" The micro walsh will play fine in an 11x14 room. no worries,"
Most likely.
A foot or so out from rear wall will help with imaging depth as with most any speaker design.
Micro Walshes do have a very small footprint to help facilitate this if possible.
And yes, in lieu of putting monitors on shelves, a floorstander like MWT will eliminate need for floor stands. |
That's not a big room, so you have countless good choices in your price range.
You want the drivers to be closely located together in a room that size, approximating a point source, for a coherent imaging and soundstage. A smaller footprint is also probably desirable. Monitors or some floorstanders like certain Totems have that configuration. I'd suggest checking out the OHM Walsh line (with the CLS/Walsh drivers) as well before deciding.
Once you have the right speakers that fit the room, then you can determine a proper amp to drive them. |
Front-ported bookshelves/monitors + sub might be the way to go given your placement requirements. The Triangle Titus speakers in my system pics could cut it nicely with a good Rel sub or something similar added. Read up on those on the internet and see what you think.
Some floor standing heritage line Klipsch models, like La Scala perhaps, might work nice also.
OHM Walshes probably won't cut it that close to walls, but Blue Circle Pennies might though I think they are out of your price range. |
The largely but not fully omni MWTs a couple of feet in front of you will work very well, better than most any other design I can think of, for casual listening from that chair. You will mostly likely hear a coherently imaging soundstage beyond the speakers along the far wall. The tweeter on MWTs is directional and will be firing forward, so that and the damping inside the cage applied to the rear of the Walsh driver(to facilitate closer placement to rear wall) will work in your favor in that chair as well in regards to not getting blasted at close range.
I seldom listen behind my OHMS (no chairs there) but I do listen sometimes near field about 2 feet or so in front and to the left of my left OHM F5. |
There are lots of directional monitors capable of eliciting awe...if you sit right in the sweet spot. Same true of directional floorstanders.
Good omnis can awe listening from most any location and hence can awe a room full of people all at the same time.
They do present the music differently though and it may take some getting used to at first, but once you tune in, there may be no turning back. |
Omni directional speakers are just that, sound is radiated in multiple directions. Only a small % of the sound emitted from the part of the driver facing you reaches your ears directly. The rest reaches your ears indirectly as reflections off the walls, ceiling, etc. The result is a wide soundstage behind the speakers that generally extends from wall to wall, often even when the speakers are relatively close together. Some people do not like sound bouncing around off of walls and prefer a smaller more concentrated soundstage. Personally I do not get this because at any live (acoustic) performance, sound radiates omnidirectionally and bounces off walls, etc. but many do not feel this way. Also, wide dispersion is generally considered a good attribute of even more directional speaker designs. Go figure.... |
Coverto,
The flip side of omnis (directional designs) is that it is perhaps more like what one might hear if listening at very close distance to the player at a live performance where you receive most of the sound directly from the instrument being played close by rather than as a combo of direct and reflected sound which is what one would hear if listening from more of a distance like typically at most concerts.
This effect can be accomplished as well by listening to good omnis more nearfield (close to the speaker) so that a greater % of sound reaches your ear directly, but it is more an inherent aspect of more traditional and directional speaker designs. |
"Mapman - what you're saying makes me think it'd be great to audition a pair of these before buying, but is that possible?"
You pay up front, audition in your home for several months (the only reliable way) and then can return for money back if not satisfied. |
I auditioned Gallo 3.1 refs and liked them but preferred both OHMs and Quad ESL. The OHMs are a fraction of the cost of QUAD ESLs I preferred.
The Gallos and OHMs have some similarities but the OHMs are smoother and more balanced top to bottom. Gallo REf 3.1 are more of a wide dispersion design (sound dispersed widely) but not omni directional (sound dispersed evenly in all directions. OHMs are pseudo omni in that the super tweeter is directional and the OHM omni Walsh driver's level is physically attenuated by damping material inside the cage in the wall facing directions to enable placement closer to walls (both back and side).
Micro Walshes will also cost about $1000 less than a pair of Gallo Refs new I believe.
The Gallos would probably work better than MWTs in rooms larger than yours. Larger and more costly OHMs would be needed there. |
"a large, localized image - a big guitar, maybe 10 feet long, being plucked in the vicinity of the right speaker, and a big snare drum, maybe two or three feet across, being brushed in the vicinity of the left speaker. Does that coincide with your recollection of the Gallos, and how would it compare with the imaging of the Ohms?"
With good gear the OHM soundstage will generally extend from wall to wall and from speaker to ceiling vertically and may also have depth extending beyond the rear wall, depending on room, setup and listening position. Comparing a large soundstage to a small one is like comparing a detailed big screen TV to a detailed small screen TV. Some might prefer the smaller screen because the same picture appears sharper. Some will like the large screen because the image is still sharp but they can also make out more details because things are bigger and there is more space separating features of interest.
The perceived size and location of things will vary from recording to recording depending on how the piece was miked and produced. The OHMs will essentially just reproduce in your room what the producers capture in their recording and production process, which is really the best any system can do.
Accordingly, if you heard a "10 foot guitar", that may be due to very close miking during the recording process, kinda like the audio equivalent of a close zoom of the player doing his thing on a music video. |
I concur with Goatwuss regarding Dynudios, benefit of current, and room size.
I've used my Contour 1.3mkIIs in the same 12X12 room as my smaller OHMs and they do very well there, but I believe would do even better in a larger room with a sub.
One day I'll substitute them in for my Triangle Titus 202s in my other system where I run a sub and give them a chance to really shine. |
"One mitigating factor, I'm told, is that the Ohms aren't pure omnis, with front-facing tweeters and a wide-dispersion midrange cone that omits firing toward the back wall. I spoke to John Strobheen at Ohm who told me he figured between a foot and 18 inches from the wall would work fine for placement."
True they are not 100% omnidirectional and have super-tweeters that fire 45 degrees forward and inward. Also true that they need some but not excessive amounts of distance from walls.
The wide range Walsh driver does emit sound 360 degrees however the output is attenuated in the wall facing directions by sound absorbing material located inside the cage to allow placement closer to walls than pure omnis. |
I noticed today there are a couple pair of Super Walsh 2s (Walsh 2 cabinets with 100 series 3 drivers, like those I use in my system in one 12X12 listening room) up for sale on Agon currently for < $800, which is a very good value.
BTW I have no affiliation or other knowledge regarding the sellers, I just happened to notice. |
