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| Model: | 1000 |
| Category: | Speakers |
| Suggested Retail Price: | $2000 |
| Description: | Walsh tower speaker |
| Manufacturer URL: | Ohm Acoustics Corp. |
| Review by Taosman on January 07, 2015 at 05:23:30 IP Address: 71.222.193.69 | Add Your Review for the 1000 |
How to review a near omnidirectional speaker?
Let me talk about the hall perspective first as that is probably the best baseline to get a "feel" for the sound field produced.
Ohms are more middle hall to back row speakers then most everything being sold today. This is a very easy speaker to listen to long term as there is no fatigue factor. Yet with plenty of detail available this was a bit of a surprise to me in fact. I started with the front end. Building a system with as much detail and clarity I could afford. So, perhaps what I'm hearing is a complete pass through of everything I could squeeze out of the digital front end. Because this is a mostly omni speaker, there is a "character" to the presentation in my system that my wife and I enjoy. Those looking for a more "in your face" or front row sound should look elsewhere. Action movies have plenty of clarity and detail and bass.
| Product Weakness: | The big thing here is the very different "presentation" than most speakers being sold today. If you've never heard an Omnidirectional speaker you'll love it or find it's not what you want. |
| Product Strengths: | Major league bass for size of enclosure. No locked in "sweet spot" so you can sit wherever or move around while the music plays. A small form factor and good WAF with multiple veneers to choose from. Solid wood construction with veneer cover. Excellent value for price. |
| Amplifier: | Rogue Sphinx-100w |
| Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | none |
| Sources (CDP/Turntable): | Toshiba laptop.Squeezebox Duet |
| Speakers: | Ohm 1000 |
| Cables/Interconnects: | Kimber 4tc speaker cable |
| Music Used (Genre/Selections): | jazz singers , world music |
| Room Size (LxWxH): | 14 x 16 x 10ft |
| Room Comments/Treatments: | minimal furniture, slight echo |
| Time Period/Length of Audition: | 2 months now |
| Other (Power Conditioner etc.): | PS Audio Power Plant |
| Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
Actually the dampening factor of the Nuforce IA-7 integrated is listed at an astonishing 4000! Whether that actually translates to superior sound or speaker control in debatable. It is an excellent mate for the current Ohm speakers! I would guess any of the recent Nuforce high end amps would work well.
I have to add that I watch tv through a Bryson 9b and microwalsh talks for several hours a day. Wonderful combination.
Whether they are true omni is irrelevant to me...they sound great and have unique presence....
I owned two Ohm Walsh speakers several years ago: the Ohm Micro Walsh Talls, and then the Ohm Walsh 100's.
They have a lot of virtues: reasonable cost, strong bass foundation, relatively small footprint and excellent customer service from John Strohbeen, the owner, who is a stand up guy who takes good care of his clients. Plus, you can't beat the 4 month home audition.
That said, I'll echo what others have mentioned, above: either the pseudo-omni presentation floats your boat, or it doesn't and I don't see any way to know that without living with them for awhile.
I say pseudo-omni because, unlike the original Walsh drivers, the contemporary Ohm CLS drivers differ in two respects. First, as has been said, they have a separate tweeter which fires diagonally across the listening area. And second, the sound is deliberately attenuated in the rear of the speaker so as to minimize front wall reflections behind the speakers.
For anyone interested in exhaustive and interesting (and ongoing) discussion of the whole Ohm lineup, go over to this thread on Audiogon, which I initiated when I was first shopping for Ohm's - lots of great information there..
rebbi....Thx for posting that link, or should I say "novel". Very informative. Lots of Ohm lovers with great insights. They must be experiencing the same magic I've discovered with these speakers.
Wow. I haven't thought about Ohm in a long time. I had a pair of Walsh 2's back in the early 80's I believe it was. You could stand in front of one speaker with your toes touching the front of the cabinet and still hear the other speaker very clearly. I also remember them being very finicky and prone to disaster. In fact, my left speaker just stopped working one day for no reason. None that I remember anyway. But they were truly omnidirectional unlike other brands of the day claiming to be. It would be interesting to see what they are up to these days as, like someone else mentioned, is seems they fell off the radar. At one time they were a really nice speaker brand.
Interesting that Bose 901s have been mentioned as that was my first high end speaker. I must have been lucky with the "synergy" with my home at the time(16 foot cathedral ceilings) as both my wife and I loved the sound. After the Bose died I tried a different direction with B&W 600s but for what resolution I gained, I lost "musicality"! The ability to just enjoy the music and not worry about how far I was hearing into the recording. I believe I'm headed back to enjoying the music more and less concerned about hearing every last "noise" in a recording. Which is not to say that Ohms can't do "resolution'. They can do detail if that's what you want. These speakers are mostly an open window to the rest of your system.(coherent) They will tell you what you have in front of them.
I have listened to, but never owned, some older Ohms, but do not remember the model. At the time, I also listened to 2 other brands of upward firing omnis.
My first impression was to the differences in the presentation, where all of these omni-types gave a completely different presentation - for me, it was like the sound was swirling around in the air, which is something i liked at first. But after a while, I wasn't that pleased with their ability to see inside the orchestra and an abundance of warmth.
Maybe, it's the type of speaker that i found ultimately unpleasing, or the low price-tag.
Since we all react differently to what we hear, and we all listen to different types of music (which put different demands on speakers and amps), the only advice i can give is to listen for a while and see if you are still enthralled by the novelty of the presentation after a few hours.
Observe, before you think. Think before you open your yap. Act on the basis of experience.
