This review is for the Ohm Walsh 3000 which also replaces the Ohm 200, both in the company's lineup as well in my own lineup. As much as I liked my old 200s, this next generation is the bomb. First off, most vividly to me, there's a sharpness to the sound, a sharpness one only finds with live music. Acoustic instruments in particular sound especially life-like. Now I did update my amplifier to an SMc Audio-modded DNA-125 and I'm sure this is helping, but I'm most impressed & satisfied with this sharpness.

Other impressions are the stereo imaging as well as the separation. Quite wonderful. The sound stage depth is really something and detail, front to back, great. From highs to mid-range to bass, the mix is so very natural. I had the new 3000 drivers installed in an old set of Ohm 4 cabinets (absolutely love the older pyramid shape) and the larger cabinets allow the bass to get really low.

I really love these speakers and can't really imagine upgrading for a long, long time.



Similar Products Used:
-Ohm Walsh 2s
-Ohm Walsh 100 Mk-2s
-Ohm Walsh 200

This review covers the SW2.2000 upgrade kit for the Ohm 2. It included new sound boards and the S2000 Walsh drivers. The Walsh 2000 model replaces the 200MK-2 in Ohm's line up. I originally tried a set of Ohm Sound Cylinders and found them to be far superior to any loudspeaker I had heard without spending 10s of thousands of dollars.. They were a little small for my listening area however, so I went in search of a pair of Ohm 2 cabinets that I could upgrade with new drivers. I installed the new sound boards and drivers in less than 45 minutes. At first it seemed the new drivers did not image as well as the sound cylinders, but after a few weeks of listening they opened up and created the full sound stage and just about anywhere sweet spot I was accustomed to from Ohm Walshes. The 2000s are more than ample in filling by 18 x 28 x 8ft basement with up to and beyond comfortable listening volume for either music or theater. A bass guitar sound like a bass guitar and not a muddled background afterthought. Any stringed instrument is rich and full in sound down to the fingers being slid down an open string. The speakers deliver detail in recordings that most conventional speakers I had used over the years did not deliver. Dynamics are excellent and the speakers will not fatigue over extended listening periods.

I have very eclectic music taste and some speakers seem to only be suited to certain types of music. This requires a set of speakers for classical, another for rock, others for Jazz. My wife thinks I'm nuts and wants me to stop setting up different listening areas with different sets of speakers.
These speakers are a powerful solution. No matter what type of music I throw at them they seem to be able to reproduce the sound with confidence, power and accuracy.
Not only do they handle everything I play on them but they do so without leaving things out. Hands down, crystal clear and smooth!

None Yet!

These speakers are amazing!
I have long enjoyed a vintage pair of Ohm F series speakers and when it came time to replace them I looked to Ohm Acoustics to provide me with something that wouldn't let me down.
Most modern speakers, to me, have many weaknesses. Some have 'holes' or are missing parts of the sound. Others, after listening for any length of time, seem to cause 'listener fatigue'. This is especially true of the recent popularity of over-priced/cheaply produced satellite type systems which rely heavily on muddy sounding low-frequency bass, have 'tinny' sounding highs and completely leave out the midrange.
Last year I purchased a pair of these Walsh series speakers and I was amazed. They sound rich, refreshing and full. The low-frequencies are clean and tight and its a smooth trip all the way up to the highs. The accuracy is excellent and they look sharp!
Purchasing is done directly with the factory and the service was very personal and prompt. I highly recommend these as an investment in good sound which is worth every penny.

Customer Service

The service was personal and prompt. I had some complicated shipping needs and a tight time requirement which they were able to accommodate with efficiency. When I had questions or concerns I was able to speak to the owner directly with no trouble.

Similar Products Used:

-Vintage pair of Ohm F series speakers
-Paradigm Loudspeakers
-Several Bose speaker sets old and new
-Vintage Infinity Quantum 5 loudspeakers

I have very eclectic music taste and some speakers seem to only be suited to certain types of music. This requires a set of speakers for classical, another for rock, others for Jazz. My wife thinks I'm nuts and wants me to stop setting up different listening areas with different sets of speakers.
These speakers are a powerful solution. No matter what type of music I throw at them they seem to be able to reproduce the sound with confidence, power and accuracy.
Not only do they handle everything I play on them but they do so without leaving things out. Hands down, crystal clear and smooth!

