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

"If you sit in the sweet spot of a conventional speaker, would the Ohm's differ if you dropped them into the same spot? IOW, is it only when you start moving out of the sweet spot that omni speakers start to shine?"

Sweet spot is usually much bigger with OHMs/omnis in general making listening easier. THat's probably the biggest difference.

Second unique aspect of OHM sound is coherency top to bottom to go with the big sweet spot.

Third is usually a wide wall to wall soundstage. Not unique to OHMs, but perhaps easier to accomplish with those compared to many.

Fourth is a lot of dynamic headroom given the size of teh driver and speaker, which seems to be an attribute of the CLS Walsh design specifically.

Like any speaker, positioning is usually a big part of the sonic picture, but not the only part. Dropping an Ohm or any other omni-type speaker into the same position as a typical forward-firing box speaker may be worse in some aspects, especially if the placement of those speakers is close together. This is somewhat listener dependant of course, place to taste so to speak, but I always preferred my Ohms to be typically spaced wider apart than I would most box speakers. I always felt that the soundstage and imaging would be better this way, whereas if they were closer together, things can begin to sound like a large ball of music. Maybe not a bad thing depending on how you want your "staging".

I used to own Walsh 3000's and also the MWT in omni-configuration, and both of them liked to be placed a decent bit apart. I always played with that positioning though very much like I would any speaker, even an omni's soundstage can become collapsed and not realistic if placed too far apart. The positioning/angle of the tweeters does enable a wider spacing, while still getting the imaging and stage correct. In general I agree with Map's post above.

I now own a pair of Swedish Larsen Model 4's, that are not too far off from a pair of Ohm's in some respects, especially ragarding the tweeter positioning to some degree. I find that I can place these speakers similarly to the Ohm, 10-12 feet apart, and listening around the same distance or even a bit less with very good results.

I also own a pair of Shahinian Obelisk 2's, and they continue to amaze me, it seems they can sound as large as the room you have them placed in without making the individual performers and instruments seem too large-no vocalists with 10-foot wide mouths here. I don't know how they do it, but they get most things right as do Ohm's.

Ohm's, Larsens, Shahinians, all very similar products at varying price points, but they all manage to sound right to me, like real music in a realistic setting.

Tim

I have larger OHM 5s fairly close to each other (4 ft) in my larger L shaped room, and smaller OHM 100S3 far apart (10 feet or so, corner in-between) in my smaller 12X12 room.

I think a lot regarding placement will depend on room acoustics and preferred listening location, so I am hesitant to make any general statements about best location. It can vary widely case by case I think, but probably no more so than with most conventional speakers for best results.

I will say that the best location for a conventional box design will likely not be exactly the same as for OHMs, but in many cases there may not be too much difference.

Very true Map, it is like a lot of things, very dependant on room and tastes. I tend to like a bit of spread to my stage, and even when the Ohms are closer together, they still do a good job, I just feel they are a bit more open when pulled apart to some degree.

I think this is one somewhat of a misconception, a lot of people think that the omni's can be just plunked down most anywhere and be okay, and while I think they are maybe a bit less fussy in general with positioning, one can still be rewarded greatly playing with positioning.

I still struggle a bit at times with the Shahinian Obelisk positioning, I like a lot of various positions with them and have a hard time making up my mind which is best for me. Good thing they too are on casters, wheel them around, makes life easier! Tim

By the way Map, just saw your comment in my virtual systems, sorry I rarely go on there. Guess I should check in every now and then! I did respond a bit to a couple of the posts there. Darn, is this the 2000th post on this thread? Good grief, we should have brought Rebbi back for that one....