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


Hi,

I'd love to hear the impressions of people who've actually spent some time with these speakers to share their sense of their plusses and minuses. Mapman here on Audiogon is a big fan, and has shared lots on them, but I'm wondering who else might be familiar with them.
rebbi
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 have the Ohm 4XO cabinets with the Walsh 5Mk-2 drivers on them in a room that's 16' X 24'. The speakers are centered on the long wall and spaced 6.5' from each other (center to center). There is only about 11' of back wall though, because of the open format, I have no idea how this is affecting the bass response. Maybe it's a trade-off, bass not as good as could be but less standing wave problems.

Some years ago I called OHM and asked John what amp. he would recommend that would make these speakers sing, he recommended the Sunfire Signature so i picked a used one up on Audogon and a used Legacy preamp.as well and have (on occasion) had it up to 75% gain, they handled the power without a problem.

THE,

When you talk to John, see if you can get him to elaborate some on the new driver designs on the various new 1000 series speaks.

Use of metal foils or other new or more exotic materials in the Walsh drivers again similar to original OHM Fs or even the modern German Physiks DDD driver would be news of interest to many who perhaps are partial to other Walsh driver designs.
Line, yes I could try the OHM 5s along the longer wall but the L shaped room is only 12' wide or so the the area where I listen.

I elected to place the OHM 5s where they are baically to keep them out of the way of the area where most activity takes place and leverage the acoustics of short section of the L shaped room to give them more room to breathe. Firing into the long section this way delivers concert like sound all the way back through the narrow portion, which is where listening and most other activity occurs in this basement level family room. It works out well in that I can chose closer or farther away listening perspective as I please. The bass levels are actually very good, just not enough to literally shake the rafters as used to be achievable with the right source music and my prior 360w/ch Carver m4.0t amp. That amp however was not a high current design and not efficient into 4 ohms, so the bass levels and overall balance suffered at more modest common listening levels. The MF A3CR is a much better fit to my listening habits overall and the sound in my system is very defined, holographic, and well balanced top to bottom
, just not the nth degree that might be possible with a monster high current amp that is also efficient into lower speaker impedances as is seemingly found with the OHM 5s at
lower frequencies.
Line,

Also, yes the Sunfire Signature looks like a very good fit for the OHMs and can be had at a bargain price used as well. Nice move!
John Strohbeen strikes me as a strict engineer and objectivist and when asked which amps are best to drive the Ohm Walsh 5 mentions the most powerful and high current designs. Anecdotally, he is purported to like the Carver TFM-75 (750 W/ch) which was at the time about the most powerful consumer audio amp available. He told me he likes the Crown Macro Reference (a true beast and very well reviewed at Absolute Sound years ago) which these days can be had for about $2,000. I am using the Wyred 4 Sound ST-1000 which at 550W/ch into 8 ohms and 1100W into 4 ohms drive the Walsh 5's effortlessly. There are many fine amps that will do the job right.