Ohm F remodel options

OHM Fs are special and deserve preservation if at all possible.

It may or may not still be possible to restore original drivers to their original glory or something close enough, I just do not know for sure. I know OHM gave up on trying to do it years ago.

Restoring the surrounds may be the easy part. I have heard that the spiders in the voice coil tend to sag from gravitational pull and such over time and that affects the sound, etc. Also the foam material used in the driver rots. Just some things to be aware of that experienced OHM F repair shops should be able to address. I would not assume just any speaker repair shop can properly repair an OHM F Walsh driver. They are much different from conventional dynamic drivers.

Is there is anyone out there who has actually heard dale Harder's new Walsh speakers? Does he do any audio shows?

I would really like to know what they sound like in comparison to the newer OHM CLSs, but have not heard any accounts to-date.

para,

Thanks for the update.

Please keep 'em coming as things develop! I would go out of my way to be able to have a properly functioning pair of original OHM F's myself someday.

Lucky guy!

Those things are the easiest to fix, though my understanding is the refoam needs to be done by someone familair with the Fs.

IS the foam getting brittle or damaged or just not clean? There may be ways to clean and perhaps even lubricate it without replacing if not, depending.

If you find a place (Miller SOund?)that can reliably restore an original F driver properly, please let us know the details of what is done to accomplish that. As I indicated, OHM Fs are a piece of sound engineering history and should be preserved if possible. IS it possible or is the sound of a properly functioning OHM F only a valued thing of the past at this point?

My understanding is that Dale Harder replaces the original driver with his own new and approved version. It may sound fantastic at that point, but it technically is an "OHM F" in general appearance only at that point. His driver is a new, different and I would assume much improved design.

My OHM F-5s use original OHM F cabinets. Though the Walsh 5 drivers have level adjustments to enable them to fit into smaller rooms, the main sound advantage of these are in larger rooms. OHM does fit smaller drivers into the larger OHM F cabinets as well. This probably provides additional bass extension versus a smaller cabinet via porting. Whether this is beneficial compared to the same CLS driver in a smaller cabinet will probably depend on the room size and layout and listener preference. Personally, I would prefer having a smaller driver and cabinet in a smaller room in that the omni Walsh drivers sound best with room around them to "breathe" IMO. For normal listening, putting my F5s in my smaller room had no practical or sound advantage over the smaller 100s that normally reside there.

"but I wonder what Licoln Walsh would have designed if he had access to todays technology or just lessons learned"

On paper at least, the evidence would seem to suggest that Dale Harder's technical vision is closest of the variations out there to that of Lincoln Walsh's, a single full range Walsh driver, along with the pros/cons that go along with that.

German Physics and OHM are both more focused on making the design more durable and reliable IMHO.

GP is more focused on using Walsh technology from the top frequencies on down and punting on the low end so that the driver is less inclined to destroy itself and hence more robust and marketable from a support perspective. Theirs is also more a "cost is no object" marketing approach.

OHM is also more focused on all but the top frequencies, also in the interest of making the design more robust and reliable at high output levels and hence more reliable as a solution for the masses. OHMs marketing scheme is more blue colar: find ways to make the technology more affordable for the masses.

Dale Harder has apparently improved on the robustness of the Walsh driver implementation from OHMs early attempts (the F and A) but my impression is that it is still more an issue with his design than the others.