Magnepan, Ohm, Spatial or ??

I bought my Magnepans circa 1986 from a shop called Audition in Birmingham AL.


That shop was owned by no other than Jim Smith who literally wrote the book on speaker setup and was Mr Magnepan at the time (Mr. Avant-garde more recently).
Jim himself may have demoed and sold them to me. Not sure about that.


That was the only time I walked in a shop and bought speakers immediately when hearing. The sound was that good.
The speakers were located almost dead center of the listening room.


I’ve been to other Maggie dealers since and the setup is typically just a few feet out from the wall but they never sounded as good as that day in Alabama again to me.


I tried hard to reproduce in my room at home but never quite achieved the Jim Smith magic.

mapman, DC in the typical room usually has zero SAF...*L*  Unless the spouse is an audiofilly or one is single...;)  But since Maggies' are dipoles, I'll bet they sounded great....

soundchasr, honestly, Ohms are a terrific commercial omni speaker line.  Something for every room size, nearly every budget, and their trial policy allows one to 'test for fit and taste'.  I have recommended them in the past.  Being a dipole & omni type, I have my own favs as most do.

Give 'em a go...they have their own preferences as to placement.  But with patience and a bit of 'push 'n poke around' you'll likely be pleased.  Some have commented that they pair well with a sub, but that's up to ones' urges for bass on tap....;)

Personally, I don't own a pair.  As a young jerk about town, I happened to hear a pair of the original Ohm type F speakers in the early '70's.  I've heard nothing since that has struck me as comparable.  I have some technical and design 'issues' with the current Ohms, but that's just my problems. *L*

For the past few years, I've been working on DIY'ing a Walsh speaker with some success.  I listen daily to a 'bookshelf' 2 way version, used as monitors for my 'puter.  A small sub beneath my desk provides the 'bottom' from about 150hz.  Not perfect, but they do work....and imho, rather well.

There's a free-standing pair of a similar nature, with a larger sub as well.  These undergo 'alterations' as I waste my limited spare time improving them.  A set of 4 are in the works; two to receive alum. cones, and two with titanium cones.

All 4 will receive existing Walsh tweeters.

The original Ohm patent has expired....quite a while ago...

As mapman pointed out, looking under the 'can' in an Ohm will surprise.

Imho.....disappointing.....but that's just me being 'technical' about a Walsh. *S*  'Purism' has it's price....

But that doesn't stop them from being a great speaker....and you asked *S*. 

Thanks @asvjerry do you have any you recommend in my price range? Although I’ve been leaning toward Ohm and Spatial I’m far from making up my mind. I’m still trying to figure out how to demo some of these including Wharfedale and Vandersteen. Everyone has been so helpful and there are so many choices! 

Jerry are you talking about the original Walsh driver patent Expiring (I’m assuming there was one) or the newer one for the “Walsh Style” CLS design that JS and Ohm have used since the early 80s?

I know there are other Walsh drivers in the original mold like GP DDD driver. I don’t think they could have done that if an original Walsh driver patent were in effect.

The original Ohm A and F Walsh speakers sounded great but the single driver full range design was brittle and not suited for the masses. Hence the CLS approach or DDD approach which only covers higher frequencies.

I’ve always found the OHM CLS design to be virtually indestructable. I’ve put mine through a lot of abuse over the years and nary an issue. They just get louder more dynamic and clear the more juice you throw at them so JS nailed that flaw with the original design.

Dale Harder is the guy who claims to have solved a lot of the original Walsh driver issues with his newer designs but don’t hear much about those. Would love to hear them though. Hoping he does CAF sometime.

John Strohbeen at Ohm pays a lot of attention to getting that certain sound he is looking for (his favorite seats in Carnegie Hall) but keeping costs minimal to achieve it. IMHO. He could care less about “high end”, only about getting better sound to more people.

I’ve been to Carnegie Hall and felt quite at home there in regards to what I heard. 🏅

I, too, had a set of Ohm Fs that I purchased in 1975 or so. I've never heard anything since that came close to throwing a magical, ethereal, 3-D sonic image that just floated in space. I regretted selling them almost immediately.

That said, I really like my Ohm 1000s. For $2K, there is nothing else that I would own.