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

Rebbe,

How are those LSIs working out?

I was listening to my OHM Ls for the first time in a while the other day and it occurred to me that these might be just what the doctor ordered in your case. If available, I think John sells fully upgraded and refurbished Ls for $600 a pair. Also, I think OHMs usual home trial policy applies, but I am not certain.

Ls sold for $500 a pair back in 1978. They are OHMs all time most popular model in terms of units sold, I believe. I sold dozens of them back in the day, usually over classics like JBL, Advent, EPI, etc. I've held my Ls ever since + did some custom upgrading recently putting in OHMs sub bass activator circuit (also used in the Walshes I believe) and Morel woofers that I selected and acquired to replace old deteriorating woofers. I still run the original drivers and crossover otherwise. They share a lot of sonic attributes of the Walshes except in a small (but heavy) conventional front ported, 3 way bookshelf design, not unlike Harbeth. Mine have a nice enticing warmth in the midrange compared to the more neutral Walshes. I bet John's upgraded Ls probably would lay mine to waste, though mine are still a pair of speakers that I could live with if I had to. I used to use them in a small dorm room in college. Now, they are in my basement's unfinished area (see my system pics), which is actually the biggest room in the house, with bare concrete floors even.

Wish I would have thought about these sooner.

The Ls sat in the room where my 5s are now prior to acquiring them, and I was very satisfied with their performance in there as well at the time.

The Ls sound absolutely sublime with the Bel Canto amp as well I am finding.

Marty - I have heard the VSMs a few times at shows, and was always impressed. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to hear the latest version with customized crossovers, fed by modded BAT tube amplification, a modded Atmosphere preamp, modded VPI 'table, and a very highly modded, battery powered Sony CD player (one of the high end big Sony SACD players, but the mods killed the SACD abaility of the player). Speaker cables were home made large flat silver ribbons. A modded Velodyne subwoofer was rolled in below 30Hz. I felt the sound was quite good, but not at all forgiving of overly bright source material. Plenty of dynamics, details and sustained trails of notes, excellent PRAT and leading edge definition.

The current VSMs are a speaker I would absolutely consider if I were shopping in the $10K/pr price range. I would love to A/B the Merlins with the Silverline Audio Bolero, which also uses a Dynaudio tweeter. I would say the biggest improvement I heard with these VSMs over my Walsh 2000s was the highly refined treble. On high quality source material, the highs had a smooth, liquid quality that the Ohms don't have. Not that the highs on the Ohms are abrasive or edgey in any way, just a bit less refined and delicate. The Ohms give up nothing to the Merlins regarding imaging and soundstaging. The timbre of the Ohms is also as good as the Merlins, except perhaps the VSMs beat the Ohms in timbre of the very highest frequencies. That Dynaudio Esotar tweeter, combined with that custom crossover, is very special indeed.

That said, I feel I got pretty darn close for less than one third the price with my 2000s. Additionally, I feel the Ohms are kinder to poor source material, which means about 90% of the music I own and listen to!

I think my Dyns use the Esotar tweeter. I interchange the Dyns and my 100S3s from time to time. My impression is the OHM top end is a bit more relaxed, the Dyn top end a bit hotter yet very nice. The little Dyns can be a little tizzy hot on the top end with the wrong amplification, but sublime with the right amplification. The OHMs less so. In general, I do not notice a huge difference when things are going right with either. People with younger ears that can still ehar very high frequencies might notice more of a difference I would think. Most people over 40 cannot hear the very top end of the audio spectrum above 14000 hertz or so though I believe.

Bond,

I pretty much agree with everything you've written here. I'd only add that the Merlins are more revealing of upstream events and have a dynamic "jump" - especially with tube amps - that the Ohms lack. Just MHO.

Overall, I'd say that these are both outstanding speakers, but the Merlins do some things "better" while the Ohms do other things "better". "Better", in this case, meaning more to my taste.

The Merlin is a wonderful speaker. It is also a premium priced, premium finished luxury product. If you can live with the appearance, there's little doubt in my mind that the Ohms represent excellent value offering an appealling mix of performance strengths at a more manageable price point.

Marty

Rebbi, I forgot to mention that when I talked to John, I told him that he seems to have achieved sonic holography with his speakers. He then proceeded to tell me that when Bob Carver presented his Sonic Holography to the audio world, he did it with Ohm speakers. I just busted out laughing, and told him "that's a compliment of highest order to you" I wonder what THAT sounded like?? I read on one of the threads that someone had used the Holography in conjunction with a set of Ohms, and that it was redundant, or didn't work that well. Just the fact that Bob Carver wanted to use Ohms for something he was presenting speaks volumes. I guess he heard that unique quality that sets Ohms apart from the competition. I still can't believe that you sold your 100's. Do you miss them?? Happy listening! Joe