Ohm Walsh F Hope of Resurrection


Now I have F's with rotten surrounds, but rest look nice, perfect even. Cones, spiders look great. 

One surround is done, decimated.  Other is intact, perhaps replacement as is not identical. 

Perhaps I try replacing surround? 
Any new and improved surround options? Willing to replace/ get repaired more, if necessary.  

Cursory search doesn't reveal any drop in replacement.  Or, am I wrong? I see the Ohm return/upgrade to newer version options. 

Experienced and insider opinions sought. I'm not cheap, and I'll spend the money to obtain the exceptional if needed. So, what are the likely and less likely options   TIA
What is that one "clone", HHR? Need to check...  i heard it at a show years ago. 
douglas_schroeder
Well, good luck! Nothing to lose and who knows maybe they can still deliver something that is hard to find otherwise.

I can tell you that the Walsh CLS design can take pretty much anything you throw at it with very little compression or risk of damage, so John Strohbeen definitely knows what he is doing there. Lessons learned over the years it seems from that article, starting with attempts to salvage original Ohm Fs.

I’ve been running various models hard for almost 40 years now, never a problem. Seems like the mastered application of ferrofluid is a factor for that.

IT’s still always best to avoid clipping at all costs... reserve power and the ability to handle it is your insurance policy for that with most good quality speakers in good working order.

In the interest of getting the most possible out of my Ohm Walsh F5s, I’ve been running them with 500 w/ch (into 8ohm doubling to 1000 into 4) BEl Canto monoblocks for a number of years now with outstanding results. I bought them planning to throw the kitchen sink at the biggest Ohms in order to max out what they can do. Those amps can drive almost anything to their max and also work well with other smaller speakers I own or have owned with them like my smaller Ohm 2s, kef ls50s, Dynaudio Contour monitors and others, but the Ohms are champs at going loud and clear off however much power you want to throw at them. Meanwhile they do as well as most with lower power amps, but its when you throw the kitchen sink at them that they truly distinguish themselves from the competition and shine. Similar to mbl and GP in that regard as well from what I read.
mapman, some nice guidance, and yes, I plan on adequate clean power. I have no desire to abuse gear; all my years I have never blown out a driver, even when I built my own "cabinets" for my coaxial car speakers that sat in the hatchback area aeons ago. I'm more into quality with quantity as opposed to quantity and more quantity.  

I never take speakers to the point of clipping; I greatly value my hearing and do not wish to introduce the potential for hearing damage. So, these will be handled well, not abusively. 

I will look forward to trying the Pass Labs XA200.8 Monos with them. I suspect they will be quite attractive sounding with those amps. 

Yep agree, can’t sacrifice quality, but when it comes to symphony orchestras, big bands, and the like, it takes more than average muscle as well to deliver the goods at home in a manner that at least somewhat resembles what one would hear live. Especially with modest sized full range speakers. Just have to be sure to take care of the ears along the way as well. Too much too often is not a good thing no matter how exhilarating it might be otherwise..
Douglas,
              You could talk to Dave Cox of Puckerbrush Audio in Norway Maine.  Dave is a Ohm speaker collector and has worked on a number of Ohm f's over the years. He is a friend and has worked on such speakers as a couple of JBL Paragons for me with great results. I had a pair of F's a number of years back and they definitely have a certain magic to them. I must say that I heard Dale's speakers at Axpona and they were out of this world!
Best of luck,
Bob
Thank you all for the continued advice and encouragement!

I have acted on one avenue of potential repair/restoration, which I found myself. My request from a local dealer went nowhere, and the request of a well regarded speaker repair shop about 1.5 hours away sank when they refused to work on it. That convinced me not to try by myself; good move, given I have zero experience in this activity.

My repair plan for the speakers involves two 12 hour round trip days in the car, as I was not interested in shipping them due to the potential for damage. I am willing to work a bit to get these drivers back into operating condition. The drivers have been in the possession of the repair facility, so they should be done sooner rather than later. Then, one more day in a car, and... COOL OMNI SPEAKERS TO ENJOY! ;)

In terms of the cabinet damage, where it is splitting along one of the front corners, at least a clean split from the outside; I will probably just shoot some glue into the fissure from the inside of the cabinet to prevent further compromise, probably use Gorilla Glue, and then put some wood putty into the gap. If I sand it down right, it shouldn’t be ghastly.

CALLING CABINET MAKERS/REPAIRERS... What do you think about that fix? The MDF seems to be the patchier kind, so trying to push hard on it and screw it back together might cause more damage. What’s the best stuff to shoot into the gap to hold it?


Lastly, I think I’ll try a simple, likely effective maneuver of placing about .5" pliable foam sheeting inside the cabinets (not glued, just put in position) to help with cabinet resonances. I suspect that will tighten it up a bit on the low end. Rapping on the cabinet is like ringing a wooden bell, even while the stock stuffing is inside! I’m not going to have that kind of distortion if I can help it. If my solution doesn’t work, I have not lost much and I pull it out. Or, maybe I can put steel straps inside, and fill the cabinets with 400 pounds of sand! ;) LOL I have filled one or two speaker cabinets in the past, and frankly, I didn’t like the result all that much. The bass on this will be like Harbeth, Audio Note, Tannoy, etc. with the hollow cabinet feel, which I’m not overly crazy about, but it’s an alternative toy. I don’t need to perfect it.

Imagine, these were a "last resort" call from the family who knew I was big into audio, as they were about to take them to the dump!