OHM- F speakers have been revived and repaired at http://www.hhr-exoticspeakers.com/. Most people know this. OHM in Brooklyn does not service these because they are extremely expensive to make. John at OHM in Brooklyn bought the original OHM company years ago, and decided to move in another direction. So OHM the company n Brooklyn has nothing to do with the OHM-F line speakers anymore as to producing or repairing. A shame really. Another company in Germany German Physiks I believe, makes a version of the Walsh driver OHM-F speakers for over $35K per pair! And their version is considered to be among the worlds greatest speakers. In any case these OHM- F speakers are probably still among the best speakers you will ever hear, even today in 2020. They have a soundstage that no other conventional box speaker can match. Its just not possible for box speakers to come close , once you learn about these drivers. These are GREAT speakers that do need a bit of power to hear them effectively. like 100 watts per channel. I have used all kinds of amplifiers with them , but they sound just beautiful with a Sprout 100 small CD case size intergrated amp! $600.00 !

Always marked as inefficent speakers, that is not really true, 100 watts will make them come alive, and the versions by Dale Harder at HHR are much more efficient. So you do not need a big amp to power them. Otherwise they have ZERO negatives. Buy them and have them repaired if needed, and you will never listen to another speaker again!

Do not buy these today!!!!

According to the engineers at Ohm these speakers all need repairs now as parts degrade and rot over time and there is no proper way to repair them.

Do not pay a lot of money for broken speakers!

I had worked in a high end Audio store in Manhassat, Long Island, NY for many years since 1975. The OHM-F's were simply the best speakers you could buy... bar none. I never heard of any complaints like the "audio dealer" represented below. Never heard any complaints with customers or our service dept. For many years after dozens of customers had asked about this speaker remembering as the fineat they ever heard. They were always front and center in our listening showroom. My opinion is , if it weren't for the rubber seals drying out over time, they would still be unmatched even up against todays 2017 speakers... In fact especially up against todays newer "speakers". German Physics sells a updated version of the OHM-F today for $33,000 per pair!

10 years later and my Sophia's have been moved to another room after owning the Ohh F

I have been a Hi/Fi dealer for a little over 35 years and have never come across a pair of speakers at any price that can do "certain" thing the ohm F can do..Peter Aczel had very little to do with the Ohm F and was all Marty Gerstan thank goodness..The quad ESL is nowhere as special as the the Ohm F...the Fs draw back were you need the correct gear and specs..the voice coil needed to be improved and even held back the speaker for even more performance....always good to pickup a spare set of drivers/voice coils and enjoy

I was an audio dealer for about 20 years (please don't hold that against me). Intensive therapy has allowed me to reenter the land of the living even so you may find it strange that I still love music and usually listen daily.
The Ohm F is one of those unique audio products that defines the notion of a contradiction in terms. Lincoln Walsh (a really brilliant guy) envisioned a speaker that would operate full range using a single driver. In his design,a voice coil energized a precise crafted vertically positioned cone so that sound waves would travel down the sides of the cone and be emitted at a right angle to the listener.(so far so good) But as the driver (a rather heavy affair) tried to go into it's the bass range it started to bounce up and down (much like the old jet action washers of my youth). This cone having a fair amount of mass, rang like a bell modulating both the low and high frequencies alike. Peter Aczel ( of the Audio Critic) admitted he was invovled in the design of the speaker, and stated that the designers tried to reduce the problem by cutting horizontal slits in the bottom half of the cone, thus calming things down a bit. Alas it didn't work. If you want to look at the diametrically opposite of this speaker look to the original Quad Electrostatic, a work of considerable brilliance by Peter Walker, that succeeds in almost all areas. ( I never heard the Ohm A, but it may have been even worse since it's cone was even larger). I repeatedly had to deal with this speaker (the F) and always walked away dismayed. I think only the Yamaha 1000's were as bad with it's beryllium dome midrange and tweeter!

First heard these 30 years ago, and never forgot them, have had a good pair for 15 years and tried many many dozens of other speakers against them

I agree with all of the reviews about these speakers, they need a good 4 ohm amp, they are heavy, they have to be moved around a bit to find the sweet spot..................but once you do.

Your search for speakers will have ended as the OHM-F's are still simply among the best in the world.

You know, it really pleases me to see all of the reviews that have been listed here regarding the old legendary, if you will, Ohm Walsh F's. While I have never heard the F's, I have heard a set of A's a number of years ago in the living room of my uncle, Bob Ajaye. From what I remember, the A's were substantial in everything they did. i mean, big heavy speaker in a rather large cabinet and sound for days! Also, completely unconventional when you consider it on construction and functionality alone.

I'll be sure to pass along this pages URL to my uncle the next time that I speak with him about how his A's are and have been holding up over the years. You know, I might even get him to participate in few of the forums. Time will definitely tell.

Thanks again,

Lee Ajaye

These speakers are simply among the finest speakers in the world. If they are in good condition they will rival any current speaker by any manufacturer at any cost. HHRExotic speakers are the ONLY knowledgeable source that is rebuilding/remaking these speakers.

I have 2 pair of the original speakers, one HHR Exotic repro and one of the newer Walsh Ohm Acoustics models. The best sounding speakers are the HHR's followed very closely by the older OHM F's. Which are in good shape.

