Ohm Super Sound Cylinder SSC-4900 initial thoughts kinda review


Recently, and partly on the basis of what I read in these pages, I purchased a pair of Ohm Super Sound Cylinder (SSC-4900) speakers. By sharing my thoughts I aim to give back here but also to provide some information I wish I could have found out when searching high and low for information on these speakers. 

Long story short I am getting back into high-end audio. I once had a pretty impressive and well curated system. For years I lived without. In the Fall of 2019 I upgraded to Amazon Music HD, which led to a pair of Audeze headphones and a headphone amp/dac. After a while I wondered how minimal of a good sounding system I could build. Some parameters I set for the speakers were they had to be full range, play loud, sound good, image well with a wide sweet spot, look good, and be less than $8000 per pair. Oh, and they had to work in a large room with hard surfaces.  

Somehow I stumbled upon Ohm. What little bit I could find suggested they were possibly right for me. More than anything the overall gestalt that they were uniquely good drew me in. That, and the seemingly reasonable price helped seal the deal. It is, however, a major issue that even though I live in the seventh largest city in the nation there was no way to see or even audition these (or really anything putatively good) before buying. Mail order is not how I bought expensive audio stuff in the past. Well, some things change. Another issue was a near complete lack of audio press on these speakers. How can a company so old, and so well thought of not have oodles of reviews from the usual suspects? 

Ok, so, after some back and forth email with Ohm I resolved to get the Super Sound Cylinder aka the SSC-4900. For some reason the speaker is listed as a Beta product on the website. Seems to be a sorted consumer product not a beta. Anyway. Clearly, any interaction with the website affirms that Ohm cares little for the website, which I can dig but it really is quite frustrating. I even had to email to find out what the switch on the back of the speaker does. I'm still not totally sure, but the switches are in the upper most position for what it's worth. Something to do with deep bass EQ and my large room size.

I had plans for a media server/dac/amp all in one. That seemed a wonderful in a minimal way. Some products of the sort are supposed to be pretty good. Well, some don't yet work with Amazon Music, and some seem to have clunky software interface, but none were powerful enough to drive the Ohms (by all accounts). Ok, so, have to get a beefy power amp. Bummer right? Big money coming on a Krell or whatever the kids buy these days. Extensive search later I ended up buying, again on very little information, an Apollon AS1200 ICEPOWER class D amp from Slovenia. Mail order all the way. Go big or go home, right?

Another long story short I bought a Bluesound Node 2i. I had, in fact, demo'd this product so I had seen it, and knew a bit about it. Importantly, it works with Amazon Music and the interface was not too clunky. I hoped it would actually work okay and drive the Apollon with at least a moderately functional volume control. I could always get a separate DAC and preamp later, right?

Got some 12-gauge MonsterCable and some cheap Audioquest interconnects. Played the cable game before. Not again. 

Speaker one arrived. A week later speaker two arrived. Had the Bluesound. Did not have the amp. Crap, okay, so I hooked up an old-ish Denon receiver the AVR-X1100 with 80 W for each of 7 channels. Great functionality in that amp btw. Before the sound, however, a word about my first impressions of the speakers. Arrived in big boxes that barely protected the speakers. Obvious hand work/cost savings. One of the metal hats was bent slightly but I'm not gonna fret. Unnervingly lightweight speaker for its size. I paid five grand for what? Honestly, the materials don't feel very magical, the fit and finish is not stellar, and the appearance, well, subjectively not too awesome. The wife did not even notice the lone speaker hanging out in the corner at first. In short, these do not look or feel like five grand well spent. But, how do they sound mister long winded?

Through the Denon receiver the Ohms did not sound very good on average. Sometimes sounded kinda okay but generally not. The Bluesound was a breeze to set up BTW. Nice bit of kit that. Perhaps the Denon could not handle the Ohms low sensitivity or impedance or so I wanted to believe.

Miraculously, the Apollon showed up two days later. Nice build, or nicer than I expected, and 620W per channel. SIX HUNDRED AND TWENTY WATTS PER CHANNEL. If, as they all said, the Ohms needed power I should clear that up with this thing. Yes by Jove, the Ohms need power. The Apollon is there and not there. I can't hear it, but it made the Ohms stand up and fly right. Things were looking up. 

I've tweaked the speakers position to be closer to the wall. They need that, they really do, which is actually good for the wife acceptance factor and with having a 5 year old kid around. Imaging is funny. It can be precise. It's not all that deep (yet?), and it's not as wide/listening position invariant as everyone says. For sure, it makes a difference where you sit. That said, the best listening location is bigger than what you get from a mini-monitor. Treble is nice. Inoffensive and perhaps lacking a bit of sparkle but far from bright. Bass, deep bass that is, is listening position sensitive. These do not plumb the depths the way I wanted them too or, indeed, the the way I was led to believe. They may benefit from a sub, which I am loathe to add. Midrange is pleasant and present, perhaps somewhat seamless maybe due to lack of crossovers. I like vocals on these speakers. Seems like they will play loud, but I've not really gotten a chance to try that yet. 

So, to sum up my first impressions... These Ohms sound better than they look. They need tons of clean power, are best close to the wall, and are not champions in any one area. They do seem quite musical as they say, but I would not go as far as some reviews and say they are super close to "being there". I like the sound, but I really had to give them a chance. They have gotten their two fair shakes. I still have about 110 days to return them. Probably won't. Need to play around a bit with placement and hear more music. Maybe I will try a big pair of Maggies. What? No, can't/won't pull them out into the room. For now, it seems I have a pretty nice and pretty minimalistic setup. Two speakers, one amp, and one other box that plays the music from a huge online library. Clean, cool, and never have to turn it off. 