Nothing comes to mind at the moment.

These speakers are amazing!
I have long enjoyed a vintage pair of Ohm F series speakers and when it came time to replace them I looked to Ohm Acoustics to provide me with something that wouldn't let me down.
Most modern speakers, to me, have many weaknesses. Some have 'holes' or are missing parts of the sound. Others, after listening for any length of time, seem to cause 'listener fatigue'. This is especially true of the recent popularity of over-priced/cheaply produced satellite type systems which rely heavily on muddy sounding low-frequency bass, have 'tinny' sounding highs and completely leave out the midrange.
Last year I purchased a pair of these Walsh series speakers and I was amazed. They sound rich, refreshing and full. The low-frequencies are clean and tight and its a smooth trip all the way up to the highs. The accuracy is excellent and they look sharp!
Purchasing is done directly with the factory and the service was very personal and prompt. I highly recommend these as an investment in good sound which is worth every penny.

Customer Service

The service was personal and prompt. I had some complicated shipping needs and a tight time requirement which they were able to accommodate with efficiency. When I had questions or concerns I was able to speak to the owner directly with no trouble.

Similar Products Used:

-Vintage pair of Ohm F series speakers
-Paradigm Loudspeakers
-Several Bose speaker sets old and new
-Vintage Infinity Quantum 5 loudspeakers

Smooth deep bass. Fabulous vocals. Unmatched dispersion. Highly livable sound without irritation or strain. Speakers on casters for easy movement. Cabinents are built like a tank.

Black Ash wood veneering is delaminating a little bit. I'd spring for the exotic wood veneers. Large footprint.

Bought these speakers 4 years old from an audiophile equipment store in NY. They had bought them from a failed stereo store in PA that went bust. I had been searching for a used pair using a Google search. There were many earlier/older generation Walsh's for sale but not the newer Mk-200's. Then in a stoke of luck I found a store that had a used pair for sale. The NY store never bothered to unpack them so they didn't know what they had in terms of their sound. So I called NY and bought them sight-unseen-unheard because of the great reviews and because I've owned and loved a pair of Ohm model "L"s for almost 30 years. So anyway they were already broken in when I got them and I've been listening to them for 6 months now. The first thing that struck me when I plugged these babies in was the awesome vocal capabilities the Mk-200's have! There is such a presence to the vocals--so effortless,natural, and dynamic. They sound like good electro-stats but with much better bass. They do pretty darn good with my Denon AVR-3805 Receiver in "pure direct mode" but they'd do even better with a good seperate amp and preamp like a McIntosh. I use these speakers for both music and home theater in my 14'x 20' family room. What I enjoy listening to most with these speakers is high quality jazz, vocal, blues, and classical CD's. These speakers will rock'n roll hard too but rockers will want something like a Klipsh speaker with punchy bass. The bass response can be described as full and appropriate without being punchy. The bass response compliments the music instead of overpowering it and can best be described as deep, powerful, smooth, balanced, and appropriately weighted. "Just right" comes to mind. These speakers have a larger footprint as any larger tower speaker would but what is really neat is that the drivers sit on top of the cabinet unobstructed by furniture. I have larger over-stuffed furniture abutting the left speaker but the heighth and amazing dispersion of the drivers is stopped by nothing! Also, the sound staging is TALL. You can walk anywhere in the room and it's as if the music follows you. The music seems to be omni-present in the room. And this characteristic is awesome at all volume levels but really shines at lower to moderate volume levels. You don't have to crank the volume up to hear them in the adjacent rooms; the music just follows you while you're doing your house chores. And because you don't have to crank them up to hear them you can carry on a conversation with the speakers at fairly high volume levels. These described characteristics may seem trivial to some reading this review but these Ohm Walsh 200 Mk-II's never get on my nerves. They are such a livable speaker. Day-in and day-out I never tire of them. They're a pleasure, pleasure, pleasure, to live with. $2700 is alot of money to spend on a new pair of Ohms but I've breifly heard the $2500 Paradigm Studio 100's and the $6000 Paradigm Signiture 100's and feel my Ohms easily hold there own against these more popular speakers....and there's many things the Ohm's do better. If you buy these new, buy them with confidence that you've made a very excellent choice. If you can find them used and pay half-price then you've hit the jack pot of excellent value. These speakers will last 25 years before needing a refurb. and the Ohm Acoustics factory is great to deal with when/if the time comes.

