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

Well - Props to Mapman and other Ohm Walsh owners who have stressed the importance of sufficient wattage. I had the opportunity to borrow from Mike Kalellis, of MK Audio, a pair of his Arion monoblock amps (not the tube hybrid model, but the standard Class D model). These are Class D amps rated at 500 watts per channel. Honestly, I did not think that my Odyssey Audio HT3 (with cap upgrade), at 150 watts per channel, could ever be a bottleneck in my system, especially since I cross over the Ohms to powered subs at 80Hz (1st order slope). But, there you are. As they say in the automotive world, there is no replacement for displacement. With the Arions powering the Walsh 2000s, most of the objectionable things I was aware of at high volumes are gone. I had thought these were acoustics-related, but nearly all of these things, which made high-SPL listening less appealing than moderate volumes, vanished. I also note better depth in the soundstage, more dynamic oomph, and overall, cleaner sound. These are not perfect amplifiers, and I have yet to decide how I feel about the Class D presentation, even as well executed as it is in the Arions. But I now know for sure that the Ohms really do thrive on big-power amplifiers. Oh well, no money for an upgrade now, but I know what I will have to do eventually.

Bondman,

Welcome to the dark side! :-)

Bond,

I've run my 100's of my 180w/ch Tube Audio Design Hibachi amps in a somewhat large room and know things are not 100% there at higher volumes because I know what my 5s running of the 500w/ch Class Ds sound like.

I used the TADs to fill in for the BCs when I had to sen done of the BCs in for some work. The performance was very respectable but still fell short of near perfection at higher volumes in comparison, which is pretty much what I expected.

MAX OUT YOUR OHMS FIRST! That's an easy, affordable and happy path to audio nirvana for many I would sugest.

Underdriven Ohms sound like This.

Not Bad.

But maxed out OHMS sound like This.

Much better!

Now you guys have me thinking I should try bigger badder amps! I've only heard one class d amp in my system, the PS Audio Trio, which doesn't compare sonically to my Odyssey Cyclops. Anyone have experience with (or thoughts on) the new D-Sonic amps? I understand they no longer use the ice modules. I'm curious.