Parasound - (Sorry this is so long.) While I am not quite 2 months into the demo/break-in period, my only lingering criticism of the Walsh 2000s is the macro-dynamic presentation. However, this seems to be improving. Initially, I missed the startling dynamic impact of my Vandersteen 1Cs, which themselves have some limits to their output levels. But, more and more, I am getting a little of that jump factor out of the 2000s.
The other thing I have not been able to get out of the 2000s, so far, is a lot of extension into the room. The Vandys, when properly set up, can throw a suprinsingly 3-D soundstage. Not much depth behind the speakers, but good width, some hieght, and plenty of fill between your seat and the speakers. The Walsh 2000s, in my room, so far, have a wider soundstage, with even more hieght, and some depth behind the speakers (a room-related issue, I think), but not much extension toward the listening position. If there is out-of-phase information in the recording, sounds can come from behind my head(!), but only on my right, where I have a solid wall.
And, only rarely, I get that upper-midrange glare from a note that stands out a bit too much. This is most likely recording-dependent, and occurs maybe 1/50th as often as it did with the Vandersteens. I think that since it is so rare and unexpected with the Ohms, it bothers me more than it did on the Vandersteens, where it was a constant on all but the finest recordings.
Please note that I am being hyper-critical here. I have never spent this much money on any piece of kit for my system, and I am still in the home-trial period. I want to make sure that I will be happy with these speakers for many years to come, perhaps forever, since I doubt I will be able able to afford another expensive speaker upgrade. I do try to just listen occasionally, but I am still in the process of picking the Ohms apart, so I may be splitting hairs. Overall, they are amazing. The lack of congestion at higher SPLs and truth-in-timbre are probably the two finest aspects of the 2000s, but they also are great at dissappearing, smoothness, detail, micro-dynamics and lack of distortion. I began looking for a speaker upgrade thinking I could not abide metal tweeters like the one in the Vandersteen 1Cs, but the Ohms have revealed that what I couldn't handle was a crossover smack in the middle of the audio band, and all the problems that even well-designed cross-overs introduce. Having said that, I have never liked the single-driver dynamic speakers I've heard, so the Ohm Walsh design makes a lot of sense for me.
Between attending audio shows and membership in my local audiophile club, I have had the opportunity to hear many different systems and speakers in many price ranges, many of them really big bucks systems. In all honesty, the only speakers still being made that I might prefer, now cost $12K (the Silverline Audio Bolero I've mentioned previously). But I haven't heard that speaker in years, and it was run off of a low-powered SET tube amp that is night-and-day different than my SS amp. I think that is high praise for a sub-$3K pair of speakers. Obviously, I am leaning towards keeping them, but will reserve final judgement until later in the trial period.
