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

The one thing you learn over time is that all loudspeakers have pluses, minuses and trade offs.  It seems that John has designed a speaker that meets what his ear tells him sounds "right"....and it would seem that tens of thousands of people agree because you rarely see his speakers on the resale market.


Assuming that the crossover is really 3k or higher...meaning that the Walsh drive is really carrying most of the load...then it is the Walsh driver that is really determining the overall sound...but it might be really interesting to see what a high end (maybe Be, maybe diamond, maybe RAAL, etc. would do for the top end ambience).


To really move "up" the Walsh driver category requires buying something super expensive from German Physiks...and there is no guarantee that when you get it home...it will really sound better in your room with your equipment.  Granted, they probably don't sell a ton of these in the U.S., but again, you almost never see these in the resale market....but they do look really cool!


My current loudspeaker is the Salk Veracity ST...with dual 6" seas midwoofers connected to a transmission line and crossed over around 1700 hz to a RAAL 70-20....massive soundstage, beautiful detail from the low end all the way up to the cymbals...a loudspeaker that transports you to the front table in a small club...and there is Billy Joel right in front of you.


I've wanted to try a pair of Ohms for quite a while...and sooner or later I'm going to fly to NY or find someone that has a pair and see how they compare...although I would probably never get rid of the Salks because the wood finish is just so darn beautiful. 


Each time I've upgraded my system, I've just hung on to the replaced component so that I could fire up a second system with a little more certainty of the sound.  I'm also lusting after the new but not quite ready to be released Digital Amplifier Cherry Preamp...which if its like their amps will also be a shocker.

I’ve heard the GPs. Very nice but voiced different. The DDD Walsh driver does the higher frequencies but not the lower. Higher frequencies are inherently more directional than low and they need a lot of distance from walls accordingly like mbl so not practical for most. But the DDD driver does make for a much different presentation than Ohm for the higher frequencies.

Whatever the frequency of the cut-over is, if you listen the Walsh driver seems to do most of the work with Ohms.

Take a look at this showing what elements of music occur at which frequencies. If the Walsh driver is handling up to 7khz, it handles most of the content in music which is ideal. The higher frequencies that some can hear are mostly about harmonics, air, etc. The icing on the cake per se. Sweet is not a term I would apply to the Ohm Walsh. GP more so.

https://www.reddit.com/r/classicalmusic/comments/8qxglt/musical_frequency_spectrum/

So with the Ohm Walsh design, if you want more air and high order harmonics, you might want to orient them so the tweeters provide more direct exposure at your primary listening position. Soundstage will likely narrow a bit that way as opposed to extending wall to wall. Or get the 5* models and tip up the top end with the level adjustments provided.

With mbl or GP omni high frequency drivers, you can get same level of air and high order harmonics anywhere in the room IF you have a room well suited for proper imaging with full omni speakers, which means substantial distance from walls. Planars like Magnepan need that too but more so to just the rear wall.

I have a framed print of that chart on the wall in my listening room. It helps me understand what I am hearing.

Also as with with any speaker gotta throw in the qualifier that all rooms are different and that will largely determine the exact end results. Lively rooms will reflect more sound in different ways.

My main listening room with the big Ohms is L shaped, not particularly lively. Magnepans and tower floorstanders did not shine there. The Ohms were just what the room needed. They put the music live and wall to wall located in the base of the L while I can listen from anywhere in the long portion and just the perspective on the soundstage changes.. Its like moving from one seat to another in a cozy Jazz club. The Village Vanguard is the well known one I’ve experienced that comes to mind.

Directionality aside, the more conventional box speaker I have owned with high frequency tonality most like German Physiks is the Kef ls50 I run in smaller room adjacent to the big Ohm room. Triangle Titus perhaps as well. Joseph audio comes to mind at shows as speakers I enjoy a lot with similar sound.

I have also run Dynaudio Contour monitors in there that more resembled the Ohm sound top to bottom. B&W perhaps to a large extent as well. Fritz Carerra speakers which I like very much also fall into this overall sonic category I would say.

Anyone know if the Ohms will be at the NY audio show this fall.  I’m in CT and would enjoy coming down to the show to hear them for the first time.