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

Hi Mapman,
Many thanks for your most detailed and informative reply. As a 'Stat user I can readily identify with the effects that you describe. It's good to hear that you are also experiencing "phase" effects which can place the sound in other parts of the room. Strangely enough I tended to hear those effects more with my old LP12 t/t than with the current Raven unsuspended table (I think attributable to the fact that the Raven has more dynamic contrast which ultimately leads to a more natural sound.)
I won't mention the Logans presentation but simply say that the reason I asked was that I've been interested in Ohms for some time.
It's always good to get genuine enthusiasts views (which you guys obviously are). The fact that you are so enthusiastic suggests that the Ohms are something special.

I only have a single reservation regarding the Ohms and that is the fact that John uses a fairly massive driver to cover most of the audible spectrum from DC upwards.
10K is one serious upper limit for a bass/midrange driver but I guess we should acknowledge that some speaker designers swear by only using one driver (period) and thereby no crossover. :)
Do you feel there is any sense of strain by the bass driver to capture those upper frequencies?
Best regards.....

Hi Marty,
Interesting.
I remember a collection of Beach Boys recordings where many of the tracks had been clearly recorded in the same studio with the same treatments. In these cases the voices appeared uniformly over 5ft but some tracks were clearly done elsewhere. In one case, a Beach Boy's voice appeared at the top of the L panel (>5ft) while his opposite number appeared (extraordinarily) at the BASE of the R panel (just above the sub-woofer)!!

Generally I find that height is a function of loudness. Full height is coincidentally achieved when the vocalist is pretty much level, or a whisker behind, the speaker plane - but sometimes can be even further back. Drums and guitars are generally about 3-4 ft from the floor while flutes etc tend to be same height as the vocalists so it all leads to a very realistic presentation.
Adding surround sound DSP increases the phasiness and results in all performers becoming slightly "taller" :)
Reverb embedded within the recording is the primary reason for outside-the-loudspeaker effects just as the complete absence of reverb causes the sound to appear dead centre of the panel.
Agreed that this sonic trickery is not based on reality but a function of the speakers using the room's reflective surfaces and also reverb/phasing within the recording itself.
It is undeniably entertaining and experience enhancing :)

Thanks Bondmanp....funny you should mention a sub-woofer. I've looked at 2 "omnis/quasi-omnis" in particular : the Deuevel Bella Luna (needs a subwoofer?) and of course the Ohm 5K (which for music, probably never needs a sub-woofer?) Certainly given the Ohms rendering of Organ music, it suggests that the Ohm is often better than many dedicated sub-woofers! :)
This really makes the Ohm a front-runner in my book. I've heard too many speakers that drop off at 40Hz e.g. the Maggie 3.7 and for me that's just too limited.
All the best....

Moon,

No ill effects from the wide range driver that i am aware of. I believe the Walsh driver confguration has a lot to do with its effectiveness from top to bottom, a fairly unique capability of Walsh drivers i would say.

Hi Mapman,
I'm seriously considering booking the odd 1 week holiday here and there and taking in demos of the 2 speakers I mentioned (Duevel's full omni vs Ohm's quasi-omni).
Matthias, the European distributor is a very helpful chap and has offered the facility of User demos if I'm ever in the neighbourhood. I missed the chance to hear them during a recent German hifi exhibition (and to be honest he's probably given up on me thinking I've gone elsewhere but I simply take reasonable time to evaluate and choose products). No point in pestering the man when we have a Forum like this. :)
I believe he also does his own active-crossovered version of the 5K which even John is impressed by relative to the top performing passive Ohm 5K.... :)
I don't know how many people own them but the bass performance is clearly enhanced by this method.
(Can you buy the "upgrade kit"? Food for thought :)