Good, but short review. I have the 5000s, and would like to add, that these speakers give a very deep soundstage. Images are a bit rounder, as apposed to razor sharp from other speakers-a characteristic of omni directional speakers. I find them warm and smooth and fairly detailed. The tweeter is much better than those in the earlier versions (80's). They are also better made than the earlier versions.
They fly under the radar, because they are sold directly from the factory.
have fun .
Jack
Ohm has chosen a "direct Sales" business model so their operation is about service and giving buyers a long in home trial period. This works for me as I'm some distance from any stereo shop and Best Buy sucks! I bought the Rogue Sphinx without hearing it! I feel a certain amount of patriotic pride in buying quality American made products. Ohm, Rogue and Schiit are all made in the US.
I know this response is more than a year after the fact, but as others mentioned, the reason Ohm is "under the radar" is their direct sales marketing method.
The Ohm Fs I had in the mid-1970s were purchased from a retail dealer in Omaha, NE. Not sure when they switched to direct sales.
For something big and bulky like speakers, the direct sales approach keeps a lot of people from ever hearing the speaker. Many mildly curious shoppers will simply not even consider a speaker under those circumstances. I suspect the 120 day trial period only works for those who are already pretty sure that a pair of Ohm speakers is what they want.
I bought a new pair of speakers last fall. Ohms fell into my "mildly interested" category but I simply didn't want to hassle with having to return something I gave perhaps at best a 25% chance of being my final choice. So they ended up getting no listen and no consideration at all.
and Ohms are high on the list. my current speakers are close to 30 years in service.
For $2000/pair it might be an OK purchase - but there are a lot of really good loudspeakers that could best them.
The new Magnepan .7 would be high on my list - or the 1.7. The venerable Vandersteen 2Ci never disappoints, and a few stand mounted speakers would make that list. For the sound field similar to the Ohms and to irritate the the rest of the audiophile community - try a pair of Bose 901's $1400 bargain!
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
To my ear, the Ohms are similar to the Maggies when it comes to presenting a very open, ambient soundstage.(sorry, I've never heard a Bose 901) The difference being that you don't have to be locked more or less dead center to enjoy a balanced presentation. Both sound more "real" to my ear as well because instead of delivering razor sharp pin point imaging, we hear a better depiction of what live music really sounds like. I'll agree that there are more 2K speaker candidates than one could possibly audition in a lifetime, but I'm not aware of any other than Ohm that offer a 120 day audition period.
Never owned the Ohms - a friend has the "F" in the late 70's - I did own the Shahinian Obelisks - the nice thing about Maggies is that the dipole eliminates the side wall reflection and the line source minimized the floor/ceiling reflection. And if you toe in the maggies significantly (I use 45 degrees) they work well for side position seating as well ate the sweet spot center chair.
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
It's hard to "characterize" these speakers as "warm" as they are system dependent. I prefer an ever so slightly "warm" sound so I'm using a Rogue Audio Sphinx(100 watts) which is a hybrid.(Hypex class "D" with a tube pre-amp section.)As I posted, I started with the front end and got as much detail as I could afford(Schiit Bifrost Uber) and added a very slightly voiced "warm" amplifier. Rogue's Mark O'Brien would say neutrally voiced. Then I bought these speakers. They are only slightly less efficient than most speakers. Since amplifier watts are cheap it's not even worth discussion. I think they are also excellent for a home audio video system! Just killer bass for the footprint! Catch them on sale and you have a great value.
Of speakers I wish I could hear.
"We are all in God's hands... and God is a malign thug."
-Mark Twain
I agree 100%. When set up properly in my listening room, I've never heard music come across more real and present than with the Ohm 1000. My room is only 10 x 11, but this easily fits Ohm's volume (cu. ft.) parameters for the 1000. The Ohm's are a tad inefficient, but I get by quite nicely in this room with a 22 watt 845 based SET. The 1000 does solid bass on its own, but I do supplement it with a REL T-2. Makes for a superb combination. Great speakers that continue to fly under the radar.
They sound like the speakers I am looking for - and probably most music lovers/audiophiles!
Good question? Why are Ohm's 'under radar?' They showed their longevity by being around much longer than some legendary brand names.
The last review as I recall, was done by Mr.Olsher some decades ago?
“Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t. - Charles Bukowski
Are these different from the original ohm walsh drivers , i found those undynamic and dull sounding , not unpleasant , just Meh ..!
Whats different today ... ?
BigguyinATL has pretty much covered it....plus added an informative and accurate link. I believe the newer Ohms are a completely different animal and a far more user friendly design. In reference to that much older design, I remember someone once saying that it took 200 watts to get them to sing and 210 watts to blow them up. I have no idea if that statement has an ounce of accuracy.....although it wouldn't surprise me. My AR's from that era needed some juice to "wake up", but careful, not too much juice.
While there are those that will agree or disagree about the qualities of the original Ohm F. What is different - for the last 20 years or so - The Ohms are now two way. There is a directional tweeter mounted above the Walsh driver (tilted at an angle forward) to "assist" the primary driver.
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
Never owned them - Mick will, probably, give you better insight...
“Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t. - Charles Bukowski
Does the "more middle hall to back row speakers" mean the sound-stage is 3' tall, or the sound is more 'relaxed'?
I would think of the sound of the multidimensional speakers more enveloping, more substantial, richer?
“Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t. - Charles Bukowski
I find that the sound stage height seems to very with what is in the music. Live recordings have great height and depth when it's in the music. "Enveloping"? Yes, I guess that would be one description of what they are capable of. No discernable "sweet spot".
I'll add by saying they relay the ambient feel of live music much better than most of the speakers I've had in my listening room before.
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