John Strohbeen from Ohm Acoustics passed away

That’s so sad and a huge loss to the audio community.  Was he I’ll?  How old was he?

I know he was trying to sell his company, sad. 

Very sad to hear this news. 

Hi

yes was in the hospital  for about 6 weeks and was I think 80 .

best regards 

bill

very sad to read, thank you for letting me/us know.  

I just hope he had a transition plan in place because it would be really sad to see such a unique and respected manufacturer again go the way of Thiel, which was just tragic.

I had a phone conversation with John some years ago. I told him about my find at Goodwill of a pair of Sound Cylinders for a song! John was surprised and remarked that they typically sold used for around $1200/pair! I still have them in use and will always remember John with fondness! 

RIP John! Best regards to family and friends!  I truly hope that Ohm will survive and that a good plan was in place for the employees and business! 

Needless to say you can’t replace someone like JS who has had such a huge positive impact on the lives of so many for so long, but given that, I am hopeful his legacy particularly via Ohm Speakers carries on. Looking forward to hearing some good news on that front!

RIP for sure. I have admired the design and sound of his speakers for some time. I never had a pair but an old school friend had an old pair and they always sound fantastic. I kinda wish I would have bought a pair and I do hope the company keeps going...

So sorry to hear. Love my upgraded 4’s in my TV system - his memory will live on every time I play them… hopefully the company will live on as well. 

I've been chatting with John since 1986 when I bought my Walsh 4's.

I admired his ability to give a straight answer to any question regarding his speakers.  

Needless to say I admired him and his speakers.  

He built my speakers in 1984; there is JS written on just about everything inside the cabinet.  He may be gone but he does live on in my basement.

Sad, but as time passes, more and more of us leave. I hope it was peaceful.  Is Marty still there? 

I spoke with John in person and by phone several times. Always patient and a gentleman. I have been thrilled with my Walsh 2000s since I bought them in 2009. I was one of the first to purchase this model, and it is my exit ramp speaker. He was a giant in American HiFi, who made great sound affordable for many music lovers over the decades. He will be greatly missed. When I heard Ohm was for sale, I fantasized about it for a hot minute. Would have been a dream come true for me a few years ago. A huge loss for American HiFi.

He was a brilliant and seemingly down to earth sincere person who loved music and good sound.

I exchanged emails with JS on several buying occasions and met him only once at Capital Audiofest a few years back. He was also technically my boss for a couple of years, though I never had any direct interaction, back in the late seventies when he started and ran the Tech Hifi chain and I worked at one part time during college in NJ. That was also my first exposure to Ohm Speakers, where I sold many pair of Ohm Es, Ls, C2s and Hs. It was teh house line but I also found them to beat all teh competition for overall sound and value. At Tech Hifi one would also find Advent, AR, KLH EV, JBL, Infinity, CV and other lines most of the popular brands of the day.

He was a leader and innovator, not a follower, firm in his mission to deliver better sound (and support services) for less to as many as possible and he did exactly that for a good 50 years or so. What other speaker company provided parts, upgrades and significant trade-in value for most every speaker it made over 50 years? None I know of.

Ohm itself had the reputation of being a very low overhead, blue collar shop. JS himself seemed to reflect that when I met him.

At the Capital audiofest, it struck me how JS took pride in setting up and competing in the most acoustically challenged room at the show, a two level atrium. He was not one to do things conventionally it seemed.....he semed to relish the challenge and the results while not 100% perfect was pretty darn good.

He also seemed like to demonstrate his speaker's sound with modest electronics that many might actually be able to afford. His mission was to deliver the best sound to more for less and he did. His Walsh CLS design is/was one of a kind......very interested to see where it might go now.

His closing remark in communication I observed was always "good listening!"

For sure!

Hi Mapman

I worked that show with John and set that system up .  I had to splice some speaker wire together for the length we needed .!  To the horror of the audience when I was saying that during a demonstration.  The big space was my demo station and John always liked to watch me present .  
 

it was a great space for the 5000 ! 
 

we must have met at the show. 
 

I actually drove John and Evan down for that show in my giant SUV . 
 

Good listening 

best

bill

@bsohne I do remember you and your enthusiasm at that show and recall having a nice demo and chat with you and JS for about 45 minutes or so. First time ever meeting JS and first time ever I heard Ohm demo at a high end audio show, so overall it was a very special hifi moment for me.

The spliced wires rings a bell.........that's blasphemy at a high end audio show for sure!   Well done!

Such sad news. John was a mensch and a delight to deal with. I was one of those who found errors (and made editorial suggestions) in the Ohm beta website, and got the discount on new speakers. I had a pair of Ohm Walsh 2s that I wanted to upgrade with new cans. John said, "Well, we meant the discount to go towards a pair of new speakers, but for you I'll discount just the cans." And that is how I got my Ohm Walsh 2000s, which retain pride of place in my main stereo system. I always admired and respected John's relentless and persistent refinement of his rather idiosyncratic vision of audio technology and the listener's experience. I do hope Ohm can keep going in his absence, knowing how extraordinarily difficult that will be. Thanks for the good listening, John.

I'm very sad to hear about this! I've been following Ohm Acoustics for many years now, hoping to someday own a pair of their legendary speakers. I hear that John was a great person to work with when you needed support with their products.

Does anybody have any update on the status of the company? I finally ordered a pair of their Walsh 2000s last week, but I can't get in touch with them. Every line of communication with them is silent (phone, email, social media).