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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.
rebbi
asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,324 posts
 
Oh, yeah....keep screwdrivers and such in control around the Heils.  That magnet structure will suck it out of your hand.  Right into the element if you're really unlucky and the tool is Just So...

I haven't had that happen, but it could really ruin your day....
bondmanp
1,789 posts
 

Peter - I am a bit curious - wouldn't putting a large tweeter above the driver in the Ohms ruinn the upward radiation of sound?  AFAIK, I think that is a big part of the Ohm sound.  I have thought about adding a supertweeter to my Ohms, especially one of the omni designs out there, but short of mounting it on a high stand just behind the speaker, I am hesitant to place anything above the cans.  I love the hieght projection I get from my Ohms, and I would hate to lose or diminish it.


Separately, I am trying new wires for my DAC-to-preamp run, and it is very interesting.  First, I was thrilled to hear that the 2000s easily and dramatically revealed the differences in the original cable and the new one.  The balance has shifted, and now, the occassional rough patch in the lower treble-upper mids that I attributed to the speaker has moved down in frequency, to the midrange.  It is the lesser of two evils, and the cable needs more time to break in, so I am hoepful.  Most of all, the issue I was having with voices, in which the sibilants seemed separated in space from the rest of the voice is gone.  Just like that - sibilants are anchored to the voices in space.  And my soundstage is bigger than ever.  On most recordings, the 2000s simply vanish, replaced by music that just hangs in space across the front of my room.  Wonderful!

t8kc's avatar
t8kc
61 posts
 
With all that surface area and 2000 watts per side even a small movement will energize the room, no strain, no chuffing ports just pure energy......amazing. If you feel wanting for good deep vibrations.

I can attest to Peter's subwoofer system; the house does shake. It is better than most movie house systems - hands down.

My 2.2000 Ohms (on loan to Peter) sound really good on his system. I couldn't get them to play well using a Parasound 1500A (205W@8Ohms), but with 500W/channel, they come alive. This is doubly true when paired with the subs.

OTOH, my Walsh 4XOs sound wonderful using the same Parasound amp and have really good bass. I know the 4XOs are more sensitive (90db verses 88db) and this might be the difference.
bondmanp
1,789 posts
 

t8kc - Maybe it’s your room? My 2000s do fine with 150 watts per - Odyssey Audio HT3 with cap upgrade. I had borrowed Arion Audio 500 watt monoblocks for a few weeks about 5 years ago. The sound might have been just a little more open, but not enough to make me want to give up the exceptionally good sounding Odyssey Audio amp. I did, however, hear real problems when I plugged the Odyssey into a PS Audio Quintet power filter. Going straight into my 20 amp dedicated outlet fixed that.

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,865 posts
 
parasound 1500A:

Continuous Power Output - Stereo:
205 Watts RMS x 2, 20 Hz-20 kHz, 8 Ω, both channels driven
315 watts RMS x 2, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 4 Ω, both channels driven

Specs say 60 w peak current which sounds good but I suspect much less on average in real life.

Ideally you want the amp to double down from 8 to 4 ohms ie 410 w/ch at 4ohm.

From that spec alone the parasound is probably not the best match to get the best out of most OHMs which from impedance curves I’ve seen can have a drop down to 4 ohm or so in the very demanding mid bass region.

Higher efficiency with the other OHMs no doubt helps. that is what they are designed to do.

You need very robust power supplies capable of fairly continuous high current delivery in an amp to be able to double down to 4 ohms best.

I had an amp with similar power specs originally, a Carver m4.0t 330 or so watts into 8ohm but significant fall off at 4ohm. The sound with my big OHMs was as you describe, loud but not great. Somewhat muddled, less dynamic and less articulate bass. This amp was designed with a tube amp like transfer function. Most tube amps would have similar issues which is why sub with high pass filter on the mains is required for optimal results if using most OHMs with a tube amp. Same Carver amp worked nicely with Magnepans I had prior which needed power but not current.


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