Jwtrace,
Will do!
Will do!
Ohm Walsh Micro Talls: who's actually heard 'em?
Hi,
I'd love to hear the impressions of people who've actually spent some time with these speakers to share their sense of their plusses and minuses. Mapman here on Audiogon is a big fan, and has shared lots on them, but I'm wondering who else might be familiar with them.
I'd love to hear the impressions of people who've actually spent some time with these speakers to share their sense of their plusses and minuses. Mapman here on Audiogon is a big fan, and has shared lots on them, but I'm wondering who else might be familiar with them.
Showing 50 responses by rebbi
Interesting... there's a guy here on Audiogon right now with a pair of rebuilt Ohm F's (!!!) for $1200! Here's the address: http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1244825082&/OHM-F- He's got some negative thoughts on the current Ohm company, too, which make for interesting reading. |
Parasound, Good to hear from you. Thanks for asking about my parents. Both are, thank God, on the mend! I shipped the Micro Walshes back to Ohm a couple of weeks ago, but I'll answer your question from memory. The overall sonic character of the Micros and the 100's is remarkably similar. Both have an airy top end, beautiful mids and solid bass. And the soundstaging capabilities of both are tremendous. I doubt that many other speaker designs "energize the room" quite like the Ohms do. They also have a general coherence of sound - a "seamlessness" - that is very pleasing. So how are they different? Mostly I think it's a matter of dynamics and scale. According to John at Ohm, the 100s will play louder with less power than the Micros. Additionally, in a side by side comparison, the 100s have an authority or "solidity" that the Micros don't quite muster. Yet, as I said earlier, their similarities outweigh their differences, so much so that if you're on a budget (and who isn't these days?) I'd audition the Micros first and see how they work in your room. In smallish rooms, they can really get the job done! |
Regarding the music of Yes, you might want to get hold of the CD reissue of Fragile on the Rhino label. It features an "early mix" of Roundabout that I actually like much better than the final mix. It's so interesting to hear what they were thinking of doing with that tune before they got to the final mix down... trust me that it sounds wonderful on Ohm speakers. :-) |
Espresso- that's awesome! It's very exciting to read about all the folks buying Ohm's. I hope everyone posts every detail about their experiences with them. Yeah... as the original poster in this thread, I have to say that I've gotten a kick out of all the folks who've been inspired to try Ohms as a result. Soon we'll have our own discussion board somewhere. :-) |
You can also adjust the treble by adjusting the "toe-in" (I assume the MWTs are similar to my 100s in this respect). Be sure to experiment a bit before settling on final placement/orientation. Agreed with Martykl on this one. Although the Ohms (both the MWT's and the 100's) are fairly forgiving with room placement, their tonal balance will be substantially affected by toe-in, especially in the upper frequencies, and by proximity to rear wall and corners, as far as bass is concerned. You'll also want to play with positioning to obtain the best imaging and soundstage. With the right source material, the Ohms are astonishing in that regard. |
Fellow Ohm'ies, I continue to tweak my setup, largely with respect to tinkering with the placement of my 100's. I am trying to get the best balance of imaging, soundstage and tonal balance. At the same time, I'm aware that the Ohms are still breaking in. What's bugging me is that I feel that my experimentation is random, or hit miss. I pull them out from the wall, push them back, toe them in, toe them out... it's kind of like dancing the speaker Hokey Pokey, if you get my drift... And then I lose track of what I'm doing and I'm not sure if what I heard two iterations ago is better than what I'm hearing now. At least I do have my current "best setup" marked with tape on the floor, so I can get back to that. Another issue: I'm not sure what source material I should be listening to while I do this. Vocals? Something I'm really familiar with? I guess what I'm asking for is help doing this systematically. How should I start? What am I listening for as I move the speaks in different ways? Thanks in advance... |
Guys, Thanks a lot for the last couple of posts. I've been thinking that because these speakers are so easy to relocate due to lack of floor spikes, that I'm going to try moving them much further out into the room than is practical on a day-to-day basis. If I find a good spot, I'll just mark it with tape and then move the speakers when I want to sit down for some serious listening. Mapman, I also have "sort of" an L. shaped room... although it's really pretty hard to describe unless I were able to actually sketch you the floor plan! ;-) In any case, because my seating position is pretty much restricted to a particular piece of furniture (a day bed) in a kind of niche opposite the speakers, I'm a little restricted as to seating position. Actually, the 100s, being semi-omnidirectional, with their wide sweet spot, are great for a setup like this, because you get a nice sound pretty much wherever you sit. On the other hand, the right-hand speaker is a mere 18 inches off the side wall, and I'm wondering if that isn't compromising the way the system currently sounds. It's NOT that it sounds "bad," but I keep thinking that I'm not getting the most out of the system. I'm going to try moving them WAY out into the room, and I'll see what happens... I will report back... ;-) |
Marty, I was talking to John at Ohm some time ago about this. He said that people tend to rave about the Ohm's soundstage presentation with two very different kinds of recordings. The first is the "audiophile purist" kind of record -- single mike, lots of "hall ambiance" captured. On these tracks, you get a wonderful sense of space and air in the room.. The other, paradoxically, are WELL PRODUCED, heavily multitracked studio recordings, like "Graceland," "Brothers In Arms" "Two Against Nature" or "Rikki Lee Jones," where the engineers have deliberately put in "phasey" effects and used other tricks toward an artistic effect. In those recordings, the Ohms will totally take over the room and put you in the middle of the fireworks. ;-) |
