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

After I posted that, I got to thinking that you probably only got the driver upgrade. Those are still some pretty decent-sized packages! Again, what a nice surprise! Did you get new grills or will your older ones fit?

I am really looking forward to the 3000's, based on what I had heard with the 2000's in my room, the 3000 should be even better yet!

I tried the 2000's on top of my 3XO cabinets, but the top driver board that comes with the 2000 upgrade wasn't quite big enough to work properly. I could have made a new top board, but in the end I just thought it would be best to just go for the 3000's. Hopefully that will be just a drop-in replacement versus the OW2/2000 new driver board.

My initial plan was to have my own pair of OW2's, but one of them got destroyed by UPS(Oops), so most of my testing/listening was done with a friend's pair of old 2's. Glad he was able to do without them for awhile.

Am thinking about maybe getting a pair of micro-talls at a later time for my rear surrounds. Will see. Enjoy those new 5000's! Tim

Congrats, Mamboni! Enjoy the 5000 drivers.

Frazeurl: FWIW, one of the reasons I went with the Ohm Walsh speakers is that the entire Walsh series is designed to have very similar sound, just scaled for different cubic-footage listening rooms. Of course, I would expect peak output level and bass extension to increase with size, but otherwise, the entire X000 series is supposed to be pretty similar.

I have a question for Ohm Walsh owners: I am going to write John about this, but lately (about 2.5 months into 4 month trial period), I am noticing a bid of forwardness in the low-to-mid midrange, I would guess about 300-400Hz. It shows up on many, but not all, recordings. It is especially noticeable on piano and horn content. Some notes in this range project out in amplitude above the rest, sounding forced, strained, and a bit distorted. Is this another temporary break-in stage? My 2000s have seasoned dramatically over the 2.5 months I have had them. Some treble sharpness and upper-mid glare have smoothed out very nicely, and macro-dynamic range has improved a bit, too. However, I am still hoping the dynamic punch will get better still. But this issue in the lower-mids is quite disturbing, lending the 2000s a forced sound that is not very natural. My big fear is that it is cabinet-related - a resonance issue. However, I don't recall this being a problem until the last week or two, so that implies it is a break-in issue. As long as it is temporary, like the upper-mid sharpness that came and went in a couple of weeks, I should be okay with the 2000s. This issue is unfortunate, as in other aspects, these speakers are incredible.

I appreciate any thoughts you guys might have.

Bondmanp, interesting as I had a bit of the same issue as well, it seemed more like a small midbass hump. It didn't seem to matter where I positioned the speakers, further away from the wall, closer, whatever, it seemed to stay there. It really wasn't very irritating, but there nonetheless. This was with 2000 series drivers in an OW2 cabinet, which I might add was not in the best of shape either.

I kept with it though, had them running for the better part of 3 months and it did smooth out some. I found it did not take long for the treble to break-in if at all, it seemed very smooth and detailed right form the get-go. The bass/midrange was a little more problematic.

The last time I listened to the 2000 series drivers they were a bit better in the midbass. Unfortunately, my OW2's were borrowed and I had to return them, so my testing was cut a bit short. I have since found some really nice OW3XO cabinets that I have talked to John about in trading my 2000 series drivers in for 3000's. I am going to put that in motion when they get back from the Holiday shutdown.

I do think it is a break-in thing though, as I felt like mine were beginning to smooth out as time went by. I did do one interesting little thing with my 2000 drivers before I boxed them up. Once I didn't have any OW2 cabinets, I placed the driver cans on top of a couple of plastic milk-crates just to store them so the driver surrounds wouldn't be touching anything until I had time to pack them up right(They come packed on a wooden board that is cut out from the factory). I thought hmmm, wonder what these things would sound like without the cabinet. So I put 2 milk crates on top of each other for both left and right speakers, and kind of set the 2000 drivers and their mounting boards across the opening of the crate. Fired them up and listened to them for quite awhile. There was no real bass below about 60-70 Hz or so, but man, that midrange and sweet treble was to die for. These things were just floating the nicest image in my room, almost better than with the OW2 cabinets. If I would have had the time, I actually thought about dragging my Velodyne subs out and trying them together just for the fun of it.

It was an interesting little listen, I wasn't looking to really take anything in particular away from my experiment, but what I did come away with is that John really knows how to voice a speaker and to make some very basic drivers sound really great together! It was like listening to a small monitor yet with all the wonderful goodness that an Ohm Walsh brings to the table, minus the bass of course. I don't know that my description does it justice really, but I have to say it was fun. Again, my admiration for what John and crew do is pretty high up on my ladder.

Needless to say, I can't wait for John to get back from vacation(sorry John and company)and get the ball rolling for the 3000's. Enjoy your music, and of course those Ohm's! Tim

Tim / Frazeur1 - Thanks. That's a huge relief to hear. As it happens, I listened to a classical disc last night, a CD version of an old RCA Red Seal: Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.2; Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5 "Emperor", with Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Van Cliburn on piano. The Beethoven sounded so-so, with some of the thickness I had described above. The Rachmaninoff, however, sounded much better, with much less of the lower-midrange push that was bothering me. I know I was really enjoying this piece, since I cursed everytime I had to pause it due to telephone calls (some of which I just let go to my answering machine).

This is the second time that another Ohm Walsh owner has had the identical break-in experience as what I am experiencing. Really amazing, IMO. I will continue to run the 2000s in and keep you all posted.

Bondmanp, I forgot another thing that I tried in regards to the mid-bass hump, in the OW2 cabinet, there is a layer/blanket of acoustic dampening material or whatever it is, and I was able to actually move mine around, basically up or down at various levels within my cabinet. It made small differences, nothing earth shattering.

I am not sure how the newer cabinets are filled, I had thought they were pretty much stuffed to the gills with the stuff. If you continue to be put off by this mid-bass issue, I strongly encourage you to not only give it some more time, but also talk with John about it when convenient. He might have some suggestions that you can try with regards to positioning and maybe even some of the fibre fill in the cabinet or the port.

I think too, it is or can be difficult to diagnose these kind of problems as there are so many things that it could be-or not be for that matter. I find most of my displeasure usually comes from the recordings themselves, not the gear. But we all have certain references that we go by, and it is your ears that you have to satisfy! Don't give up on them yet!

I really think that John is very willing to go the extra mile to make sure his customers are happy with their purchase. Hopefully your 2000's will work out well for you. Enjoy! Tim