How do Walsh Ohm Speakers compare to Thiels?


Hi, 

I am listening to Thiel CS5's right now with a Prima Luna Dialogue Premium preamp, Coda CS amp, and Hegel HD25 DAC.

My problem is that the Thiel CS 5's may be a bit large for my room, which is 25 by 15 by 9. Due to room constraints (support pole in the middle of the basement), I am forced to set the speakers three feet from the front wall. They are about 8.5 feet apart and my listening spot is ten feet away. 

I cannot get the speakers to "disappear" which I suspect is due to not being far enough from the the front wall. I have bass traps in the front wall corners and across the front wall ceiling.

So, the upgrade bug is sneaking around in my mind and I am thinking about Walsh Ohms given their very wide sweet spot and so many positive comments. There also seem to be good comments about their sound stage.

Can anyone share their experience with Thiels and Walsh Ohms or any other suggestions? I also have a pair of Thiel CS3.6's, which are good speakers, but are blown away by the CS5's in terms of the mid range and treble.

Thanks for listening to this!

Dsper
dsper
The bigger the speaker, generally the harder it is to make it disappear. Something like the Silverline Prelude Plus might work better in your room. 
Good point by seanheis. You usually have to be able to sit further away from larger speakers with distance between drivers like those Thiels for them to image best and "disappear".

Many speakers might fit that bill. OHM Walsh do very well in that regard even the larger models in that they all have similar driver configurations. Their big sweet spot will be different. The OHM coherent sound design is right down Thiel’s alley.

Having said that I have not heard Thiels in quite a while so I cannot compare OHM sound to those based on listeningl but I would say read up on them and if they sound like your cup of tea maybe give them a shot. Amps that drive Thiels well should also do splendid with OHM. OHM is not full omni and 3 feet to rear wall maybe less should be fine.
I have a vintage pair of Ohm Walsh Sound Cylinders that I found at a local GoodWill for $55! And I wouldn't trade mine for any Thiels! They are that good!
Hey, thanks for the advice and ideas!

I have played a lot with the toe in and have a good wide sound stage with pretty good imaging. Not real deep which I expect is due to the speakers not being further from the front wall.

One thing that I have not tried to address is side wall reflections. Maybe  I can achieve an improvement by working on that.

Dsper
Some not necessarily expensive acoustic panels at primary wall reflection points to your main listening position may help. If so these would help similarly with the OHMs as well. With the OHMs, if you listen from more than one position, you might place panels at each primary reflection point for each location you listen from. I do this on side walls in my main listening room with one pair of Ohms and they do make a difference. In my other rooms I do not even bother and things are still fine if not quite so perfect. I may also try similar panels on ceiling primary reflection points some day but have not felt a great need to-date.

$55 for any properly operating OHm Walshes is a steal of the century! Lucky you! I’ve passed on some similar very good speaker deals at Goodwill because I have so many already but would not on that one! Also remember, last time I checked, any old OHMs with cabinets that can be refurbished and re-used have trade-in value with OHM. The condition of the drivers does not matter for trade-in. Last I checked (and took advantage of) OHM offered up to 40% off new speakers with trade in of two pair of older refurbishable OHMs. Need not be Walsh models even.

Lastly I would add that I’ve had OHM Walshes in my house since 1982 or so and A/B tested older versions versus new and the newer versions are more refined and detailed than the older ones, but the older versions are still great bargains for the prices commonly found.