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

Martykl
When a crescendo builds, the louder it becomes, the more constricted the sound. Cymbal crashes are less natural, although live cymbal crashes have always been mostly uncontrolled noise by nature. (Thinking back to high school band days here.). Yes, I would say that loud organ is lacking bass - i.e. St Saens 3 ending.

Mapman
Music "room" is a converted formal dining area 11x13 that is has wide archways opening to kitchen, great room and entryway on 3 sides. It's ceiling is 8ft but the ceiling of the great room and entry is 17'. What i'm saying is there is a lot of air space to be loaded - estimate approx. 13,000 cf. Listening sofa is 9' from spkrs which are 5.5' oc apart. Construction is suspended wood floor and drywall. Thick rug in front of spkrs. First reflection sides are covered.

Your suggestion of high-current/high-power class D amplification is one I am considering. Right now I'm waiting for some of the new technology/models said to be arriving this fall. Apparently lots happening in that arena.

Thank you both.

Coot,

I noticed a similar issue with my 100s. I added a pair of subwoofers to address the bottom octave and take some of the upper bass workload off the Ohms. I love the result, but I use Audyssey to integrate the woofers and I know that that's not everyone's cup of tea.

FWIW, I don't think that Ohm's greatest strength is macro-dynamics (tho I haven't heard the larger models so I can't comment on those). Conversely, the MBL 101 is great on that front, but hideously expensive, a bit flabby on bottom, and -to my ear - bottom heavy in medium sized rooms.

I haven't heard any other full range omnis, so there may be other ways to skin the cat. However, if you want to address the issue without replacing your speakers, adding subwoofers to your Ohms might be your best bet. Worked for me.

Adding powered sub that goes down to 20 hz or so no problem and can be integrated cleanly with mains probably has the most up side if done right to throw more at the problem to increase clean output levels possible.

More power and current to the amp as I mentioned above is another. That should deliver better macrodynamics and fuller extended bass down into the 20-3ohz range for so with larger OHMs in matched size room (see teh chart on OHM site that matches models to room size), maybe talk to JS. He could probably help confirm if teh speakers are capable of meeting goals alone in target room with the right amp or not, in which case the sub route is needed. OR, he now makes model 5015 for a few grand more with powered sub built into each cabinet along with 5000 drivers.

More power and larger drivers is always the key with OHM Walshes. ONly question is how much needed in a particular case and is there a model that scales up enough alone for a particular room to meet goals.

Yeah amps AND subs - anyone like to contribute the $$ to make this all happen?! 8-)

Oh my, this will take awhile.

-Al

Coot, my 5s are limited in a manner similar to what you describe if I use my 180w/ch TAD Hibachi monoblocks in place of my Bel CAnto Ref1000ms.

The TADs do pretty well with my 100s in our large open family room/kitchen area that opens up to the whole first floor of our 3000+ sq. foot home. At higher volumes though not even close to the 5s off the ref1000m amps downstairs in the 20X30 L shaped room, which does have doors and is more acoustically sealed.

Big, natural, clean sound at realistic volumes does not come cheap, unfortunately, especially in a larger volume area/room. Its the one thing that truly justifies a lot of the money spent towards the goal of the "ultimate sound" IMHO.

Class D amps will be your friend towards this end with the OHMs when the time comes. Either more power to the 5000s and/or adding powered subs, which by the way mostly all also use Class D amp power these days.

Its basic physics. Big sound needs bigger drivers and speakers and more power and all that ups the cost.