Oh gosh... I did it now. Drove four hours each way yesterday from Syracuse to Philly and back... returning with a pristine pair of restored Ohm F speakers! I've been watching them get re-listed on Craigslist for a few months with no action - likely because the owner was holding firm at $1300 and wanted to sell them with local pickup only. He mentioned that they had new surrounds etc. but didn't specify who did the work. We agreed on a price of $1200 based on successful audition and only them did he mention that the rebuild was done by Bill LeGall of Millersound. Google him and you'll discover that he is one of the only two people routinely mentioned as having the requisite skills and experience to properly restore Ohm F's that have failed internal and external foam. Dale Harder of HHR Exotic Speakers is, of course, the other qualified guy but I have the impression that most of his time and energy these days is focused on building his own line of TLS speakers using the Walsh design principles with new materials and some design improvements. Much as I wish I could afford a pair of Dale's speakers it's not int he budget right now so these F's were my best bet.
In addition to putting in new silver wiring from the banana plug receptacles to the inside of cone (or so it appears,) Bill redid the foam and rubber surrounds, removed the goop of the old internal foam damping material and then used strategically placed placed pieces of Dynamat for damping on the internal side of the metal portion of the cone (I'm not sure but I think maybe this is done only on the titanium section?) Perhaps most promising is that he added an additional spider that relives some of the workload of and stress on the original spider. The purchase included the top hats (grilles) which are still in reasonable shape although I may recover them in black grill cloth or perhaps even build a new set from scratch. They also cane with base assemblies that allow them to be raised about 14" higher off the floor. I'm trying the bases for now and will then remove them to compare sound. Good thing I don't have Spousal Acceptance Factor to contend with - these things are huge to begin with and the bases have them coming in at five feet tall! The cabinets were stuffed with some good quality cotton acoustic grade batting for dampening but the seller advised me that Bill said to remove 1/2 to 3/4 of it after the rebuilt cones had been broken in. I took about half of it out but saved what I removed - just in case.
On to what counts: the sound. Holy Crap! I fell in love with the original Ohm Walsh sound back in 1973 or 1974 when I was in high school and heard a pair of A's or F's (not sure which) at a Tech Hi-Fi store. Despite the challenges of my smallish living room - which has bookshelves, a fireplace and the audio gear shelves on the wall behind the speakers, a four foot wide open archway into the dining room to the side of the left speaker, and an eight foot wide open archway across the back (with an entry hall and stairwell behind) - the sound is still incredible. I have the speakers roughly eight feet apart (cone center to cone center, just under three feet from cone center to back wall, and finally the left speakers is about two feet in from the open archway and the right speaker is just over three feet from the side wall.
Bass response on the right material is staggering... notes seem to hang in the air... soundstage is holographic... and placement of individual instruments is so precise that with eyes closed it's easy to think you are in the recording studio or in front of a stage in a small venue - hearing it live.
Yes.... I finally have my speakers for life! Still need to sort out a few things. I was advised that there is an audible improvement if one plugs speaker wires directly into the banana receptacles on the back side of the driver assembly instead of the external ones at the cabinet base that lead up to the ones at the drivers. I've been running them that way today and can't really tell if it is more transparent with better highs as the tweakers suggested it would be (could be my aging ears just don't hear it.) I'm looking for some 18" square concrete pads (the ones that are used as garden walkway pavers and look like stone) to go underneath. I have a set of 12" square pads for the Ohm Walsh 2's and there was a noticeable tightening and improvement in bass response when I added those. Dale Harder strongly recommends using cones - I might try that instead. I've also seen some comments that amps capable of direct current power can be dangerous with these speakers. My HK Citation 22 (200 wpc at 8 ohms) has a "high current mode." Do any of you know if this is an issue of concern? The seller was running them with a 60 wpc solid state Bryston but they really do sound better now through my HK and Conrad-Johnson PV2 than they did at audition.
By the way... the seller is a former full time musician who moved on to another occupation but tinkers with audio as a hobby. His ongoing "project speakers" make the Ohm F's look like little toys - and they're powered by a 7 watt SE triode amp! He has horn loaded Altec cabinets that are just under eight feet but has added external Electrovoice mid-range horns (the mid range horns alone weigh about 60 pounds each,) replaced the tweeter horns with ones of a more modern design (German brand whose name escapes me) and even clamped some external piezo super tweeters on the outside edges. They sounded HUGE although he didn't crank them as he's in a side by side duplex with neighbors. For me they lacked the presence of the F's but the sales i my gain :-)
On a related note - I recently acquired a second pair of Ohm Walsh 2's. They had the old style brown cloth saggy grill covers (easily replaced as Ohm sells the nice tapered black ones on their web site.) They sound exactly like my other pair of 2's but the metal cans don't have the black dampening fabric on the back side or the top - you can actually see the entire tweeter assembly and everything else inside the can (which is cool to look at.) I'm interested in selling either pair of my Ohm Walsh 2's if any of you are interested. I want to keep one pair for a second system but have to sell one to help pay for the F's.
