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

Welcome, Polarin! Glad to read about your recent acquisition of a pair of Walsh 3's! The Ohm Walsh sound is one that I instantly loved at first listen!

I'd like to share my thoughts on a recent upgrade to my Ohm Walsh 4's, that I purchased new back in 1985(and was still very happy with them).

After receiving the Columbus Day sale e-mail from John S., at Ohm, I decided to take the plunge and upgrade to the 4.5000's. I've only had the upgrade for about month, but I must say that the 4.5000 sound presentation is completely different to my original 4's!

At first listen I didn't like the presentation at all! There sound was so far off from what I was used to hearing. The low end is so much more prevalent, that I was overwhelmed by it! Also, the mid range is much more apparent now, than with my 4's.

I have been experimenting much with the various switch positions, and have found a combination that is fairly enjoyable. I am re-listening to many recordings, and finding a more complete overall presentation. I have also toed in the speakers about 20 degrees, and that seems to give a bit more centering to vocals. Although, I still find that there is a bit to much separation, mainly within the mid range male and female vocal frequencies, for my taste. But I am still working on those areas.

I am driving the speakers with a McIntosh Mc-352, and my normal listening levels range from -5dB to -15dB. The precision(and crispness) of say a kick or tom drum, or the snap of an electric bass guitar string, is what is most striking to me! The speed is fast and tight. There are passages within certain compositions, that I find the mid to upper mid range, to be too overwhelming for me. Which quite possibly could be the recording itself.

There are a couple of build issues I'm dealing with, but John S. has been very receptive in dealing with them thus far.

Overall, the more listening I do, the more pleased I become with this upgrade.

Remember tbat the newer Walshes in particular are very transparent and many tweaks can be done to fine tune the sound, including ICs.

My experience was similar to buttecreekers when i first hooked up my walsh 2 series 3 ohms in place of original walsh 2s. Totally different sound and presentation overall. The difference was in no way subtle.

Bondmanp .. just now finding the time to give my impressions of the 3 speakers. One reason I looked into other brands, besides curiosity, was my living situation changed and the room my stereo was going into was a bit larger. Nonetheless I used the MWTs for quite some time before finally making another purchase. In order to stay with Ohm's I would have had to step up to the Walsh 2000's to accommodate the room and at the time I simply couldn't spend the money. So I looked for something completely different and the Mark & Daniel Ruby caught my attention. I picked them up here on A'gon for less than half of the retail price. The Rubys are a 2-way stand-mount with an AMT tweeter. In comparison to the MWTs, the presentation is completely different .. much more forward and in-your-face. They do what monitors do really well. Although the Rubys have real body and presence, the soundstage isn't as wide as the MWT, but very good. These little monitors are fun, punchy, and go deeper than the MWT. The highs seems a bit more extended and a bit brighter without being fatiguing in the least and have wonderful coherence. The MWTs are a bit more laid back but certainly not dull in comparison. The MWTs present the scale of instruments much more realistically IMO and I'm sure I don't need to mention the wide sweet spot of the Ohms.

The MMGs came about because I had a little extra cash at the time and wanted to hear a panel, which I never had. Like many, I also think they are one of the great audio bargains. The MMGs and the MWTs share similar properties like scale of instruments, tone, and coherence. I love the sound of these little panels and they work better in my room than the others. I've thought about stepping up to the 1.7s when the time comes, but they are simply too big. Perhaps the 2000's will be next .. I do love the Ohm sound and I really want to hear the newer drivers. Unfortunately that won't be for quite a while due to a recent DAC purchase. I will also check out the Golden Ear Tritons you mentioned.

other gear:
Mac Mini 2010
Chordette QuteHD DSD DAC
SOtM dX-USB HD usb to s/pdif converter & mBPS-d2s battery ps
Odyssey Audio Cyclops Extreme/SE Integrated (w/ps upgrade)

My "problem" with my Walsh 3's is that I'm happy with how they sound now, so I have no real desire to upgrade to the newer offerings. I thought I read in a previous post that the 3's had rubber (or treated cloth) surrounds so they don't need refoaming like the 4's and even 5's did. Anyway I'm not hearing anything unusual from them so I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I own the OHM 3000, the only minor complaint I have is the soft dome tweeter is not as extended as a good ribbon tweeter. So I have on order, a add-on supertweeter which will sit on top of the speakers. The new Mark & Daniel Omni Harmonizer AMT supertweeter should arrive within the next two weeks. Can't wait!