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
Been following this thread for quite some time. I pop back in from time to time. Something Mapman stated a few posts ago, struck a cord with me; "For me the OHMs are the most irreplaceable part of my system." I thought about that for a minute, and thought about all the gear that I have been through. But since purchasing a pair of Walsh 4's, back in 84'(to replace a pair of Bose 901's), that is the only component that I haven't replaced! Back in 2000, or so, JS and co. refurbed my 4 drivers, and as of a year or so ago I upgraded to the 4.5000's!

Every other component in my system has been upgraded/ replaced twice or thrice over, but I still enjoy the Ohm's!
This is my first AudiogoN post. I've been at the AVS forum for most of the past decade, but there aren't very many Ohm owners over there.

Like many, my first encounter with a Walsh-driven speaker was a demo of rosewood Ohm F's at a higher end dealer in the 70's. They were out of my league financially and space-wise.

Fast forward nearly 4 decades, and I was at my wit's end trying to get my existing system to sound decently for the past 3 years since I moved into my home. I have 4 Definitive Technology tower boat anchors and 2 Outlaw subs trying and failing to load my 4500 cubic foot living room with anything remotely resembling midbass. I finally decided that over time, these would get replaced. It's embarassing having a system that looks like it could shake the foundation and topple my home that sounds like some 60's handheld transistor radio.

It's only been a month, but I've already forgotten the thought process that led me to googling "Ohm Acoustics". Unlike many others on this thread, I have no history at all with Ohm beyond that demo. I had no idea the company was still in business. I avidly read about half the posts on this thread. I decided to order a pair of MWT when I saw that they had B-stock available at 2005 prices. They had only one pair that already had the oak veneer applied, which would not have been my first choice. I also noticed that they were a couple of days away from the 2 week holiday shutdown, so I sent an email the next morning to try to find out if they were going to be able to process my order before the recess.

I didn't get a response all morning, so I called and left a message with the receptionist for someone to call me back. John called me to tell me he wasn't so sure they could send them out in time. He also responded to my email. That was fine with me, as I didn't want to spend part of my own time off sitting at home waiting for the delivery. I wrote him back telling him about my demo experience and difficulties with my setup, though I intentionally left out the size of my room. That did the trick, he called me back about 2 hours later to tell me the speakers had shipped.

Having liberated the speakers from the multiple layers of shipping cardboard, my wife remarked how well the oak matched our furniture. It's a lighter color than any monitor I have viewed the website with indicated.

Micro Walsh Talls in 4500 cu.ft.? I threw on the Beatles Love DVD, and for the first time we heard Paul McCartney's bass outside of the Beatles Love theater at the Mirage. We looked at each other and giggled like schoolkids. I haven't told her that I plan on making the MWTs the surround speakers. I have my eye on the 4000 for mains.
Great story.

Its cool how we remember what we heard years ago and how its still relevant 40 years later.
I've heard Goldenear speakers recently which is a Definitive spinoff line. Loved the AON monitors, larger Tritons, which resemble Definitive more, left more flat our cold than most anything I have heard in recent years. The setup may have had issues, not sure.
Well, I simply replaced the mains with the MWT and didn't so anything else, like rerun Audyssey. The bass the MWT puts out is crazy,especially when standing in the hallway leading to the rest of the house about 30 feet from the left speaker. Afterward, I did run Audyssey to see how it wanted to set it up, and it reported the MWT as being large, confirming what I had been hearing.

Anyway, since then, I have picked up a pair of Wyred.4 sound monoblocks to drive them with that are a few years old. They seem to be a very good pairing.