Anyone dislike Ohm Walsh speakers?

I have owned a pair of Ohm Walsh 2000s for a little over 2 years now, and I can say that I am completely satisfied with them. Indeed, I think they are the best speakers I have ever owned, with the exception of a Pair of Ohm A speakers I owned back in the mid-70s. I also owned a pair of Ohm F’s during that same period, and I would say that the 2000s I currently own are better than the Fs, offering better imaging and better bass.
One important improvement in the original design worth commenting on is the decision to dampen the higher frequencies (above 5K) from the rear of the speaker to the front wall, and to replace those frequencies with a super-tweeter in the front crossed in at 8K. Please go to the Ohm web site for more info

https://ohmspeaker.com/technology/

This corrects the generally poor imaging that plagues omnidirectional loudspeakers and also allows them to be placed much closer to the front wall. As a matter of fact, the new Ohm Walsh line are all designed to be placed anywhere from 12” to 24” from the wall, to be determined by careful listening. Mine are exactly 13” from the front wall and provide excellent imaging with a terrific sound stage. The overall sound I would describe as coherent and natural. They have the clarity of a good electrostatic speaker but with terrific bass (deep, tight and detailed) and the magical sound stage that only an omni can give you. And yes, the 2000 is still an omni in spite of the design mod described above. The only thing affected is the high treble (above 5K). All other frequencies are generated omnidirectionally by the Walsh driver, so the speaker definitely sounds like an omni, only with focused imaging.
The 2000s also are capable of playing majestically loud, given enough power. I am driving them with 160 watts RMS per channel into their 6 ohm load, and they love it! One caveat to consider though is they are extremely revealing. If there is anything wrong with your electronics, there will be no hiding it. In that respect, the Walsh driver is much more like an electrostatic than a conventional speaker.

I had a pair of the Ohm F’s from 1978 to 82-3 and liked them a lot. Placement wasn’t overly finicky and they gave a very spacious sound. While I have not heard the 2000’s, I hear nothing but great things about the whole line from the 1000’s up.

All the best.

jd

I  purchased my original pair of Ohm Walsh 2's in 1982. I did the full upgrade in 2007 and gave then to a deserving friend in 2019. So I had a good ride with them: They are one of the least fatiguing speakers and great for long term listening. They have one of the widest sweet spots & can image like crazy. I enjoyed them for 30 plus years. On downside, they need a good amp to deliver dynamics. They will benefit from a clean tight subwoofer. The Ohm Walsh 2 or the upgrade were not bass champs. I plugged the bass ports in the bottom to kill as much of the speakers bass in favor of using a subwoofer to reinforce the bottom end. Being an Omni design, they are not the last word in delivering a precision soundstage. It still boils down to preference & given your situation an audition would be tough   

$500 shipping is not an insignificant amount of money.  Add that to the inability to audition the speakers and it seems like a bad idea to me.  I am in SE Asia and there are lots of hifi shops in my city with a fairly wide selection of gear to audition.  It is unfortunate that the pandemic has canceled the audio shows otherwise I would recommend going to one and see what you can fine there. The last one I went to here had Spatial Audio Labs open baffle speakers and they were great.  Not quite omnidirectional but still very room filling.

...I think I'll just lurk for awhile......