Similar Products Used:

Ohm L's

Lack of coloration Smoothness Lack of listening fatigue Enlarged "sweet spot"

Absolutely none

We've used the 200 mk2's in our studio control room for about 5 months now. Over the past 20 years, we have spent well over $10,000.00 in the quest for the perfect control room monitor. We have dropped more money on top of that on associated outboard equipment like Real Time Analyzers, 31 band equalizers and computer controlled equalizing systems to try to flatten speaker response. All wasted money. We never got flat, uncolored sound. Close, but no cigar. After a mastering session, we always listened to the mixed tune in the "real" world (our cars, home stereos and mp3 players). We never completely got the mix we heard in the monitors. There was always an unwanted bump or dip somewhere in the frequency spectrum. We always had to mentally compensate in the mix by boosting the bass a bit or notching out a frequency here and there. Could we mix purely by what our ears were telling us through the monitors? Never. We had room issues. We had crossover issues. In the final analysis, it was ALWAYS speaker design issues. All this to say we could not be happier with the Walsh 200 mkII's. At last I can honestly say that I have a pair of ACCURATE studio monitors. We have a new expression in the studio. It's "WIMIWIG " (What I mix is what I get). As an added bonus, the enlarged "sweet spot" created by the mkII's makes easier listening by people around the console. Gone are the days of asking a client to take my seat so they can get a more accurate rendition of the mix. Also gone are a group of musicians clustering around me (almost cheek-to-cheek) so they can hear the "real" mix. Believe me, after lunching on subs with onions, I don't miss the "closeness". The speakers and drivers came boxed with the best packing we've ever seen. They were boxed, with thick corner and edge protectors and boxed AGAIN in larger surrounding boxes. The most out of control shipping gorilla couldn't damage these packages! Upon our first critical listening we thought the speakers sounded a bit dull. That's because we were used to hearing the independent midrange driver coloring the upper frequencies. There is no such animal in this awesome design. The speakers also need to "break in" for the first week or so to settle to their optimal sound. Our job is critical listening. All day, every day. The 200 mk2's still amaze me as to their smoothness, lack of coloration and listening fatigue. Our advice; run, don't walk, to your computer, get on the Ohm site at ohmspeaker.com and purchase a pair of these speakers!

Similar Products Used:

JBL's UREI's Altec Lansing Mackie

Crystal clear reproduction of source. Bright, not brassy tone. Is it live or is it Ohm?

Don't change a thing.

I have been enjoying these speakers for a couple of months now. I originally bought a pair of Walsh 4 demos back in 1987 and had the 200 MK-2 upgrade done in October. I dropped the old Walsh 4's off and had the opportunity to meet John Strohbeen in person at his Brooklyn office. He truly is involved completely in the day to day operations of his company, from soup to nuts. I got the speakers back in under two weeks and hooked them right up. I have listened to all sorts of music from classical to my good old Grateful Dead classics on them. Yesterday when I was listening to the Saunders & Garcia live at keystone, I heard an unpleasant metallic buzzing coming from the left channel. I was deeply concerned that my new speakers had blown something. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that the sound was from the recording and not from the speaker. There must have been a loose spring on the snare drum or something similar. I had listened to this CD many times and never before heard that sound. These speakers are amazing. They reproduce everything exactly as it is recorded. The sound seems brighter than the old Walsh 4's, which were as good a sounding speaker as I have ever heard. I am enjoying my collection all over again, looking for new sounds that other speakers don't recreate. This has been the best investment in my system ever. Close your eyes and you are back at the concert. The upgrade eliminates the controls on the old Walsh 4's, which I thought I would miss, but the new drivers more than compensate for this. Do yourself a favor and take Mr Strohbeen up on his 120 day free test drive. I'll bet he hasn't got a single pair back yet.

