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

Ron,

When I had my MWT's (also in a smallish room
with hardwood floors) bass was never an issue, and although I eventually moved away from the omni thing, I remember bass being one of
their strengths, especially for their size. It may be that you're not
used to the sound, or that it's a placement issue, or that as Map says, they don't do their best with tube power amps.

Also, while monitors on the floor would give gobs of bass reinforcement in
comparison to which the Ohms might seem anemic, but I always found the bass to be fast and tuneful-- not window rattling, but balanced.

Talk to John for his advice, too.

Ron,
I would give heed to what Mapman says about the amplification you are using as he has quite a bit of experience with Ohms.

Still, if you are unwilling at this point to consider a different amp, then I think playing around with speaker placement is a must for you. It would be helpful to know the size of your room, limitations, and listening position.

Before you abandon the Ohms, give your ears a chance to get accustomed to their sound and experiment with placement.

Not sure of your budget and what it is that drew you to the Ohms in the first place; you might also want to check out the Ohm Walsh vs. Mirage OMD 28 thread. As has been written there and elsewhere, the Ohm models are voiced very similarly with the main differences being base extension and SPLs. In the Ohm/Mirage thread, it has been noted that the Mirage 28 has good base.

Good luck in your search.

Ron,

I just re-read your 02-18-10 post and I remember why you were looking at the Micros.

Just to be clear regarding tube amps and OHMs, I don't doubt that some combos might float peoples boat and some listeners whose opinions I respect report fairly good results. I have not heard OHMs and tube amps enough to say conclusively. I'm just saying that big SS amps are the best match technically to get the most out of them. YOu can fall a good bit short of that and still have a satisfying combo.

There are a lot of OHM Walshes out there over the years that I suspect many have never heard driven to their max running off of lower power and lower current stereo receivers, and such. THey have traditionally not had a high price of admission and are run on lots of kinds of systems compared to much high end stuff.

As I indicated the 100S3s (Walsh 2 size drivers) even benefit from the 500w/ch Class D amp. How many people have had access to that kind of power to drive OHMs over the years? Not many, including me.

"Are you getting a big soundstage and reasonably detailed imaging at least at this point?"
Yes. Definitely. That's not a problem at all.
I don't have any latitude on placement. I sit on the back wall (on a sofa- in the middle), and the speakers are on the side walls, a couple feet in front of me, and aimed at me. They are as close to the side walls as I can get them (I tried pulling them out, but that was worse). They are about 11 feet apart. But, like I said, I don't really have anywhere else to put them.
I don't think my ears need to get acclimated... I'm doing a pretty fair comparison. I didn't change any cables or speaker wire- I just swapped out the speakers, and changed the amp settings from 8 Ohm to 4 Ohm (actually, I forgot to do that at first, but it really didn't make much of a difference, anyway). BTW, even though my amp is a tube amp, it IS 90 wpc, so it's not like I'm using a SET. The OHM's are actually louder than the Tyler monitors- I can barely turn the volume past halfway without pissing off the neighbors (the amp has a passive pre, so turning the volume all the way [to eleven] is not uncommon, although it feels weird if you aren't used to that setup).
I appreciate the help (and concern- funny, it's like an AA group), but I don't know that these speakers are going to magically start producing bass.
I think I'm going to look for some used Proac Studio 140's or maybe Totem Hawk's.
I could add a sub (but, I just sold my passive sub and amp), but that was my whole reason for going with floor-standers- I want to avoid the sub (and, I want my stereo to be a bit simpler).
Again, thanks for the help. Either way, I'll keep using these until I find something else, and I'll do a side-by-side comparison before I send the OHMs back. I'll talk to John before I send them back, though.