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
I just happened on this thread for the first time, today.

This is in response to a post inquiring about an Ohm Walsh center channel.

I've been a very happy Ohm Walsh 4 owner since about 1985. Still have them and still enjoy their sound.

I've had a couple of different center channels in my system over the years, but neither of them ever really seemed to integrate well with the Walsh 4's. So, I gave John S. a call and we started a process of constructing a center channel for my particular needs.

My particular environment has an 8 foot long, by 6 foot tall armoire as my equipment rack. It sits out away from the front wall approx. 3 feet to the face of the cabinet. The Walsh 4's are located to the outside corners of the armoire, and closer to the listening environment by approx. 8 inches from the face of the armoire to the backs of the Walsh 4's. In between the Walsh 4's, and in front of the armoire, is a 92" retractable pj screen, suspended with bracketing that extends down from the ceiling.

All this leads to where the center channel is mounted. Above the suspended pj screen housing, and attached to the ceiling with the driver being inverted and placed just in front of the screen.

The process started around Thanksgiving of 2011. Well, after multiple phone conversations, and rosewood samples being sent to me(to match my original Walsh 4 cab's), we came up with a design, and finish, that I was ready for. Around mid January of 2012, the speaker was delivered. It arrived safely, and then came the daunting task of installation.

The design John came up with to install it on the ceiling, made the install much easier than I anticipated.

For my environment, we decided on the use of the 3000 series driver. The cabinet is approx. 50" deep (fore and aft), and 13" wide (left to right), by 7" tall (from ceiling to floor). The driver, with magnetically attached grill, then extends down from the 7", another 10" down to be set just above the pj screen housing. Knowing my general seating positions, John re-positioned the tweeter accordingly.

Now, as for the most important part of all this? The sound is just what I've been missing all these years! Seamless transitions around the forward sound stage. the timbre match is finally the same. I couldn't be happier!

On a side note; about 6 months earlier I found a pair of FRS-15's, sent the drivers back to Ohm for surround refurb and the once over. Now I have Ohm Walsh's all around(except sub, of course)! Multi-channel listening is fantastic!

Just a couple of days ago, I decided to upgrade my 4's to the 4.5000's. The rest of my system has had ongoing upgrades, throughout the years, it's time for my 4's to get one as well.

Dave
Help me decide which amp for my 5000s.
Currently 23yr-old B&K EX442, ~190wpc. John S. says I may need more power.
I'm interested in either W4S ST-1000 or VanAlstine 600R.
What I'm after is lower, fuller bass and less midrange congestion. Open to other suggestions, not to exceed $4k.
Coot,

The w4sound is one i considered and simi!ar to bc ref 1000m amps i ended up splurging for. A match made in heaven, especially with a tube preamp.

John often recommends NAD amps whicb i like as well.

I recommend 250w/ch min, high current, and damping factor of 40 or higher with the large ohms. My f5s that i settled on the Bel Cantos for use the similar size walsh 5 driver that came prior to the 5000.
Mapman,
Did you do a critical comparison between the BC's and the W4S? What was it that influenced your decision to pay the xtra?