Similar Products Used:

Ohm Walsh 4's

Value Ohm's commitment to supporting all their products no matter how old. Beautiful Mids Imaging Deep bass response Furniture quality w/ real wood and exotic woods finished well

Large footprint

I bought my first Ohm speakers, the Walsh 2s, in 1985 and I used them as my primary front speakers until 2003. Last fall, I called the Ohm factory and asked "just how long will these speakers last?" and I was told that there were upgrades available (better tweeter, less power requirements and deeper bass) but the speakers I had would be fine for many more years. Since I have moved on to a larger house with a large family/media room, I decided to trade-in my 20 year old speakers for a handsome trade-in price and upgrade to the MK-200s. Before discussing sound, I want to say that the speakers are beautiful. The veneer is real teak wood, and the finish is very close to top furniture quality. Now for the sound, first I am not an audiophile. I enjoy quality music and top notch sound but I cannot invest multiple $10ks into an audio system. I have just over $10k invested in my entire system including the HDTV Widescreen. I had another "audio enthusiast" friend of mine over a few nights ago and we listened to various music (jazz, metal, classic rock, and lots of progressive rock) for 5-6 straight hours (at loud but comfortable volume). We were amazed at the "wall of sound" that was played in two-channel mode w/sub-woofer. The reproduction and imaging of the old and newer recordings were flawless through the Ohms. At first we commented on how brillant the recordings were and after a couple of hours we realized that it wasn't just the recordings but the Ohms just play the music beautifully. Also, we listened for 5-6 hours at loud levels with no ear fatigue. Back to the Ohm Mk-200s. Everyone that listened to my Walsh 2s loved the speakers. The mid-range especially when playing acoustic guitar, piano and voice was perfection. Once I got the MK-200s, I set up each set of speakers on the A/B switch. I could believe the difference. The MK-200s completely blew the Walsh 2s away with deeper bass and full mid-range. I was so happy with the Walsh 2s that I could not believe the MK-200s were so much better.

Similar Products Used:

Ohm Walsh 2 Ohm Center Channel

Full, rich sound. Wide and high sound stage.

They need power and might -- I mean might -- lack a bit in the imaging.

I found these used at a great price and bought them to replace Vandersteen 1B's. I liked the Vandies, but I wanted more, and I got it with the Ohms. They have a full, natural sound. The bass is deep and focused. The mid range is full, and the highs are very pleasing. Gillian Welch sounds great through them. The sound staging is excellent, and the sweet spot is very wide. They even sound good off to the sides of the speakers due to the directed tweeters, which cause the speaker that's further away to sound louder than the nearer speaker when you are off to the side, thus balancing the sound. They are ideal for someone who does not always sit in the sweet spot while listening. Having the speakers mounted on wheels is a great convenience, as well, making it easy to play with the placement to achieve the optimum sound staging. While the Ohms don't have the precise imaging of some speakers I have heard, I am not sure this is a fault but perhaps more a matter of preference. The question is whether such precision is realistic and desirable or somewhat artificial. Either way, I like the precise speakers I have heard, and I like the Ohms a lot. I recommend them whole heartedly. I'm running through them a Marantz 65SE cd changer, Rotel 981 power amp, and Rotel 995 pre amp, with Vampire ST-III speaker cable and Vampire AI-2 interconnects.

Wonderfully smooth top to bottom frequency response. Solid bass and big, open sound. Life-like presentation of musical image. Bargain price (going the upgrade route, that is--how many high end speaker manufacturers give you this option??) And even reasonably priced at full price, considering the caliber of the sound and sturdy construction. Excellent customer service from Ohm. John Strohbeen is great to deal with and is informative and very helpful regarding set-up and acoustic questions. Placement is fairly easy as the sweet spot is very wide--in fact you can still perceive the image walking around the room. The imaging is so good that you don’t need a center channel with home theatre.

