If attending Capital Audiofest 2018, can you provide your review of the Ohm F-5015s

MB what is the rest of your system, amp in particular? Also how big of a room and anything particularly unique about it acoustically?

Mapman and Twoleftears,

Thank you both for your inquiry for more information.  Here are some more details.

I am starting from scratch on the electronics, so I can get a good amplifier match to the speakers once I make a speaker choice.   Haven't had an audio system in my great room for years.  Now that I have set aside some funding (kids in their college years, so other higher top priority), I wanted to get a nice system.

I have a 23" deep x 20' wide x 10' tall great room with adjacent 20' x 16' x 8' kitchen .  The great room is carpeted with a thick carpet and I have drywall walls covered with wall paper with windows on the side opposite the kitchen and windows at the opposite side of where the speakers go.  The speakers would be placed to the sides of a several foot high console with a thin screen TV on top.  The kitchen is to the side of the speakers, not behind them.  

Because of the large room, furniture is in quite a few places.  I have 2 couches in an L - shaped pattern, a foof chair off to one side and some sitting chairs there as well.  In discussions on another forum, the Ohm speaker line was recommended because of extended sweet spot and the the variety of seating positions in my room.  The most frequently used seating positions are not at the tip of the golden triangle for a conventional speaker system orientation.  I want to keep my furniture where it is located.

I have discussed my needs with both John and Evan of Ohm (both very helpful) and with their help have lowered my Ohm choices down to the two mentioned in my original post.  The issue is that I am located too far away to drive over to hear the F-5015s to confirm that these are what I want and to understand the effect that the subwoofer adds, so I am looking for general feedback and specific feedback on this from others.  There is quite a price differential between the F-5015s and the F5000 upgrade without subwoofers, both with trade in of the old Ohm F's (that money thing again) and I am trying to make the best choice. 

My wife is the primary music listener and she currently listens to music a lot on a portable player so this would be a huge upgrade.  We would also use the new system for the TV and some movie watching. Neither of us appreciate high volumes so the listening would be at normal to soft levels.   I may in the future add some surround sound speakers, but as of now, that isn't on the radar.

The least impressive system I have has radial speakers and they are my wife’s favorite.

I hit the Ohm “area” this morn.  Will report when I have a chance.   Making the rounds...   

Lance, by radial do you mean omni-directional?

As I understand it, the Ohms are not true omnis, in spite of their inverted cone driver.  That is because they utilize dampers for controlled radiation.

I may have interest in one of the smaller Ohm models for a second system so I'm interested in general reviews too.

 Mapman,
 I look forward to reading your  show listening impressions when you have the time.  I recognize that you have quite extensive experience with this line of speakers over the years. 

 Do they mate  well with moderate power push pull tube amplifiers or are they better suited driven by class D and solid-state amplifiers given their load impedance and design?  I hope you are enjoying the show. 
 Charles 

I enjoyed the show very much. I did a brief show summary on the other thread.

I’ll do a deep dive on the Ohm enclave here as soon as I get a chance. Note I did not call it the Ohm room. It was quite unique!

Charles I'd say they are better suited on paper for SS.  They tend to love power and current especially the larger models with larger main driver.  I have never heard them with a tube amp but I know others have posted here of liking their combo of push pull tube amp and OHM Walsh.   

I got to spend a good bit of time with the Ohm 5015s at CAF Saturday morning. The Ohm guys were very kind and got me a Bluetooth connection from my cellphone so I was able to play some familiar stuff from my music library using Plex app.

I have similar Ohm F5 series 3 speakers in my main system at home so I was able to do a pretty good assessment of these versus mine which I have owned since 2008 and are where I spend many hours a week enjoying the music.

The speakers themselves were quite similar sounding, I would probably have difficulty telling them apart in a blind test, depending. I say depending because there are so many other variables at play way more significant than these Ohms in new Ohm F like cabinets and mine in original refurbed ones.

Realize that unlike most any other speaker out there that one might compare these with, these both are highly adjustable. There are 4 3 way level adjustments on the cans that allow you to tweak the sound considerably as desired. In the case of the 5015s you also have external power amp for the subs and that is surely adjustable as well.

The area/room the 5015s were set up in at the show was pretty daunting, on a narrow landing on the second level of a fairly large atrium or foyer with just enough room for a few seats near the speakers.

