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
As a happy owner of the 2000s and an older pair of MWTs, I would say, expect clearly audible, but subtle differences. Not night and day changes. This is a good thing. Unlike some speaker makers, Ohms continue to be voiced similarly by the original designer, John Strohbeen, and he is good at getting speakers to sound the way he wants them to. So, the Ohm house sound is retained, just refined further in an evolutionary way.
Thanks Bondmanp. I guess I'm just expecting to hear a bit more detail in the mid thru high range frequencies. I still love the Ohm Walsh sound. The imagery is wonderful. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to having to remove the old binding post/control board, though. Taking a hammer, of sorts, to my beautiful speakers will be a bit disconcerting!

Dave
Coot I'm very happy with my McCormack DNA-250. The bass respose was noticibly improved over my Sumo Polaris II. Note that the McCormack is rated at 250 wpc, but that is into an 8 ohm load and the Walsh 5000's present 6 ohms so the output is over 300 wpc to them. And the price of the amp at around $2500 is very attractive. The other thing is that if you want to upgrade the amp, Steve McCormack (who lives in Vista, CA) offers upgraded caps, etc at a variety of price levels.
Carja - Thanks for your input. A few years ago I was hot on McCormack 500 and then they seemed to fall off the map. Seem to be weak on marketing which makes me nervous - as in about to disappear from the scene.

I see your photos. Looks like you have limited space as I do for the 5000s. I have a lot of air space due to large openings, but there is no way I can put these 5 ft from the wall. 30-32 inches is it. I know the staging suffers, but otherwise a nice natural sound - on chamber music especially. I'm satisfied except the old B&K runs out of gas and gets screechy and congested when I turn it up.
Coot I can only put them some 15" from the wall, but the stage depth is pretty good nonetheless. My living circumstances (and my wife) prevent anything else. The 5000's include adjustment switches that help with adjustment for room placement (ask John for specifics). My only "weakness" is my SACD/CD player, which will have to do for now, but if I had $1000 to spend it would be without question on the OPPO BDP-95.

I was happy with my Sumo (130 wpc) until I got the McCormack- made a nice difference, but I liked the Sumo for a year so just enjoy what you have and upgrade as finances permit. I don't think that Conrad-Johnson is abandoning the brand- in fact, they will install upgraded capacitors in a DNA-250 if desired, and I'm sure that their service is good too. It comes with a 3 year warranty if you register it.