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

Marty,

Thanks a lot for the reassurance! :-)

Somebody has a Blue Circle BC21 on 'gon right now at a good price. I called BC and got Gilbert, the designer! (Gotta love small audio companies!) He told me that the impedance matching thing was often "bullsh*t" and that the BC21, with an output impedance of 2.2K ohms, would drive the Bel Canto and anything else I could throw at it.

BTW, it occurred to me later that Blue Circle markets the Penny, an Ohm CLS-based speaker.... so maybe that's a good omen. ;-)
So, there you go.

This is so not an audiophile moment…

Last night I was playing along with my bass to a Black Sabbath re-master of N.I.B from the ‘Symptom of the Universe; compilation. Before the Ohm’s, I didn’t really pay much attention to re-masters. With my Deftechs, recording or mastering quality didn’t matter all that much: they made everything sound OK. The Ohm’s are a different matter entirely. If the recording is crap, they seem to faithfully reproduce the crap.

Anyway, I find my old release of the first Black Sabbath CD un-listenable. So, I gave this version a shot. All I can say is that it reminded me of my days as a kid listening to vinyl on dad’s Sansui stereo through old Wharfdale speakers. The sound was so full and rich, from Bill Ward’s drums to Geezers bass that I stopped playing along and just listened. But it was when I turned my back to the speakers that I noticed that the whole room seemed to by charged with the sound with an in-tact soundstage to my rear. No other speakers I’ve owned have come even close to that kind of presentation.

Another re-master I whole-heartedly recommend is the new King Crimson ‘Red’ DVD-A re-master by Steve Wilson and Fripp.

The Ohm Micro-Walsh Talls continue to impress, as long as I have a decent source.

Next up I’m considering a tube pre-amp. Probably next year after we move to Virginia. As usual, the recent subject of this thread has my attention…

Spoke to Matt at Bel Canto today. He says that what's called for is a preamp with an impedance output of between 50 and 100 ohms. At least I have a ballpark figure to look at, now. Question is, is there a tube preamp like that, or will I need to go with SS? Any ideas?

The Manley Shrimp (or new Jumbo Shrimp) is a highly regarded tube preamp and has a 50 ohm output impedance.

Juicy Music BLueberry: output impedance 3.5K ohms, not as low as the Manley perhaps but will cost less (Juicy may be in process of closing up shop however)

FWIW my ARC sp16 output impedance is ~20K ohm and the input impedance of my A3CR amp is just over 30K ohm.

Input impedance of new BElCanto Ref 1000m Class D amps is over 300K I read.

Wyred 4 Sound Class Ds are 60K ohm I read.

Also, stock IcePower Class Ds are only 5K or so I think I read, not a great match for just any tube pre-amp.

Juicy Music Blueberry Line Stage specs:

* Gain:16dB
* Frequency Response:-3dB 2Hz - 40kHz
* Hum and Noise:85dB
* THD:0.2% 20Hz - 20kHz ref. 2V out
* Max Output:40Vrms into 47k ohms
* Input Impedance:100k ohms
* Output impedance:3.5k ohms