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

'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

'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?"

When closer to the wall (<2 feet or so) the location setting (essentially affects the mid-upper bass) goes down a notch. Normally, they are out about twice that distance in that the long section of my L shaped room where I listen is a good 30 feet deep or so and the location setting is up a notch there normally.

My L shaped room where the speakers are located is not symmetrical The right speaker is always generally well less than 2 feet from the right wall. The left speaker is essentially free standing with the left wall another 10 feet or so to the left and in front of and just inside the left hand wall of the listening area (in teh length of the L shape, if that makes any sense, see my system picture to get the idea).

I typically have the placement control on the left Walsh 5 set to either free standing (highest) or wall (middle setting) and the right Walsh 5 set to either wall or corner (lowest setting) depending on distance from rear wall.

The separate "Room Size" setting is generally set to "medium" for a medium sized room. This is the low range bass control that you adjust based on room size. When I set this to "Large" room size, I find just a tad too much low end which tends to mask detail at higher frequencies somewhat.

The presence/midrange and treble settings are generally left at the middle level settings these days and both speakers have a slight toeout in order to consolidate the soundstage just a tad between the speakers and in front of my somewhat narrow (~ 10 feet or so) listening area.

The last song on cd1 of the box set "Cowabuunga: The Surf Box" is "Shoot That Curl" by Chris Montez. The last few minutes of this is ocean wave sound effects. These are something to hear on the OHMs. Close your eyes and turn the volume up a bit and you will be convinced you are out in the surf shooting that curl wit the waves pounding all around you. Awesome!

Thanks for the responses, and clearing things up. I think I'm gonna go for the micro talls if/when I sell my Tyler's (I lowered my price to hopefully speed things up). The OHM factory is actually only a mile from my apt, which is kinda cool.