Ohm Walsh 4 Month Home Trial Money-Back Guarantee?

The newer CLS driver that replaced the original full range F and A drivers back in the 80's are now in their 4th generation of revision.

Original OHM Fs and As were unique in that they used a single physical Walsh omni driver with no electronic crossover to cover full range to 16-17kz or so. The achilles heel of this design was that they were easily over-driven and damaged as a result, so reliability was not the greatest.

The CLS design effectively solved this problem by offloading the very top end from the Walsh driver to a separate tweeter mounted in a manner so as to preserve the "phase coherency" and sound of the original Walsh design as much as possible. Output levels are also physically damped or attenuated in wall facing directions to make placement easier compared to the original full omni WALSH drivers.

mk II and series 3 revisions of the CLS driver use the same Walsh driver but the series 3 a more refined soft dome tweeter as I understand it.

OHM recently announced newer version of some of their larger drivers, including the 5000, which supposedly uses new Walsh driver components for the first time in quite a while, stronger magnets, greater efficiency supposedly, described as evolutionary and not revolutionary in terms of the resulting sound.

New incarnations of the original OHM F and A with updated and supposedly improved full range Walsh drivers can be had here:

http://www.hhr-exoticspeakers.com/HHRabout.htm

..but the in-home trial/guarantee comparable to OHMs may not be available. My understanding is that these new designs by Dale Harder are advertised as somewhat more resistant to over-driving than the originals.

I've never seen nor heard Dale Harder's new creations, but he seems to be most knowledgeable and also seems to be a true lover of the Walsh driver technology.

Line, not to be argumentative, but, Foster 9 who started this thread based his curiosity on Ohm Walsh's that he had heard in the 70's.

Although today's Ohms are a variation of the original, they definitely benefit from that full range design. Today's models with the addition of the tweeter and a bass port, makes them easier to drive. Thankfully the tweeter doesn't kick in until much higher than typical dynamic designs, hence the addictive nature mentioned above.

Unsound, Sean brings the fact up that the Ohm Fs were a different beast; Ohm stopped production of the Fs back in 1984. The people above that have recommend the Ohm Walsh are the later motels. Sean has told me he has never heard the newer motels therefore cannot comment on how they sound. There are very (very few people) that do not like what the newer Walsh sound like. Many stay with the Ohm Walsh when it's time for new speakers like i have. It would be interesting to A B the old Fs with the new Walsh 5's.

Zkzpb8, i also recommed the Walsh 2's or even the 3's in that size room and for the power you have. I use 600 watts per side with the walsh 5's. My room size is 24 x 16 x 9.5. I have the speakers on the long wall 7.5 feet from the side walls and 32" from the back wall. There is 100 sq. feet of 2" thick foam wedge in 12" x 12" squares on the side walls and the back wall but none on the back wall between the speakers. Between the speaker on the back wall is rough stone that make up a fireplace. I love what i hear in this room.

You may want to check the archives here on Audiogon. According to respected Audiogoner Sean the old Ohm Walsh's and the new Ohm's are very different beasts.

Foster:

I started hanging around this site several months ago after various 17 year old stereo components of mine started to die of old age, hoping to get some hints and deals for a long-needed upgrade (obviously more a music lover than an audiophile!)

Probably the only thing I won't be completely replacing is my 17 year old Ohm Walsh 4X0s. Still love them. GREAT sound anywhere in the room (I mostly listen to classical, mostly chamber music). OK to look at. And almost indestructable: I bought them back then to provide great sound at significant volumes in fairly large rooms for workshops I was leading, carting them all over the country for years with only minimal packing, and now there's only a few minor blemishes on them, and no functional problems at all in the 17 years I've had them!

Rather than get new speakers by someone else, most of which at similar prices don't really hold a candle to these, IMHO, I am thinking of getting the new upgraded drivers that Ohm makes for my model for only $1.5K. I am very impressed with the company for the way they handle this upgrade as well: They send me the new drivers and new grills to put in the cabinet, and I have 60 days, to audition them and either send the old ones to them, or return the new ones. I also find that they are a good company to deal with, and respond quickly and helpfully to my e-mails.

I don't know about your particular situation, nor am I up to date on their current line of speakers, but I can certainly endorse the Ohms in general. BTW, my wife is pushing for the surround sound HT thingy, as it seems every wife in the world is, and the one time I heard an Ohm set up it was QUITE impressive for the price.

I have owned Ohms starting with a pair of Ohms F's to the Ohms Walsh 4's now with the Ohm's 300mk11, what can I say I am Hooked on the sound. The 300's will work very well with my large room 20x20x18 feet high. The 300's are power hungry and run at a average of 6.5 ohm's impedence your Mac will push them but not to high levels. I had a Mac 2270 which was replaced with a Bryston 4BST with much better results. As far as the long demo period these speakers require a long break in period nearly the lenght of the home demo period.Ohm also they offer a trade in policy 2nd to none, each time I replaced a older model with a newer one I recieved full credit for the purchace price of the model I was trading in. These speakers will treat you to a wonderfull soundstage great imaging and a non fatiguing sound for years to come.
P. S. your room is not small for the 200's I would recommend them, they also would work well with your 6900

Thanks for your informative response Zkzpb8. I plan to audition them soon. Probably the 100mk2's since it may be that my room is too small for the 200's or 300's.

I recommend that you try the Ohms! There are many great options in your price range, but with a money back/4 month trial period, it's worth a try. They are very capable of what you are looking for.

My system is a very similar. My Mac integrated is an older version of yours, and I'm also running the same cables. The combo seems to work very well with the Ohms (I have MicroWalsh Talls).

The midrange purity with lack of crossover in that critical area is very addictive. At HE in New York last month, it took some very expensive systems to achieve what my little Ohms can do for a only a grand. It's a great design, I can listen for hours (to music, not my system). The big sweet spot and major bass response is another plus (among many others).

For my sized room/price range, nothing (monitor or floorstanding) can touch the MicroWalshes. You're spending a lot more, so your options change - maybe someone else here can recommend an alternative. I haven't heard the larger Ohms, but I would bet they'll give comparably priced models some very stiff competition.

If you haven't yet, check out these sixmoons.com reviews:

http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/walsh/micro.html

http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/ohm/ohm.html