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

D110 - Most of your assumptions are correct. I don't need the "wide sweet spot" feature of the Ohms (details on the Ohm web site), but it's still nice to have. The Shahinian is a fascinating speaker design with many loyal fans. I briefly looked into them. Unlike Ohm, there is no home-trial available. Shahinian's suggestion was for me to drive to Long Island from my New Jersey home to audition them. Having lived for years with a speaker that never sounded as good in my home as it did in the showroom, this was just a no-go for me. I insisted on a home trial for any potential speaker purchase. There is just no substitute for hearing a speaker in your room, with your gear, with your music. Of course, you can start buying and selling used speakers to try them out, with little financial risk, but the time and back-strain that goes with this meathod make it unappealing to me.

Ohm's 120-day home trial (you risk only the round-trip shipping) was ideal. And, as I have mentioned in this thread before, I really like Ohm's approach of making one "sound" for the whole Walsh line, and then scaling it for different room volumes, which are posted on the web site. I bought the 2000s, which are appropriate for my room, and I am very pleased. My complete review is posted in the speaker review section.

I recenyly upgraded to the new Walsh 1000's,and it cost me $96.00 to ship the micro walshes back to Ohm. Just thought I'd give you an idea of cost if you choose to ship speakers back to them. I'm still in the process of breaking in my 1000's, and will be posting a user review sometime in July, when my 120 day trial is up. As of right now, the 1000's have the signature Ohm sound, and ther major difference is that they go a lot lower (low 30's) and this is quite noticeable on some recordings. I hesitate to comment any further because the speakers have just started to open up a bit more (I got them on April 6th) and I know they have a ways to go before they're fully broken in, but so far, so good Joe

Guys,

Just thought I would point out that as of this moment the thread has 54,000 views! (Okay, 50,000 of them are from me, but that's picky...)

;-)

Rebbi- do you miss them?

Oh- and I hooked up a working pair of F's two days ago :)

D110 wrote:
The speakers that have jumped to my attention for this task have been the Shahinian and Ohm speakers and I was wondering if anyone had listened to both?

Yes, I have.
The Shahinians I auditioned were older Obelisks (for a short time) and Hawks, which are my current speakers.
The Ohms were a pair of Walsh 200's (mid 90's model).
The Ohms and the Hawks were driven by either one or two Plinius SA100/MkIII amps (Ohms cannot be biamped).

I listen to and carer about mostly orchestral classical music so my comments reflect that.

The Shahinians, both Obelisks and Hawks, produce an enormous sound stage and image, with sometimes remarkably rich and lively violin sound, woodwinds (esp. clarinets and flutes) of great beauty and fidelity to the real thing (or some real thing). In addition, they both have explosive, very dynamic bass with a definite presence in the upper bass/lower midrange that provides a fair sense of the power in that region an orchestra produces. Low brass and strings,
bassoons, tympani, harp--all of these have a solidity and body rarely captured in reproduction. Shahinian's design goals include the achieving of this kind of physicality.

The Walsh does not share the Shahinian's bass power, rich tonal balance, or (most sadly for me) timbral accuracy. Winds, brass, and strings all sound tonally less rich than reality. But the Walsh 200's have a more detailed and tighter bass, a "cleaner" sound, produce a soundstage and image easily as impressive as the Hawks with better specificity of location (a characteristic not heard live).
I listened to one jazz record, Cassandra Wilson's New Moon Daughter) which features extreme presence, beautifully defined bass, a gorgeous fullness and complexity in the voice, and, as a bonus, some darn good tunes. The Ohms outdid the Hawks in bass definition and presence but the voice was richer with the Hawks. Almost like cd vs. lp or SS vs. tube, the Shahinians are warmer and more lush, the Ohms are crisper and leaner.
The Shahinians can deliver a physical punch that the Ohms cannot approach.
I do not know if the new Walsh drivers change any of these things, not having heard them. If they were a little more uncolored and a tad richer sounding, I'd happily live with them-- but I'd keep the Shahinians, too. My bottom line is "beauty of sound" and the Hawks are hard to beat there.

My impression is that all the Shahinian designs share the characteristics I have pointed to, to greater or lesser degree. The Walsh drivers, it is said, are all the same except for size so, presumably, the same is true for their line.

By the way, the Hawks will play rather louder and handle lots more power than the Ohms.

Questions?