Did I get what I wanted? Will the Ohms make me forget and just play the music? Maybe. I might still be an audiophile after all and the Ohms, while seemingly good, are not unicorns with sparkles and glitter farts.   
 



monstertruck9882
Some thoughts.  I have A pair of 5000's and now recently updated/upgraded Pro-3000's.

Ohm Packaging - It's been really hit and miss for me.  Some of it (the can's for the 5000's) packaged separately, absolutely outstanding packaging.  

Some of it - My 3000's on return - not so great.  Had a dented and can that had been knocked loose.  Ohm was good about the return though, they paid.  But - when returned - packaged differently... had the same issue with the other speaker.

Build quality - the same. My 5000's lowers are tanks, and the 3000's use the round cylinder which works great, and being light is a huge advantage.  Attention to detail is decent, but not great. 

The "grills" I think OHM is just limited by the design.  Mine are all fine.  Had one with a ding, easy to push 95% out.  But, I can understand frustration by all.  But OHM is always GREAT about support.  Also, my 5000's are a bit older and I needed parts, and an update and they are always EXTREMELY reasonable about prices to get parts, updates etc. 

So, it's a mixed bag for sure.  

SOUND

Well, they sound fantastic to my ears.  But set-up is an absolute key.  OHM's need the reverse of the Dead Front / Live or dampened rear.  Ohms really work best with a live front end.  I don't have any room treatments in the front half of the room other than dispersion on the front (speaker) wall.  I have a couple bass traps in the rear and use dampening just forward of my listening level.  I have the tweeters set to cross just in front of me.    So, if you have a dead front end of the room, that will affect them (I've played around a ton).

But, man they do sound live, open, and huge.  They like power.  They also reflect changes in my audio system more than most.  They are not the absolute most detailed speakers I've owned.  The bass, awfully good, midrange is good and very coherent.  

As for sizing, you have the "Biggest" available other than the powered towers.  Those 4900's use the 5000 drivers.  Honestly, being round they allow you to play with set-up even more.  But, I would really suggest making sure you don't have the "ohm" label pointed straight ahead.  Try it more toed in so that the axis from each will cross in front of you, or just behind your head.  

I find the soundstage to be wide and huge.  Imaging is very good left to right.  They don't image as "deeply" as some other's I've owned.  But they sound as big if not bigger than anything I've owned.  They can be played loudly and not lose composure.  

I have some Salks on order, suspect at least one of my 5000's or Pro-3000's will be sold.  But I don't see selling both pairs.   They are fun, and voiced very well.

If you want fit and finish, top end materials and drivers... Salk does that better than anyone for the money IMO.

Good luck, but I wouldn't give up on them just yet.  Play with the room if you can.

If you are going to focus on the weight and materials, you won't be happy with them.  Kind of something I had to get over with them also.  



@de


it will be interesting to hear your perspective after the Salks arrive... the craftsmanship and attention to detail, including the packaging are excellent. 


Ive wanted to try a pair of ohms... but after owning Salks, I’m not sure the issues you brought up, even though small, wouldn’t drive me crazy. 
@snapsc 

I've owned Salks before (SS8's). So, I'm very familiar with the quality! 

Jim is absolutely top notch as is the quality of their work.


@dep14 Thanks for your thoughts. I can only alter the speaker positioning. There will be no special room treatments this time around although I appreciate what they might do. 

While everyone says the Ohms are not the most detailed speakers available (and I basically echo that) they paradoxically manage to reveal even small changes in positioning. That, and the switches on the back of the hat make a noticeable difference too. It seems then that they are very revealing but not uber detailed for whatever that means. 

Now I've got them aimed more or less at the center of the room with the switches in the middle position. Bass was too boomy from one listening position with the switches up. Makes sense with the instructions since my room is large not very large. 

At this point the Ohms are outstanding and vexing almost in equal measure. They can sound fantastic but not always. Certainly, the source material matters. But I find images, that is, voice and instrument localization can move around seemingly based on my concentration/head tilt/eyes open or closed/or whatever. In one notable case imaging was better than I've ever experienced from any system at any price. Vocals often sound palpably realistic and also sometimes lack warmth sometimes at the same time. The volume levels they can reach before you are aware of just how loud they are is almost incomprehensible. I do like to rock out.

One limitation I have is that they sit astride a cabinet that holds up the TV and contains the media player and amp. According to Ohm they speakers like to see each other. The only way for me to do this is to pull the speakers out from the wall more than the recommended amount. The closer I've put them to the wall the better they have sounded and the more they disappear physically into the room. Can't see pulling them out.

I'm very interested in your Salk experiment. I did consider them but like the Ohm it's a mail order risk.   

monstertruck9882
, you point out an interesting issue. 

Many (or more likely, most) of us are stuck with our rooms as they are. They are not dedicated listening rooms and the stereo must coexist with the other uses for the room, as well as the other residents of the house. A TV on a cabinet in between the speakers is one of the most common issues, and it can affect the imaging ability of Ohms more than the typical and conventional front-firing speakers. 

That's one of the factors and compromises that needs to be considered when deciding if Ohms are the best choice. For me, my Ohms were (and still are) keepers even though I know I could improve their sound further if the room could be dedicated to exclusive use as a listening room.