Amplifier advice from Ohm Walsh 100 Mk. II owners

I tried the Hibachis with the Vandersteen 1C speakers prior to selling them and they sounded great together. Given the similar sensitivity levels, I think you'll have an easy time getting a pleasing sound from the Triangles. Hearing the Vandersteens with my system after the Ohms made me appreciate the need for more watts with Ohm speakers, even the 100s.

Thanks for the advice, Marty. In my Audiogon Ohm search, I came across your mention of the TAD Hibachi. I hadn't initially considered going the separates route, but perhaps I should. I know you may not have used the W4S amp, specifically, but given your experience with the Bel Canto S300 , would you say the TAD Hibachi would be a better match with the Ohm Walsh than the W4S amp? I understand that there something of a disparity between the W4S and the Bel Canto in terms of watts and implementations of Class D, and I understand it would only be an educated guess on your part, but which would you choose if for your money? I'm thinking the Hibachi might work well with a Doge 8 preamp. Given the fact that the Doge 8 has a well regarded phonostage and I would need a separate phono preamp for the W4S amp, they end up pretty close as far as price. I'm just wondering which would have better sound/synergy with the Ohms.

Thanks again for your experienced input.

Cheers!
Kevin

Marty, thanks again for taking the time to offer your advice. I emailed Paul and he's been extremely helpful, providing incredible service by answering a number of questions. I ordered a pair and was even able to get XLR inputs since the Doge 8 has an active balanced circuit with XLR outputs. I needed to verify that with Pacific Valve before asking Paul to go ahead with the XLR's in place of the single ended inputs. From your descriptions of the sound and the other extremely positive reviews of Paul's work, I feel confident that I'll be happy with the amps, despite not having had the opportunity to hear them first. And at an extremely reasonable price! I'll let you know how it all comes together. I'm really glad I came across your mention of the Hibachis and appreciate all the advice you've offered.

UPDATE: I just wanted to let you guys know that the Doge 8 and Hibachi have both arrived. They sound fantastic with the Ohm amps and I feel pretty certain that they should keep my urge to upgrade those components at bay for the next couple of years. Thank you, both Marty and Foster, for the advice. I'm trying to get the components burned in, within my time constraints, but even now everything sounds fantastic, given the relatively modest outlay. I assume it'll only get better as time goes on. The Hibachi, at first, seemed less robust than the 200 watts implied, but after 2 days of playing, the initial question marks disappeared. As these are the first new amplification components I have ever bought, this is the first instance of burn in that I've had immediate experience of. I'm very happy with the Ohms. Despite having looked into them for the past few years, I hadn't imagined I would be buying a pair at this time, but the opportunity for a relatively close sale in a finish I like made it irresistible. I'm glad I took the plunge, despite this not fitting into the equipment map I'd had for myself. I think these Hibachis will be keepers and can do duty with a W4S DAC-2 as a preamp in a second system when the urge to try SET becomes too great and I'm forced to change things up. Thanks again, guys!

I'm very happy to hear that. I currently have my Ohms listed for sale because I got a wonderful deal on another speaker I'd always wanted to own. However, if they don't sell at my bottom line price the Ohms are going over to my girlfriend's house to replace her aging speakers. It's funny. I won't actually be that disappointed if they don't sell because it'll give me an opportunity to listen to them that much longer. I really like them a lot, but the desire to experiment with other types of speakers and only have one set of floorstanders in my home at a time forces my hand. Anyway, if they go to her house, they'll be run off an HK receiver with similar power output to the Exposure 2010S2. While the receiver is highly unlikely to have have anything approaching the quality level of the Exposure, especially in terms of its power supply, I'm hoping it'll drive the speakers well enough for her living room, which has similar dimensions to the bedroom you described. That Exposure is really an incredible integrated amp. I recall being very impressed with it when I heard it, and thinking I'd love to own one someday. Have you used it with any other speakers aside from the Ohms? Also, would you mind sharing how you have the Ohms placed in your bedroom setup? I always appreciate any feedback others have with regard to optimum placement.

State of flux...I can relate to that. :) I've also heard from folks on the Harbeth owners' forum that the Exposure works well with Harbeth speakers, but have no personal experience of that match. I was considering purchasing a pair of Compact 7s or SHL5's a while back and was researching amp options for those. And I believe Stephen Meijas from Stereophile uses an Exposure 2010 with Devore Gibbon 3's. I've never heard the Veena but have read good things about it, and can imagine that would be a nice pairing.

So true about the Ohm set up. Those casters make playing around with placement a breeze. Experimenting to get a proper set up with the Ohms has been a joy, especially compared to the Vandersteen 1Cs I had before the Ohms. I have hard wood floors and dealing with spikes and discs and getting the tilt set properly was a bit of work, made especially slow because I was doing it alone. It's too bad they dropped the casters from the newer Ohms.

Here's to speedy break in on those Veenas. Cheers, Irc3479!

Mapman, any sub recommendations to go with the 100s?

Thanks for the info! I believe Martyk1 has used the 100s with subs in a larger room, but it's beginning to look like my 100s will end up in a 12x12 room, so it's unlikely to be an issue. I thought they sounded very good in my larger room, but given the fact that I wasn't willing to put in the effort/expense to integrate a sub into my setup, I think that putting them in the more appropriate sized room will bring out their best.

For anyone interested in Ohms, I thought I should relate the following. It seems the room sizes recommended by the company really are key to getting the best sound from Ohm speakers(Go figure!)...seemingly more so than amplification or source quality. I now have the speakers in the 12x12 office running off an HK receiver fed by an HRT MusicStreamer from my girlfriend's Macbook Pro and we love them more now than when they were much better fed in the living room. These are fantastic speakers for a smallish room with far less than optimal acoustics. Monitor speakers would have only worked well on the desktop, and these worked fine in the corners, with great sound throughout the room. I imagine the Micros would be about the same for such a small space. Anyway, I can't recommend these speakers highly enough for a relatively small, almost square room. I think down the road we'll replace the receiver with a compact all in one integrated. Maybe Bel Canto or W4S. For now, though, all is well. Thanks again for all the helpful advice!