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

the ref1000mkiis arrived yesterday just in time for me to be snowed in with them and get some listening in.

i'll leave a teaser and say that things have changed significantly. details to follow once i have more time to tune in.

reb, your room does remind me of a very lively room with wood floors that i had my original walsh 2s in almost 30 years ago. lets just say it was a very unique and challenging environment to get things tuned into!

Bondmanp,

With your participation in a local audio club, maybe someone there has some amps they'd bring over to try out -- just for grins...

Its striking to me how much the sound of both my OHM Walsh pairs changes whenever I make a change to electronics. The difference now with the Bel Canto Ref 1000mkii's is perhaps the most striking of all. The sound is exceptionally lean and mean now. Everything is rock solid tight and dynamics and transient response has improved markedly. The difference is most apparent with well recorded drums but is in play most everywhere.

A good example is Ringo's bass drum on "Come Together" from the newly remastered release of Abbey Road. It sounds like a real bass drum now as a result of improved dynamics in combo with improved portrayal of harmonic overtones.

I also heard the foghorn blast that is typically buried in the mix of the tune "yellow Submarine" (from the remastered album of the same name from a few years back), it was quite distinct and clear.

You can often tell when things are going well when the music draws you in and you just want to turn up the volume and the toes start tapping or you reach for that air guitar! That's what I was doing yesterday afternoon. But things were also shining brightly at even the lowest volumes more so than ever before.

These amps are the bomb so far!

On the down side, I noticed a barely noticeable bit of what I believe to be some intermittent low level high frequency tube noise apparently on one channel of the pre-amp that I had never noticed before. Nothing horrible, but barely noticeable as a slight high pitched whine when sitting idle. At first I suspected a problem with one of the new amps, but switching inputs to the amps switched the problem to the other speaker, so the amps appear innocent. It may be time to open up the ARC pre-amp for the first time and dabble with the tubes.

Thanks, Mapman - I look forward to more comments on the new amps. FWIW, I have a very similar issue with my Conrad-Johnson PV-11 preamp. Most frustrating is that the problem has persisted through two full retubes and a third replacement of the specific problem tube. The good news is that it is very intermittent, occuring maybe 10% of the time. Since getting the PV-11 out of my rack is a PITA, I am living with it for now, listening through it. When things calm down (when? if!), I will readdress this issue. But I will say that, IMO, having some glass in the system is worth the associated hassles.

Finsup - got the MWTs set up as surrounds yesterday, and did a quick and dirty channel balance. Unfortunately, the first film I watched turned out to be a 1980 picture with mono sound. I will let you know how it sounds when I get to a 5.1 soundtrack.

I did invite some club members in to hear the 2000s, but never thought to invite them to bring their amps (D'OH!). I might someday bring my 2000s to a meeting, where several amps might be available to swap in.

I have noticed something interesting lately, as I have played more rock/pop CDs: Although the Ohms are kinder to poorly recorded CDs than my Vandersteens were (especially in the upper-mids/lower-treble range), they do reveal bad recordings for what they are. They are just less exciting and involving, even while they are listenable.

"They are just less exciting and involving, even while they are listenable."

That is the nature of the beast with lesser recordings to some extent.

In my case, lesser pop/rock recordings typically have manifested themselves with a dull and perhaps slightly muddy low end on most everything I have ever heard them on.

A good example is the original CD master of the Allman Brothers Brothers and Sisters album. This always has had somewhat of a murky low end to it, not just on CD but on original vinyl as well. That appeared to be missing in action for the most part this past weekend however with the new amps. As a result, the rest of what is there, though still way off from the best recordings, is able to come through quite nicely.

I noticed this while listening over the weekend not only with both pair of OHMS, but my Dynaudio monitors as well. These tended to have a touch of fat bass off the A3CR amp when sitting closer to the walls than ideal in my wife's 12X12 sunroom.

At first, things sounded rather lean with the Bel amps compared to the Musical Fidelity A3CR, but after things settled in I realized that the bass was tighter, more dynamic and more harmonically rich even on lesser recordings than prior.

The Bels have really opened up the dynamics to a significant extent on better recordings.