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
Yeah!

Ron- the whole reason I went with the Ohm's initially was placement. I HATE the idea of being stuck in 1 'sweet spot' to listening to quality music. I did a years' worth of research before I bought them.

there were lots of other speakers that I loved, especially the Sunfire CRM-2's, that I had to cross off my list because of placement issues.

All I can say is that the Micro Walsh Talls delivered everything I could ask for as far as ease of placement, with enough flexibility to tweak if I want to...
I haven't tried the "music in the round" yet, but I have pulled the 2's pretty far out in the room just to see what this would bring to the table. Bass suffers a little bit, but they still did the staging thing very well. I often wondered what they would sound like in that setup if the back of the driver can wasn't attenuated some.

I think positioning in general with the Ohm's can be as tweaky as you want to get, but they generally sound very good no matter how they are placed within reason. I love that my 3's have the casters on the bottom, makes it so nice to wheel them out from the wall that my A/V stand is on, and move them where they do sound best.

When I am not in the "critical listening mode", they can just stay put, which is about 10" from the wall in front of me, and spread about 6' apart. Pulling them out so the plane of the speakers are beyond the TV screen usually works nicely for video. If in the music zone, they get moved out in the room about 2' and spread apart about 8/9', which still leaves about 4' on either side of each speaker. My listening position is about 7/8' away. Still fine tuning though!

Still in break-in mode on the 3000's, enjoying them very much at the moment! Tim
Ron, I'm also in NYC, I've had my MWT's in a couple different rooms in my apartment, and never tweaked a thing. I think it's more about the sound of the room, vs. where you're sitting. As long as your room isn't too live, the MWT's are the best small speaker! The MWT's drop to about 4 ohms at the low frequency cut-off, but are over 8 most of the time. If you have questions about compatibility, ask John over at Ohm.
'I often wondered what they would sound like in that setup if the back of the driver can wasn't attenuated some"

I wonder about that too. They'd be an obstacle there for many and larger drivers might be needed to retain bass levels but would the soundstage depth and perspective match up to MBL closer then?

If I had my old Walsh 2s still around (I used them for trade-in) I'd be tempted to open up the cans and do some surgery myself there and try it.
Map, I might be able to play around with this option at some point. I have a lead on some old drivers/cans that would be fun to play with. I think most of the lower mids might already be somewhat omni, not sure though, and maybe it depends on what model.

I know the old 3XO's and maybe even the 4's had a layer of felt on the backside of the can that could be taken off, but again, not sure about inside the can and all those details. I would imagine the sound would vary some depending on what was behind them.

My room is a little odd in that when I do move the Ohm's out in my critical listening area, I have basically an entryway behind the left speaker, and a hallway behind the right one, so effectively an open area. I don't get much reflective sound this way, which I don't know how much that happens anyway and to what degree if the speakers were placed along a long flat wall behind them instead.

Map, what kind of differences do you get with your 5's and the switch settings when your speakers are placed in different positions, such as pulled out from the wall, or against a wall? I can imagine there are many possibilities but does it change the overall presentation/sound much? Just curious, maybe someday I will find out! Tim