History on ohm A's and F's.

The Huff line of speakers use the same driver as the German Physiks line, at somewhat more reasonable costs. The German Physiks might have more elaborate cabinets. I have no idea if they warrant the extra costs. The German Physiks driver is an update of the origianl Walsh design. While it might be better in many regards, it does not go down as deep as the original Ohm Walsh driver and unlike the original Ohm Walsh design might be best supplemented with a sub-woofer. Still, the German Physiks and especially the less expensive Huff design look mighty appealing. I wish I had the opportunity to audtion them.

"(the Walsh was a purely pistonic driver, which was at the core of its efficency issues)."
???

I do believe that unlike the current Ohms, the original Ohm Walsh's were bending wave drivers, and the German Physiks DDD is just an update of the original Walsh concept. The "inefficiency" of the original Walsh drivers might be due to other factors.

Mapman, I could be wrong but, I believe you are mistaken on every count.

To my mind, it's "hardly a reasonable accounting of the similarities". In one case, we have an actual working model of a concept just a few decades old, as opposed to some drawings done centuries ago without any known working models. The Walsh "concept" may not have been as polished as the DDD due to the fact that Walsh died before he had the benefit of computer modeling to do the intricate math. Never the less, let us not forget that the working Walsh design had an even even greater frequency range. As Walsh had little to do with Ohms production standards, let us not blame him for alleged failure rates. Let us give the credit due to Walsh, without whom "Dick" might never had the premise upon which to refine and develop the the concept into the DDD. I'm just an outsider here, and while sincerely appreciate the input of those directly involved with these most interesting speakers, I'm a bit put off by what appears to be a slanted, unconfirmed and disrespectful assessment of the genius(?) of Walsh, and this applies to others who haven't posted here as well.

I don't know how many Ohm A's and F's were sold, but due to the power requirements and various other reasons, I doubt they were exactly ubiquitous. Let us remember that the OHM Walsh A's and F's are now over 35 and 25 years old respectivley. Furthermore, due to their unique design, I would think it would be fair to reason that some may have compromised by less than qualified repair efforts. I seem to recall that both Dale Harder and Bill Legall of Miller Sound have made claims that they have solved some of the issues re: the OHM A's and F's, including the alleged reliability issues. I'd imagine that many speakers of that era might need some maintenance. According to the Ohm web site, it was not failure rate that made them abandon the true Walsh drivers, but rather an inability to replace the skilled labor force that had been lost. The original titanium DDD driver was reputed to be somewhat delicate as well.
I will admit that I am not the least bit qualified to make an accurate assessment, but it appears to me that the new OHM's appear to me to be much more similar to a pistonic dynamic driver than to a true Walsh driver. Perhaps, it's just me, but I find Ohms web sites use of audio buzz words to be confusing if not indeed misleading.
I don't mean to condemn the German Physiks offerings. That the lower frequencies, that most consider to be percieved as omni-directional in nature anyway are passed on to another driver may appear to be less elgant, but doesn't perturb me. The newer carbon fiber drivers appear to be a very good evolution. If I could personally justify the expense of these designs, they would certainly be at the top of my short list.
I can't help but wonder if either or both German Physiks or Dale Harder could manage to use a sub that maintains time and phase coherence in the same way that some manufacturers of more traditional cone and dome speakers have, with their Walsh inspired concepts. Or better yet, develop a larger perhaps differently tappered Walsh like driver to be truely full range? And while your at it (Ha!) let's not forget the dynamic contrasts that allow for appropriate loudness are an integral part of music, for both headbangers and "serious" music afficandos.
I sincerely encourage those who choose to pursue the development of these types of speakers, and I would like to to especially encourage the development of ones that could be afforded by the masses. Good luck!

Dale, thanks for your reply. I read your earlier posts. What am I missing?