Well, now... Now that I've decided to put the 100's wherever they sound best, and then move them out of the way when I'm not listening, so that they don't take over the room, I'm really getting somewhere. I wanted to see how they'd sound a good 33 inches out from the rear wall, which would normally block the use of a recliner chair we have, but is fine while I'm listening. Man, what a difference! I'm not sure if the difference is that they're so far off that wall (prior to now I'd had them only eighteen inches out), or whether it's that I'm in a more "nearfield" situation now, but the sound stage has gotten even larger, highs are airier, bass is much better defined, and image specificity is excellent. Oh, and soundstage depth and layering is better in spades! I was listening to Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits today on vinyl and it sounded breathtaking... I couldn't stop listening. I'll report more, but I think I'm getting closer now... |
Marty, I'm kind of a broken record (no pun intended) about this one, but I really love the original soundtrack album of the film "Princess Mononoke" (on the Milan label). For a beautifully recorded orchestra doing really good film music, you can't do a lot better. I even told John about it; wonder if he ever picked it up... it sounds luscious on the Ohm 100's, just glorious. |
Parasound and Zkzpb8, Thanks for the nice comments. The media center unit was a kit from Crate And Barrel, of all places. It's handsome and solid as a rock, but the openings in the back for cabling are too few and too small... the cable situation in the back ain't pretty. If I can find somebody with the right tools, I may remove the back this summer and see if I can make some more openings in the back to neaten things up. I know some folks swear that the way cables are "dressed" affects the final sound... |
More from me in the "music that sounds amazing on the Ohms" category... Try Paul Simon's 2006 studio album, "Surprise." Simon collaborated with electronica master Brian Eno. Great music (it grew on me), great lyrics, as you'd expect from Simon. And all kinds of opportunities to show off and enjoy what the Ohms can do, spatially (and in terms of great midrange with vocals) on this one. Enjoy! |
Here's something interesting. Looks like Ohm is starting to sell some refurbs on eBay. Here's what looks like their first listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-of-Ohm-Super-Walsh-2-S3_W0QQitemZ260390714863QQcmdZViewItemQQptZSpeakers_Subwoofers?hash=item3ca07efdef&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116 |
Foster_9, Thanks for the very interesting report! I'm delighted to hear that you're having such a good experience with your new speakers. John told me a few months ago that EVENTUALLY (as in, within a year or so) driver upgrades to the new generation would be available for the rest of the Ohm Walsh line... I think he said they'd become available from the top of the line on down. I'll look forward to getting those upgraded drivers in my lowly 100's, too! ;-) |
I've been trying to figure this out myself, Mapman. It looks to me like the 1000 is a new model, somewhere between the Micro and the old 100... The 100-S3 (which I have) has a cabinet which is 9 x 9 inches. I'd originally assumed that the 1000 was the replacement model for the 100, but its cabinet is only 7.5 x 7.5 inches. The cabinet of the 2000 seems closer in size: 9.5 x 9.5. If so, I'm not replacing my 100's anytime soon... that's a full $1100 more than I paid for the 100's. But I wonder if I can just upgrade the drivers? |
Hey, Guys, I spoke to John Strohbeen a couple of days ago. Here's what I learned about the new Ohm lineup. The new 1000 is indeed a new point in the line that sits between the old MWT and the old 100 -- the cabinet and driver are of an intermediate size between those two older models. If you have an Ohm Walsh model that was built within the past year, more or less, it has the same, new supertweeter as the new X000 line, so the top end should be identical. (Presumably, my 100's fit into this category.) Unfortunately, the 100's cannot be upgraded with the 2000 driver. The diameter of the 2000's driver is just slightly too large to fit on top of the 100's cabinet. Ohm continues to stick with its goal of having each speaker in the line possess the same sonic character, just generating different volume levels for different size rooms. John told me that the 2000 will play somewhat louder than the 100, and that its low end may have a bit more authority, but other than that, it should be very close. He told me that if I'm satisfied with the 100's, there's no need to upgrade to the 2000's, especially since my 100's put out more than enough volume for my current room. You have to admire the kind of honesty that would lead someone to discourage an "up sell" to an existing customer! |
I still mess with the positioning of my 100 S-3's from time to time. Moving them out from the wall about 18" more than they were previously tightened up the bass and opened up the midrange, i.e, the sound is more tonally in balance. I continue to play around with things like distance between left and right channels to see how that affects imaging specificity and sound stage width and depth. The problem I have is that my time to just enjoy music these days is so limited that when I finally do get to sit down for a session, I don't have a lot of patience for "listen, get up, move speaker, go back, listen some more..." I need an audiophile friend to lend me a pair of ears to work on placement! |
Hmmmm.... Let's suppose, theoretically, that a guy with a birthday coming up in a few months, who owned Ohm Walsh 100 s-3's, was toying with the idea of getting a higher powered integrated amp for his speakers. This guy currently has a Unison Unico, which is a tube-SS hybrid that puts out 80 watts/channel into 8 ohms. It plays plenty loud in this guy's small-ish room, but he's curious about what more power "breathing room" would do for the Ohms. What would you suggest as a move up? Or should he just stay put? |
Zkzpb8, Thanks a lot for the suggestions! I'd be looking to keep this under $1500 for an integrated amp... I figure I can still get around $800 for the Unico here on A'gon, which would take the sting out of the purchase price. I was thinking of the C375BEE -- Sam Tellig just gave it a glowing review in Stereophile -- seems like a lot of bang for the buck. And I stopped into a local dealer who said he'd let me take it home overnight to see how it sounds in my system. Never looked at Audio by VanAlstine but I will. I spoke to Wally at Underwood. I don't know if he's still selling mods to the Unico. He's stopped selling Unison retail -- told me that the MSRP's had risen so much recently that they just weren't a good value anymore. Bondmanp, Sadly, no pre-outs on the Unico. |