Ohm Walsh vs. Mirage OMD 28

Branislav, enjoy them, they are a very nice looking speaker, I checked them out on the web the other day. Will be anxious to get your take on them!

I am still in the long process of break-in of my Ohm 3/3000's, they are starting to open up a bit and the bass is smoothing out more as well. I am enjoying them very much so far.

I do think the bass response is going to be more than adequate as well, unless something really changes dramatically in that regard. Tim

The thing that intrigues me about the 5000-hence my question about the controls/switches in the other thread, Map, is that the overall room size with the 5000 is so adjustable. It almost makes your speaker something you won't have to worry about upgrading/downgrading to fit should you move house, rooms or whatever. If one likes the Ohm sound, and can obviously afford the 5000 to begin with, makes it very attractive.

I am anxious to hear about your findings on the Mirage OMD 28 too. Interesting! Enjoy! Tim

Branislav, in talking with John at Ohm over the past 6 months or so, the main thing I come away with is that all of the speakers in the 1000 series(And MWT)are voiced as closely as possible to sound alike, only that as you go up in the range, they are more capable of being played louder and potentially going deeper in the bass.

After going from the 2000 to the 3000 driver, I would say that is all true. I didn't notice any difference at all in the midrange/upper frequencies, yet I do notice a definate increase in bass response/output.

My listening room, which also is a living room, not dedicated, is very open too. It adjoins a kitchen/dining area, as well as a couple adjoining hallways. I had to take as much of that space into consideration in order to come up with the volume that the speaker would see or try to energize. Probably with my 3000's, I am close to being at the edge of it's range. Make sure you don't short-change yourself in this respect.

The 2000 really sounded very good, just didn't have the lower bass/impact on recordings which required it. It all depends too on what is acceptable to you in the bass range. I came from Magnepan MMG's which had little to no bass to speak of, so what I have now is quite good actually. The 3000 is still breaking in, but it does indeed energize my listening space very well so far.

I find the midrange/upper frequencies to be very good, and the music so very realistic and natural. I have to say as impressed as I have been with my Maggies in this regard, the Ohm does every bit again as well. On some occasions such as listning to Michael Hedges/Taproot, or some other solo acoustic guitar, the Ohm doesn't quite have the defined "snap" that the Maggies have(And which is more truthful?), but I do chalk some of this up to the direct sound wave that comes right at you. Yet I find the Ohm presentation a little more realistic overall. Vocals are pretty much dead even for me between these two speakers. The added bass of the Ohm wins every time though.

Another aspect that I am pretty happy with on the Ohm's is the image height. I know I have said this before, the Maggies do a wonderful job with this-and they should being a tall panel speaker, but the Ohm's do a very credible job as well. I always hated listening to tiny monitors and getting this shoe-boxed size image of a performance, even if everything else was great.

I have to say that I am enjoying these Ohm's very much, it is good to be re-aquainted with a new/old friend. Having been able to listen to an un-modified/original pair of 2's, and then swap for the 2000 series driver, and then to a pair of 3000's on a 3 cabinet, it has been interesting. The newer series of driver is a definate step up from the original, yet still retains all the good stuff that made an Ohm so enjoyable to listen to in the first place.

The main thing is to take your time and figure your room volume as closely as possible, and talk to John about your options. Now that you have some Mirages, it may be a non-issue anyway! Either way, enjoy your music! Tim

Branislav, I would say that my 3000's are strong enough to energize my space, but maybe more on the upper end of that scale. I know the 2000 was too small and wouldn't give the bass needed, it did sound very good though with respectable bass in the mid/upper 40's I would guess.

My space is roughly 4000 cu. feet, and the 3000 information shows a range of 2400-5400 cu. feet that they would work well in. But I am sure that if all the doors to adjacent rooms off my hallways etc. aren't closed/sealed, there is a fudge factor there. It is not like having a dedicated room that can be totally closed up when listening. I am sure others with much more experience in this issue would have more to say regarding this.

Also, I haven't figured up the exact cabinet volume/porting between the new 3000 cabinet and my old 3XO cabinet, guessing quickly, I would say they are very close so the output should be similar.

The thing is, you can't make more bass(unless you add subs, of course, and I do not have the space/option for subs), but there are ways to deal with a little too much, not that too much is a fun thing to deal with either.

I also do not know how much break-in affects this overall figure, I know my 3000's are just in the beginning phase of that, so they will more than likely open up a bit more as time goes on.

Again, I am sure John at Ohm can help you in this regard, as well as input from others much more knowledgeable than me in this respect. At this point, I can say more than likely, the 3000's will be right for the area I currently have them in.

Last night I had a couple of hours to listen and I had a ball. Joni Mitchell, Marc Cohn and David Sanborn/Bob James were all sounding very good in the room last night! I am sure things will only get better! Tim

If you can put your CD player on repeat with some varied music, that would be great. I know neighbors don't always appreciate it, but if you don't have that to deal with, then you should be good to go. The CD player itself will not care.

I did that last weekend with my Ohm's, I was away for part of the weekend, so I cranked them up a bit, CD on repeat. Every little bit helps, especially if you only have 2 weeks to do it! If I could, I would do it during the day too with my 3000's, but my wife works from home. Shame she can't enjoy music all day.

The break-in time is another example of what makes trying the Ohm's so great, you can't get any better than the amount of time John gives you to test run a pair!

Could be that the Mirage's won't need that much break-in time, some speakers do, others don't. At least you should be able to get some sort of flavour that they will bring to the table. Enjoy, Tim

You will really want to be gone when you are going through that one! Yikes! Make sure to check your gain on your amp before you leave. Tim