John Strohbeen confirmed to me that they were adjusted for a not so large room given the close proximity of the seating despite in fact being on the second floor in a large open two level atrium, and set up at a weird angle with no square wall behinf them in order to sound best from the seating location.

Whew! What a scenario! John Strohbeen mentioned no other vendor had ever taken this area at CAF in prior years.

So this was quite a unique setup to say the least. On the plus side, it gave the OHMs a chance to show what they can do uniquely that few others can and that is deliver a firm soundstage from most any location on the second level of the atrium which they did with spades even from the far side of the atrium listening across.


So the 5015s were adjusted down a good bit so as not to overpower the listeners in the close proximity seats. I did not notice much difference in the bass as set up coming from the subs, but I’m sure they could come in handy in some peoples cases at home if needed. I do not use subs with my OHM 5s but I use a 500w/ch amp with them and also have the bass levels toned down a bit in my ~ 20X30 L shaped listening room.

So the subs might be overkill depending. An option would be to start with 5000 drivers and no subs then add a separate sub or two later if really needed.

As with most things, it depends......

Also worth noting my F5s and 5000s are ported whereas I believe the 5015s with subs and original F cabinets are not.

The OHMs ability to deliver a unique and coherent soundstage from most any location in most any room was  prominently on display at the show and that is in fact the thing that steered me back to them for my own challenging larger L shaped listening back in 2008.

Also worh noting that OHM played a wide variety of music at the show not just the usual audiophile fare. So sound quality varied widely from excellent to just OK depending on what was playing, as it should.

I think I heard the same Stevie Ray Vaughn material in at least 4 or 5 rooms at the show. Did anyone else notice that? Did SRV cut some kind of deal for that? 😫

Heard the Ohm at the show was not impressed, heard them also last year at the New York Audio show again same reaction.

You can do much better. The new Muir Omni directional Electrostatic loudspeakers were very impressive at $15k.

Heard them with the door open at Cap from down the hall sounded so life like had to see what system was doing it. Totally amazing even in a way too small room.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

The setup of the big F5015s did not nearly give those big boys a chance to shine. I would not have chosen that location for them. John Strohbeen mentioned they did not get to see the area beforehand and it never sold in any prior show there. The speakers were clearly limited to just a good fraction of their full potential. They were pitching a 12K complete system built around those speakers there. Most people would surely end up pretty thrilled with the sound in most rooms at home. Of course there are many very good ways one can go for $12K.

My F5s at home (no built in powered subs) are very similar in size and design but differences in room and setup between what I have at home and what was at the show is too big to properly compare apples/apples.

I would have much rather heard the F5015s in the Channel D room where they were running wonderful sounding Vandersteen 5s at about 3X the cost.

The OHM library room with the surround sound setup was much better. I do not recall another surround sound setup at the show this year. I know Benchmark and Martin Logan did one last year.

I saw Art Dudley did include the OHM rooms in his Stereophile writeup and said only nice things.

Hi, To my ears the OHM were just OK but unique in their ability to disappear and create a 3d soundstage. I really think they would have been better displayed w/ more quality electronics. They were powered by a very inexpensive amp and source was a cheap cd/bluray player.
With such low quality electronics hard to do a fair comparison. 
For me I enjoy the Bache Tribeca -001 speakers that also did a great job in soundstage w/ more detail and dynamics then OHM.
I also enjoyed the salk room and Jim Salk is such a nice guy. It was a great show. I would give a listen to the ohm and other optuions before pulling the trigger. Best of luck on your search

Kenjay yes I know OHM Walsh will perform only as well as what is fed them from years of practical experience with mine at home. The outlaw amp and Bluesound node DAC did a respectable job but for sure not . The powered subs in the F5015s surely helped out a lot . The "room" they were playing in was a huge challenge and quite limiting in comparison to most others at the show IMHO, though again it did give the OHMs a chance to show what they do most uniquely which is provide a coherent soundstage from most any listening location. Not everyone cares about that though I do a lot! The surround setup in teh actual library room was much more par for the course. John Strohbeen does seem to like to showcase what his speakers can do with more common gear upstream. OHm is smart in not limiting their appeal to high end audio fans IMHO. Why target such a narrow and competitive (and very set in their ways often) environment? The OHm design can play quite well in that space. I’ve invested quite a bit of time and money to max out mine at home and believe me most any change I have made (and I’ve made a bunch) can be clearly heard with attentive ears.