Ohm Walsh vs. Mirage OMD 28

I haven't listened to Ohms since I worked at an audio store in the mid-'70s, but I have owned the OMD-28's little brother, the OMD-15, for 1-1/2 years, and the concerns leveled about the OMD-28s have no substance. These things are seamless, both in dispersion pattern and crossover points.

As for placement, the Mirages are very forgiving particularly in one way--you will always get a room-filling sound with realistic timbres regardless of where you place them. They are not naturally bright, though you can control brightness by opening or closing window shades and deciding on your wall hangings.

There are two placement issues with the OMDs, however. If you want that deep, holographic soundstage, you want to pull them further into the room and place them wider if you can. If you put them where you put a typical forward-firing speaker you'll get some center clustering, though the timbres will be spot-on. If you want a sonic hologram, bring'em out into the room.

Secondly, the OMD-28s have very strong bass down into the 20s, so that's another reason to have them out from the front wall. I have my OMD-15s a little more than 3 ft into the room. If you have the room to bring OMD-28s 4-6ft into the room they'll probably blow your mind.

The other thing to consider is that these are fairly easy to drive, reasonably sensitive, but can absorb huge amounts of power and translate that into dynamic range. Even my little OMD-15s are bi-ampable and rated for 250 watts power handling.

I have had live music in my living room, and no speaker I've had energizes the room and reproduces the correct timbres as precisely as the OMDs.

The placement considerations for the OHMs are quite
similar though moving them out 4-6 feet may be overkill except for larger
OHMs in very large rooms.

And I would put the OMD-
28s in the same bass response/power response/dynamic range category as the
larger Ohms in large rooms. I don't think they'd have to be 6' out; 4' would
probably be enough in most rooms.

Chris Martens of Abso!ute Sound reviewed the OMD-28 and bought the review
pair.

The MIrages don't *need* space around them. I still get the same tonal balance and room-filling soundstage when I move them within 18" of the wall to make room for visitors. It's just that when you move them out you get this all-encompassing 3-D holographic soundstage that seems miles deep. But even close to the wall the soundstage is not shallow. I have open architecture and cathedral ceiling too. The Mirages are an ideal match for that setting.

02-19-10: Branislav
Well, maybe one day I'll compare the two in my environment. Then I'll share my findings with everybody here on Audiogon...

Ohms are direct market, so you have to audition them at home. Vann's is an authorized Mirage dealer and offers a 15-day refund period as long as the product is in original condition and is returned with all original packaging.

Right now Vann's is offering the $7500/pair OMD-28 for about $3K/pair in black or rosewood. Pricewise this puts the OMD-28 at a decided advantage, because it should handily outperform the similarly priced Ohm 2000.

The OMD-28 and Ohm 5000 should be a good matchup, but Vann's pricing gives the Mirages a $3500 advantage.

You can also minimize the volume level during break-in by connecting the speakers intentionally out-of-phase. This cancels a lot of the sound. If you have an FM tuner or a loaded iPod, that's another way to send uninterrupted program material to the speakers. You don't have to have the volume way up to break them in. In fact, Mirage recommends keeping the volume low until they've broken in.

My OMD-15s broke in pretty easily. They never sounded harsh or wrong out of the box as some do. But the first 30-50 hours opens up the bass response, and I found that as I kept playing them (for weeks), the resolution exceeded my expectations. These are very resolving speakers. They'll sound pleasant from the first, dynamic soon after, add bass slam soon after, and then over time you'll notice how delicately refined and nuanced they are as well.

What speaker cables are you using? Are you bi-wiring or using the factory brass jumper bars? You can get an immediate improvement by at least swapping out the jumper bars for some made from a good cable.

03-12-10: Branislav
Well folks, Mirage finally brought a smile to my face and i guess thats about the best compliment you can give a speaker (or equipment). Process of breaking in might be painful sometimes but all the more rewarding afterwards. The soundstage opened up, thanks to me moving them around too, and resolution has gotten considerably better.

That's why I was so enthusiastic about recommending them. Some speakers sound actively irritating out of the box until they settle in and reach their intended tonal balance (e.g., Totem). Mirages aren't like that. Out of the box the tonal balance is OK but the thrill factor is meh.

Give them 100-200 hours, though, and the low level resolution starts coming in. Pretty soon you start hearing things that you might not have noticed before. In my case, I particularly noticed the richness and detail of subtle vocal harmonies and call-responses between two or more groups of vocalists. I don't think the Mirages' improvement in resolution and detail let up for about six months. You will love these speakers even more as the months go by.

My opinion: They put a smile on your face because the tonal balance is very natural and the dispersion energizes the room like live music. They have a natural presentation that makes you forget about speakers and simply enjoy the music.

To get a better L-R balance, you might try either some sound absorption behind the speaker that has solid walls behind it or putting something reflective near the other speaker.