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

Not to derail this thread too much but OK, I'll bite, Kristian: What do you mean by critical listening? Are you referring to active listening to music or a system as I perceive the two labors to be quite different?

I think that offer by John Strohbeen is quite compelling. It's too bad other manufacturers don't do this but that is one of the interesting things about how John runs his company: He is always willing to do things outside the box to give owners (and propsective owners) genuine value for their purchase.

Kristian85,
As the OP in this thread, I found your comments to be pretty condescending, even insulting. "A kid picking petals off a flower?" "Manufacturer-bothering anxiety?" Pretty harsh, don't you think?
I'm not interested in hijacking this excellent and informative thread to engage in a flame war, but I do want to set the record straight. This will be my only post on this matter:
The only thing I'd have done differently throughout my investigation would have been to buy used gear, when possible. It would have saved me some money. Other than that, with no local dealers carrying gear that I wanted to hear in my room, in my system, I don't know how else I'd have learned what worked for me.
There were and are things I loved about the Ohms and it took me a year of living with my 100's to figure out what I was less than pleased with about them. I won't go into that here. But when I borrowed a pair of small, two-way monitors and listened to them in my room, I thought, "Bingo, this is it!" And I've been very pleased with where my system is going since then.
As for manufacturer-bothering, my impression was never anything other than John Strohbeen enjoying talking to customers and trying nearly anything to make them happy. I respect him for that. He's a unique personality and an industry pioneer -- and he certainly has lots of integrity.
Okay, I'm done.

I find the phrase "Ohm Gushing" to be quite hilarious. Anyone who has not heard these speakers, or any omni speaker, just don't know what they're missing. We're gushing because we're hearing something unique that most other speakers don't do. I'm breaking my 2nd set of Ohms, a pair of the new 1000's, and will be posting my impressions as time goes by. I origimally had a pair of the micro talls, which I LOVED, but needed something that could handle more power. My speaker search is over, as the Ohms have surpassed my expectations in almost every way, but others will continue to search for their "Holy Grail" until they find something that sets them on their ear, and they can die happy knowing that they finally found the speakers of their dreams. We shouldn't be faulted for searching for that or changing our minds, as we don't always get it right the first time. This thread allowed me to make an informed decision, and gave me all the facts, positive and negative. My thanks to everyone who contributed to this informative, enlightning thread. Long live Audiophilia Nervosa!!!!!!

Kristian85: Have you ever heard an Ohm loudspeaker? If so, please post your impressions. FWIW, I heard some fantastic kit over the weekend. I heard the $54K smaller Scena (sp?) four piece towers, driven by s.s. BAT amp and preamp, and $10K AMR CD player. Huge, open soundstage, incredible definition, decay, powerful extended bass - it was all there. Did this major-buck rig outperform my Ohm 2000s? Of course. So did a more modest (!) system consisting of KEF Reference 207 (the current version) driven by Manley 100 watt tube monos and the same AMR CD player. Big, open and airy sound with great detail and again, excellent decay. Also better then my own rig. But the KEFs cost $20K/pr. I went home and listened to my modest hodge-podge rig with my Ohm 2000s. I know it does not live up to those expensive systems I heard, but it still produced pleasing, enjoyable music, and put a smile on face. For the money, that is no small feat, and why I and others "gush" over Ohm speakers.