Hmmmmmm. Can't think of any. Except that because they're very accurate reproducers, they can be merciless on poor recordings (though I don't really think great accuracy should be regarded as a weakness.) I find MIT cables help take the edge off some of the more strident early digital recordings. And if that's not enough, go tubes.

My first Ohm speakers were Walsh 4s which I purchased in 1986, having been amazed by the life-like presentation I heard from some Ohm Walsh speakers I had heard in an audio store. I was very happy with the big, spacious, boxless sound they produced and as my audio gear progressed from mid-fi toward high end in the years since I was ever more impressed with the performance each new system tweak produced in the speakers. I purchased the Walsh 200 Mk-II upgrade for my 4s in October of 2000. I found the Walsh 200 Mk-IIs to have the same basic sound as the original 4s, but with a smoother and more refined high end. Shortly after that time I replaced my Adcom separates with Musical Fidelity A3cr pre- and power amps, and my Rotel CD player with MF's A3CD. I was amazed at the sound stage and imaging these improved electronics produced with the speakers, and began rediscovering my CD collection. I had always loved the Walsh speakers and had never heard any speaker that could throw the sound out into the room like them. But I had no idea how good they were until I started driving them with good high end gear. As the NY Times review said of the Walsh 2s, they produce a "reach out and touch it" realism that has to be heard to believed. With good recordings (and good electronics) it actually sounds like the performers are in the room--that's how well the speakers re-create a sense of the original performing space.(Some reviewers have said that the Walsh drivers can't match good mini-monitors in pinpoint imaging. However, you don't hear pinpoint imaging in real life. The Walsh drivers reproduce the way an actual performance sounds in real life.) Last summer I traded in the 4s with the Walsh 200 Mk-II upgrade for Walsh F-5's--couldn't resist the bargain price to get Ohm's top-of-the-line. (See my review of those under Walsh 5). Then in the fall I was putting together a system for my home office (I work at home a lot) and bought some highly regarded monitors (winner of Golden Ear from TAS)to use. At first I was very impressed with their performance, but after a couple of months I felt I was missing something. I yearned for the presence, the palpable mid-range imaging of the Walsh drivers. To make a long story short, I bought some used Ohm FRS-15s (similar to Walsh 4s, but taller and slimmer), and bought the Walsh 200 Mk-II upgrade yet again (wishing I hadn't traded in the original upgraded 4s). I'm consequently spending A LOT more time in my home office because of the pleasure I get from listening to music through the speakers, which produce the same big, rich sound as I get from the F-5s in my main system, but in a smaller room. When I first got the 200 Mk-II upgrade for my 4s, I was using them in a 21' x 14' room, and they easily filled that room, so one shouldn't get the impression that because they're middle-of-the line speakers that they're for smaller rooms or are in any way sonically inferior to the Walsh 300 Mk-IIs or the 5s. They do very well as main speakers in a high quality system in a good sized room. I'm currently driving them with an Anthem Integrated 2 (tube/SS hybrid using two Mullard NOS tubes) with an Ah!Tjoeb 4000 CD player with 96k upsampling (and two 7308 Seimens NOS) with Kimber Hero interconnects & MIT T-3 speaker cables. The combination of tubes and the Walsh drivers produces a wonderfully rich sound, with the palpable, holographic and velvety imaging of the kind that only tubes can muster. (That's why I'm spending so much time in my office.) The Anthem's character is laid back, and so with the speakers the effect is more "back of the hall" than in-your-face.(With the 5s and the MF gear in my main system you're closer to the musicians.)It's like there's a proscenium between the speakers with the edge of the stage on a line between the speakers and the musicians behind that, and the listener 2/3rds back in the hall. Within that image the location of the instruments is very clear. Spellbinding!

Similar Products Used:

Ohm Walsh 4s. Ohm F-5s. (The excellent, highly rated monitors I originally had in my home office, good as they are, aren't in the same league, so I can't say they were "similar products").