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

Mapman, Finsup:

I got the Ohms because of their reputation for vocals (you see a lot of people over at AVS complaining about dialogue intelligibility in movies) and music (I'm a big fan of Bollywood). And they deliver the goods there!

Given what's on a modern soundtrack and the well-known room-mode issue, HT pretty much requires subwoofers. I prefer a sealed design. The Empires are great for music and integrate well with the Ohms. But the Empires leave a little to be desired below 20Hz.

The Ohms have one slight drawback for HT. They are not what HT people would call high sensitivity, and hence they can't be easily played at reference level.

When properly set up, a surround system playing a well-engineered 5.1/7.1 soundtrack creates a bubble of sound around you. The effect is quite dramatic.

I know Mapman has some great amps driving his; I am thinking your comments don't refer to your set-up, just generally speaking? Or are you saying the Emotiva and Outlaw combo still has a difficult time with the Ohms?

Finsup:

The spec sheet that came with my Ohms says the sensitivity is 88 dB/W/m with a recommended peak amplification of 200 Watts. This means that, absent room/placement effects, I can get 102 dB's/speaker at 9 feet. Reference level requires 105dB's/speaker, which would mean 400 watts, and most people would recommend having another 3dB's of head room, which would mean 800 watts!

http://www.doctorproaudio.com/doctor/calculadores_en.htm

In any case, the Emotiva is 200 watts into 8 ohms and the Outlaw is 125 watts into 8 ohms.

Many people in HT are moving to speakers with higher sensitivities. For example a sensitivity of 94 means you can divide the wattages above by 4!

Since this appears to have become the de facto Ohm Walsh thread, I have a couple of questions about my Ohm Walsh 2s. I picked these up a couple of months ago and immediately loved the spacious omni soundstage and imaging. Still do. One big question is what I can reasonably expect of their performance in a room that is 15 x 35 (though the primary listening positions are within the 15x15 space around the OW2s). I get a wonderful image between the speakers, but it never extends outside the space btween them. It doesn't matter if they are 6-7 feet apart or 10. Nor have I heard that sense of the sound floating through or the sound stage filling up the room. Is this simply a matter of the 2s being too small to adequately energize the space or are there some more tweaks I can do?

Second, the OW2s tend to sound better when I stand and my ears are above the tweeters. Anyone have this experience? Any hunch as to why this is the case? Is this a problem to be fixed or a peculiar interaction between these speakers and my (peculiar) ears?

The third question---maybe related to he second--concerns image height. Generally, it is at tweeter level--not bad, but hardly realistic. Sometimes it is only around 2 feet high (this always seems to me like the sonic equivalent of the great Spinal Tap scene with the dwarves dancing around the tiny Stonhenge). I've read in this thread that image height is recording dependent--but this shrunken?!

Jwc,

Can I assume your OHMs are original Walsh 2s from the 80s with the first generation CLS drivers (ie not newer or updated drivers on Walsh 2 cabinets)?

I had original Walsh 2s for over 25 years prior to my current OHMs with the 3rd generation CLS drivers (the X00 series 3 drivers). The current line is the 4th generation X000 series drivers. The "cans" on all these look similar.

My gen 1 OHM Walsh 2 CLS driver cans had the word OHM Stamped into the mesh. Newer models do not.

Also gen 1 drivers had crossover board mounted in the base of the cabinets with level adjustments on the bottom. Gen 2 and newer have all driver components including crossover mounted in the "can".

All OHM Walsh speakers I have heard tend to have a laid back presentation in most rooms with most of the soundstage at or behind the speakers. My gen 1 Walsh 2s perhaps most so. Also with original gen 1 Walsh 2s, soundstage size, imaging accuracy and overall detail was a notch behind what one expects with most modern speakers including newer OHM Walshes.

Walsh 2s can easily work well (within their limits mentioned above) in a larger room. I once had them cranked to teh max outdoors and they delivered the goods to those listening in a field about 30 yards or so away. Going loud is not a problem if drivers are still in good shape and low end extension is pretty good.

I use my smaller gen 3 "Super" Walsh 2s (100series 3 drivers mounted in Walsh 2 cabinets in a similar large family room/kitchen area. I happen to have a sub in that room also but for most things it really does not add much.