Ohm Walsh Micro Talls: who's actually heard 'em?

Wtf - Thanks for the update. I bet I am not the only one who would love to hear your impressions of the differences of the three speakers you own. If you have the time, that is.

I also love music and gear, but space and finances require me to keep my purchases well-spaced and sensible upgrades rare. I am on year three with my Ohms, which replaced my 9-year-old Vandersteen 1Cs. Anything can happen, but I would not be surprised if I am listening to the Ohms for the rest of my life. I really cannot find anything in them to complain about. Of course, since I frequent hi-fi shows and audio club meets, you never know when I will hear something that is both affordable and good enough to make me think I could improve on the Ohms.

I will say this: The only speaker other than the Ohms I would recommend in the ~$3K price range for tower speakers is one that is newer than my Ohms, and one I only heard last summer - The Golden Ear Triton. I have yet to hear anything else in this price range (which is my price range) that I could live with long term.

Being this happy with my Ohms allows me to focus on improvements elsewhere in the system. So far, the Ohms have clearly revealed the value, or lack thereof, of any changes to gear or wires I have made. Current focus is on cabling.

Been reading this thread for a while now and thought I'd jump in and sorry if this gets long but I think it's a worthy read...After going "retro" a few years back and settling in with some pristine walnut Advents I've recently had the itch to acquire some new (used) speakers. I wasn't looking to replace the Advents per se' but had the itch to fool with something different.

Well, on my local CL a pristine set of Yamaha NS1000m's pops up and I've always been intrigued by these and the guy lives like 2 miles from me so I call and schedule a demo but came away unimpressed. I know it wasn't an ideal audition but I just couldn't get excited about them especially for $1000 so I passed.

About a week later a nice set of Ohm 3's show up on CL and this guy is literally walking distance from my house so I figure what the heck, even if for no other reason but to cross them off my list.

Now I remember Ohm's from Tech Hifi back in the 70's when I was cutting my teeth in this hobby and all I remember of them was the venerable Ohm F's. My cousin had a pair and I new they needed lot's of power and current, (but not too much!)and were somewhat difficult to place. But when everything was right they did things no other speaker could do.

Anyway, back to my audition...I hand the guy my CD of Steely Dans "Every Thing Must Go" album, he pops it into his low end CD player running through a mid-grade Denon AVR and... WOW!!! Crystal clear music was just flowing everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE! I was flabbergasted at hearing music portrayed in such a manner that I really wasn't sure how to react. So I kept my best poker face on and he and I just BS'd about god knows what but track after track I was smitten by not only what I was hearing but HOW I was hearing it. I was intentionally moving around his room while listening and the music just sounded good no matter where I stood.

Now I've had plenty of "different is not necessarily better" moments when auditioning audio equipment, but I knew these were something special and I bought them on the spot (which I rarely do) and here's where it gets kinda fun for me. I bring them home and the wife gives me that look, (you know the one) so I disconnect the Advents (which she's never really liked the dated look of) and popped the Ohm's in their place. I get em connected to my so so Onix 120MK2 amp and she's watching X Factor so I just ran that through the Ohm's and she is ecstatic! NEVER before has she ever thought ANY of the countless brands of speakers that have passed through our family room sounded better (or worse) than the previous speakers they replaced. She was going on and on about it and then it hit me, she sits quite a bit to the side of the sweet spot and with these Ohms it just doesn't matter, the sound is damn near the same no matter where you sit. She even likes the look of them which is always a plus but the real kicker is when she tells our friends how much she likes them.

Now the critical part for me is after having settled in with these for the last month or so I will say that there is the odd song that still sounds a bit better to me on the Advents, however for the majority of stuff I listen to the Ohm's are just right. But when you factor in the enjoyment of how they sound anywhere in the room or even while moving about it's simply a no brainer to me, these are ultimate keepers, consider me a convert!

Welcome, Polarin! Glad to read about your recent acquisition of a pair of Walsh 3's! The Ohm Walsh sound is one that I instantly loved at first listen!

I'd like to share my thoughts on a recent upgrade to my Ohm Walsh 4's, that I purchased new back in 1985(and was still very happy with them).

After receiving the Columbus Day sale e-mail from John S., at Ohm, I decided to take the plunge and upgrade to the 4.5000's. I've only had the upgrade for about month, but I must say that the 4.5000 sound presentation is completely different to my original 4's!

At first listen I didn't like the presentation at all! There sound was so far off from what I was used to hearing. The low end is so much more prevalent, that I was overwhelmed by it! Also, the mid range is much more apparent now, than with my 4's.

I have been experimenting much with the various switch positions, and have found a combination that is fairly enjoyable. I am re-listening to many recordings, and finding a more complete overall presentation. I have also toed in the speakers about 20 degrees, and that seems to give a bit more centering to vocals. Although, I still find that there is a bit to much separation, mainly within the mid range male and female vocal frequencies, for my taste. But I am still working on those areas.

I am driving the speakers with a McIntosh Mc-352, and my normal listening levels range from -5dB to -15dB. The precision(and crispness) of say a kick or tom drum, or the snap of an electric bass guitar string, is what is most striking to me! The speed is fast and tight. There are passages within certain compositions, that I find the mid to upper mid range, to be too overwhelming for me. Which quite possibly could be the recording itself.

There are a couple of build issues I'm dealing with, but John S. has been very receptive in dealing with them thus far.

Overall, the more listening I do, the more pleased I become with this upgrade.

Remember tbat the newer Walshes in particular are very transparent and many tweaks can be done to fine tune the sound, including ICs.

My experience was similar to buttecreekers when i first hooked up my walsh 2 series 3 ohms in place of original walsh 2s. Totally different sound and presentation overall. The difference was in no way subtle.

Bondmanp .. just now finding the time to give my impressions of the 3 speakers. One reason I looked into other brands, besides curiosity, was my living situation changed and the room my stereo was going into was a bit larger. Nonetheless I used the MWTs for quite some time before finally making another purchase. In order to stay with Ohm's I would have had to step up to the Walsh 2000's to accommodate the room and at the time I simply couldn't spend the money. So I looked for something completely different and the Mark & Daniel Ruby caught my attention. I picked them up here on A'gon for less than half of the retail price. The Rubys are a 2-way stand-mount with an AMT tweeter. In comparison to the MWTs, the presentation is completely different .. much more forward and in-your-face. They do what monitors do really well. Although the Rubys have real body and presence, the soundstage isn't as wide as the MWT, but very good. These little monitors are fun, punchy, and go deeper than the MWT. The highs seems a bit more extended and a bit brighter without being fatiguing in the least and have wonderful coherence. The MWTs are a bit more laid back but certainly not dull in comparison. The MWTs present the scale of instruments much more realistically IMO and I'm sure I don't need to mention the wide sweet spot of the Ohms.

The MMGs came about because I had a little extra cash at the time and wanted to hear a panel, which I never had. Like many, I also think they are one of the great audio bargains. The MMGs and the MWTs share similar properties like scale of instruments, tone, and coherence. I love the sound of these little panels and they work better in my room than the others. I've thought about stepping up to the 1.7s when the time comes, but they are simply too big. Perhaps the 2000's will be next .. I do love the Ohm sound and I really want to hear the newer drivers. Unfortunately that won't be for quite a while due to a recent DAC purchase. I will also check out the Golden Ear Tritons you mentioned.

other gear:
Mac Mini 2010
Chordette QuteHD DSD DAC
SOtM dX-USB HD usb to s/pdif converter & mBPS-d2s battery ps
Odyssey Audio Cyclops Extreme/SE Integrated (w/ps upgrade)