Ohm Walsh F Hope of Resurrection

I was in a similar situation but I have a big room and I was encouraged by John to go the F-5015 route.  Here is how it played out for me.  John and Evan of Ohm and I started discussing changing a pair of Ohm F's that I had into some F-5015s starting in 2018.  I ended up deciding to trade in my F's, received the standard 25% off of the list price, and I ordered new F-5015s with one inch thick birch plywood cabinets.  I also had the option of sending in my F's and having them changed into F-5015s at a lower cost point where my cabinets would be rebuilt and re-veneered.  They actually encouraged me to do this and said the sound would be the same except at very high levels, but in the end, I decided to spend more for completely new.  I recall that it cost around $250 to buy all the packing material and to pay UPS to send in the two cabinets and the driver magnets to Ohm in Brooklyn from Michigan.  My traded in cabinets were in very good shape with the only damage being that the lower corners were very slightly rounded due to contact with objects.  There was no damage to the particle board under the veneer in these locations.  These were acceptable to Ohm for the trade-in.  Never asked what they did with my traded in cabinets.

I was a bit shocked that the newer Ohm speakers are not true omni. I had never bothered to look,  and it's radically different  than the Walsh.  I am only interested in a true omni. 

Should have known by visual assessment; you can't do true omni when you have a metal  plate and electronics behind. As I'm after an actual omni, I wouldn't consider it. It's either fix this or replace with similar. No longer interested in current Ohm products for this project.  

Doug, If you are referring to the 4 switch control on the grill, this is only on the 5000 series and the 4900 (1 switch control) speakers. The 4000 series speakers and smaller do not have this. Presuming you have a decent sized room, you can get 4000 or 3000 series with their upgrade program. Just send in the F magnet assemblies / cabinets and pay the amount cited on their legacy page - slightly less than $3k for the 4000 series and slightly more than $2k for the 3000 series. If you want to consider this, contact John or Evan at Ohm and tell him your room size. He can recommend which speaker would work best for your situation. I also thought that they could sell you a current technology replacement driver that sits on top of your existing cabinet. Not seeing that option documented on their website now unless I have incorrectly interpreted the cited offers/costs above as being for completely new speakers and they are really for drivers for your existing cabinets.

Doug, consider asking Ohm whether they are willing to make the speaker omni, by not installing the damping pad on the back side of the cylinder, and turning the supertweeter upward as for the surround speakers, for example. I also preferred a full omni (as in the F) vs. the newer Walsh drivers (thousand series) with controlled directivity design. However, with a full omni the central image does shift when you're not along the centerline between the two speakers (the F), whereas it is remarkably near center with the latest Walsh drivers. The latter is of great advantage in a home theater setting, as well as stereo listening if you're casually listening while sitting off center. I get an enjoyable sound even sitting beyond the left speaker, but not past the 90-degree line from the supertweeter axis.

With true omni designs, your choices are more limited. As mapman wrote, call Dale Harder for his versions of the F and A speakers. Otherwise, it's  either MBL or German Physiks, as far as I know.

This is quite long, but vintage and rare omni buffs may find it interesting... 

I had a great discussion with Evan at Ohm; very helpful, and I can see the beauty, interesting nature of what they are doing with their design. I already have a hybrid omni, the Kings Audio King Tower, and I do not wish to move farther from that style of speaker if I can see if there is a possibility of moving up in terms of scale and quality. Doing a current Ohm product would take me mechanically, operationally further from that. So, I am letting go of that idea. I know there are enthusiasts, but no amount of adjustment would make a 15" and soft dome into a true omni. I don't care to debate anyone about that, and I'm not making a value judgement of the Ohm products, because I have not used them in my room and have not reviewed them. I'm simply not seeking that design. 

My options seem to be:
+Replace just the surround IF I can find a person to do so within 150 mi of Chicago. 

+Replace just the surround myself - and thinking through the tasks involved, and considering I have never done so, I think that would be far too risky to the vintage cone, and the odds are great that I would not get it centered properly. 

+Send them off to get them redone. Incurs shipping costs and potential damage through shipment, which, sadly, is a fairly high possibility. But, I could get the spiders replaced and get them closer to original condition. I realize this would not be to spec, but so what? I'm not spending $7-8K, either. 

