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

Coot, a SET would not work for the Ohms. A push-pull of high wattage (such as a McIntosh, would need about 150 wpc for the 5000) tube would be fine. My approach with inefficient speakers is to concentrate on a tube preamp with a powerful SS amp. That way one can play around with tube swapping without busting the bank (preamp tubes are relatively inexpensive), and tubes last much longer with the modest amount of amplification of the preamp. Some of the tubes are cheap, and some cost upwards of $1200/pair, like the Sophia Electric Royal Princess 300B, and with amps you might need to replace the tubes in as little as a couple of years with heavy use.

Bond, that was why I said "within an amplifiers capability and not clipping" bit. Once that happens all bets are off, but I do understand what you mean, tubes are a bit more graceful when they clip, or can be, and I suppose the argument could be made that tubes even when running within their limits, still have distortion figures quite a bit higher than solid state in general, it is just a more pleasurable distortion if you will. Still I find so many claims of tube amplification sounding like "more watts than solid state" to be somewhat silly. Anyway, I should just let it slide really. No big deal.

I am sure John will do you black finish on your surrounds/rear channels too still. It is too popular to not do it. It is just good to see the website take on a major improvement after all these years!

Take care Bond and all. Enjoy the tunes. Tim

I got my 5000's back a couple of weeks ago and they sound bettter than ever. Tweeter fixed and more protection. Bass is tighter also. Also toe'd them out a bit and treble more audible. Also upgraded to Bryston BP25 preamp to drive my Bryston 14BSST. A great speaker company. I look forward to each and every listening session.

I remember when I ordered my WMT's, John was not thrilled with another black ash order, and he tried his best to guide me into choosing another finish. Not that he was hard-selling me, just using his gentle suggestion approach.

But it's still my favorite finish. With the lights out, they really do disappear quite nicely. Four years later and I am still amazed at how elements 'float' across the soundstage. These speakers are just uncanny- I've yet to hear anything quite like them!

"Oh, and the sub based on the old F cabinet looks like it might be a beast!"

How can you tell? I wanted to see it but could not find a photo."

Coot, I briefly had a pair of F's. The bass out of those cabs was pretty startling. I can only imagine what they can do as a dedicated sub. Purely conjecture on my part, of course!