tweeter output a bit if I am still unhappy after the break-in, so one way or another, I suppose this issue will be resolved.

I am going to try this weekend to trim back the subwoofer output a bit. Although on bass-shy material the added bass output is welcome, on material with more substantial bass it can be a bit too much.

If any of you lurking out there have new thousand-series Ohm Walsh speakers, please chime in with your thoughts on the super-tweeter output. Thanks.

Bond,

Toe-in/out relative to prime listening position is the best way to tune the top end of the Walshes.

Use a loosely rolled up sock or foam plug to partially obstruct the flow of air through the ports on the bottom to tame the low end if needed.

PErsonally, I'd give it cosiderable time and work on getting everything tuned in just right to personal taste before customizing driver outputs, but it is very nice the John offers this service when desired.

What ICs are you using? I've found low cost DNM Reson ICs provide very nice overall control top to bottom with the Walshes compared to other ICs I use.

Yes, I have been looking at a bigger amp mainly for my 5s in the larger room, but I have not been able to justify the expenditure needed so far....what I have sounds too good already, even with the bigger 5s in the larger room, and I am hesitant to change a good thing and break it.

Bondmanp,

From talking to John Strohbeen, my understanding is that the late-model 100-S3's that I have do use the same supertweeter as the newer X000 series. So maybe I can comment.

My Ohms are sounding very nice these days. Bass is more controlled and highs are clearer and airier. Some of this has to do with having finally found, I think, the best room positioning, which took me quite a bit of fiddling. And some of it, I'm assuming, is break-in. So, for what it's worth, take your time. And yes, John will work very, very hard to keep an existing customer happy. When I had the Micro Walsh'es, and found the highs rolled off, he sent me a set of alternative drivers using a different tweeter configuration.

Fellow OHM'ers (or OHM boys or whatever we like to call ourselves):

I plan an experiment trying the big M&K sub I have running in my second system with my OHM 5s.

I'm thinking this may be the more practical (and cost effective) way to beef things up in that room.

I'd like to get the low end impact levels up to par with the 100.3s in the smaller room. Both run off my main system, the 5s in an adjacent room connected via in-wall speaker wiring I had installed when the house was built.

The issue I have with the OHM 5s is largely attributable to my L shaped room. Bass levels are up to snuff with the 100.3s in the smaller room towards the front of my main listening area but drops off further back. This is the L shaped room with thin carpeted concrete foundation floors where the OHMS sit in the short end of the L firing into the long length, where most listening is done (see my system photo with the Jack Russell Terrier adornment). In the short end of the L and just in front, bass levels are good...further back they drop off.

I will try the M&K V1-B sub located both up front near the speakers and back along the wall closer to the main listening area and see what happens.

The M&K has speaker level inputs/outputs and adjustable crossover. That will allow me to roll the 5s off at a higher frequency than normal and fill in the low end with the powered sub. If this works, then I might need to add another sub still because my second system really depends on one. I'd get one with the intent of it going to work with the OHM 5s indefinitely.

Fun fun fun. We'll see.....

The Ohm Walsh 5s produce some of the best bass known, in quantity, quality and extension. Why would you possibly need a subwoofer? There's got to be a better placement - a few inches can change the bass output in-room, dramatically.