+ Go full boatload, and have HHR Exotic Speakers build a new vintage set. If I send in the three parts usable I incur shipping costs, which probably would drain most of the benefit of the parts being sent in, but it's a whole new ball game in every respect. Cost between $7-8K I estimate. Big money for a project that I didn't intend to spend money, and a commitment to an omni as a reference, when it has always been a for fun genre. Would it be "worth it" in terms of quality? No doubt, absolutely. But, do I want to support that much for another speaker that I literally do not need? It is a way to get a large chunk of HHR Exotic performance for about half price of a redesigned model. 

I know, what miserable problems to have. It just shows that none one should ever give speakers away! It just brings problems to people! LOL 
The previous owners would probably be amazed at the level of concern, time, and perhaps money spent on this, given that they were going to take them to the dump. 

I see Dale's rebuild of the classic as a beautiful opportunity. I also think that a competent rebuild by Bill is just as compelling, given the price differential between the two. There are very serious disagreements in terms of the sound quality of the speaker given both scenarios. That is the most difficult to cipher. Dale believes the compromises to having the current drivers rebuilt by anyone else ruins the pristine nature of the speaker. Others say pretty doggone good sound can come from a rebuild, or even just re-surround. I get both perspectives, and I have heard hundreds of systems in my home, so I get the spectrum of performance. I see both points. 

Given that they do work, and I am not hearing distortion at reasonable levels, to find someone in midwest to redo the surround I think is also a compelling thought. I am thinking of the possibility of treating the spider by placing the driver upside down, then applying some form of fabric stiffener to attempt to strengthen it. There are a number of serious risks with that, including 1. Altering the sound audibly, 2. when turning the speaker upside down, the severely compromised surround may be entirely destroyed with another 1/4 to 1/2 inch travel. That is a very real possibility, and 3. It may not work well to boot. 

As I consider doing the surround replacement myself, I wonder if leaving the spider assembly in place would allow me to center the surround far better. I would presume I could GENTLY press on the spider to move the voice coil and see how the gap is, whether there is some rubbing. Perhaps I could tack down the surround in a couple spots to try to fix it in place while allowing for some movement. That way I'm not full bore fixing it, then finding out the possibility of a problem. 

Frankly, I also should pull out the current speakers and run a real world comparison, trial of the Walsh F. They were just thrown into the room for viability, but I should position them and see whether I consider the alternative sound to be worth perhaps going full bore for a rebuild. 

NOW FOR ANOTHER, ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SCENARIO! 
What if I were to just try the self-repair, or at the most pro repair of the surround, and maybe with about $1K limit or so on the Ohm, shift my goal to upgrade the Kingsound King Tower, a hybrid omni?

It's a terrific small tower, and I believe has big potential. I have thought for years about juicing it. I believe it would benefit from the following: 
+Replacement of 10" and 6" drivers with superior ones
+Replace internal wiring
+Replace internal caps, or maybe entire crossover
+Treat "cabinet" modules for resonances

I do wonder about that rebuild, because it would be tricky. But, then again, someone assembled them, so I figure it has to be possible. Probably smart to not pull the wiring from the super tweeter and "can" omni tweeters, but leave them in place. 

If you want to see the King Sound King Tower, do a search for that phrase, then select the option to see Images. The speakers with an mbl amp, an image from RMAF, will show up. Those are my speakers, perhaps the only ones in N. America. Getting info not this speaker is like a top secret project; there is pretty much been a wiping off of documents on the net. I have a glossy brochure of it, THANKFULLY, with a small image of the internals, and I did not know that there appear to be tubes, like an SVS subwoofer, built inside for the dual/stacked bass drivers in the lower cabinet, and the mid driver in the middle cabinet. If there is no access from the bottom, then a rebuild idea is dead, because I'm not ripping off grills on the top of modules to do it. BTW, I ripped out the silly blue foam balls, and it's much better without them!  

I have gotten some pretty cool sound out of it; the speaker is a "poor man's" mbl. I think that would be a nifty project, too. My dream result would be to get both of these speakers going in good shape, and not have to junk one project for another. 

What do the esteemed aficionados think? Hit me with all your critiques and brainstorming! It is most appreciated!