No other speaker at any cost can rival a good pair of these. Period.

Omnidirectional, phase coherent, clear sound, detailed, full-range (without crossovers to affect sound), and fast response time to impacts (drums, wood blocks, triangles, etc.).

Rating is relative, based on product used at that time. Later Ohm products improved even more.

Needs powerful amp, but well worth it. Sounds better in a larger room, not 10x10 bedroom. Power handling is limited, but I enjoyed it at reasonably loud levels with no problems, and the speaker is fuse-protected. Larger size than "bookshelf" speaker, prefers available room around speaker.

Introduced to Ohm Acoustics by another friend who had bought Ohm A's, the only speaker that made my head turn to look for at the singer. I attended the "world premier" of the Ohm A in the early 1970's, extremely impressed with the sound, and wanted a Ohm Walsh speaker.

First hear the F's when introduced in 1973. Bought them from a friend a few years later. Then upgraded to the Walsh 5's in the mid-'90s. I write here, less of a review and more of what I experienced as an owner for 19 years, perhaps helping the current owners enjoy it more. Other reviewers have more than covered the great sound of these classic speakers.

The F's has a silky high end, when new. It changes slowly over a long time as the "putty" like coating dried, in the titanium, gray-colored upper section. I didn't notice the gradual change, but the highs were different. Thought of fixing it, but Ohm no longer repaired them. The shiny middle section is aluminum with a foam backing. That foam deteriorates over time, and is nearly impossible to replace correctly. The edge surrounds at the bottom of the cone also rots over time. I read that Ohm has better foams now that last 20-30 years.

Despite the aging of the drivers, the sound remained good and clear, even the sibilant 's' on vocals was still clearly heard. I assume that this is because the foam did not fall off the inside of the cone yet, although it was crumbly when touched. I bought a kit and replaced the bottom cone surround foam that finally fell apart, and the speakers regained some lost bass and worked fine again. Critical that you center the surround properly, or the voice coil will run against the magnet and can cause failure of the speaker.

Used a 60 W/ch amp at first, and the sound was very good. But when I turned up the volume, the sound became distorted. Not enough power to run these F's.

Next got a direct-coupled amp that puts out 300 W/ch into 4 ohms. Wow! It brought the speakers alive. the amp has high damping factor, nearly 500 at mid frequencies into 4 ohms. Get an amp with power and damping for these. Normal listening does not require much more than 1-10 watts, so these amps work fine for music peaks of 100-200 watts. Much louder, you need a bigger amp, but the speaker can't take continuously high power. Look into recent Walsh speakers that can take more power.

One reviewer metioned the binding posts, and another the fuses. Recommended were GBB-4-amp from the factory. I tried various fuses and found all of them affected the sound, especially the faster-blowing kind, like the GBB. Be careful with higher than 3 amp fuses. Good if you want to replace the binding posts; I did not find the need to do so, but wired larger 12-gauge cable directly to the post, bypassing the smaller wire internal to the box.

The F's also had different supports over time. The very first ones had a flat steel bar with a small slat of wood glued to it. Later there was more wood and even later, a metal channel support. Either way, I wrapped black felt around the bars, and that improved the sound by absorbing some of the diffraction and reflections from the support members. Do the same for the wood inside surfaces in the grille cloth frame, and the black wood surface that the driver is bolted to, overlapping the felt onto the metal rim. It's best to listen without the grill frame anyway for the best sound, although the sound is still good with grilles on.

The F projected a very wide stereo image, that sometimes went beyond the left and right speaker. The focus of soloists was remarkably good. I did not try to verify the phase coherency with measurements, but could hear effects that demand good coherency, and phase coherency match between the two speakers. I was able to hear surround signals on video recordings coming from behind me that went overhead toward the front center as the source moved in that direction, using only a single pair of F's in the front. Some signals sourced at the side of the listener, were placed there, again with two F's speakers only, no other speakers used.

I had these speakers on vinyl tile over concrete floor and they sounded great. In a room with carpet over foam padding, the sound muddied a slight bit. That was improved by placing the speaker on supports that have points that connect the cabinet bottom through the carpet and pad to the wood floor. The most noticable change was improved bass.

Placement of these F's vary all over the room. They sound greatest in my room of about 17x25 when placed 2-3 feet from the long wall, and about 8-10 feet apart. The bass varies with the room, but is very powerful clear down to below 35 Hz, although the spec is 37 Hz. I also had no obstructions between them or in front of them to the listening area. Damping/absorbing material on the wall both behind and between these speakers can improve the image even more. Don't over do it, or the mids and highs get absorbed too much and you get over-bassed. Move these around to get the best overall sound and leave them there.

Other listeners visiting my home remark that the sound is so clear. I found the sound very smooth too. Listen to an instrument that runs up the scale from low to high and hear how even the sound is.

Those that have F's, try swapping the drivers from left to right and see if the sound improves or degrades. My pair sounded better in one configuration.

Overall, if you can still find these, get them. You can upgrade through Ohm later. They are large and take up room, and need space around them to sound their best.

Customer Service

John S., President, at Ohm was very personable and helpful. Highly recommend buying from Ohm Acoustics.

Similar Products Used:

Walsh 5, and the Ohm F3 upgrade (Walsh 5 driver, on original F cabinets, bass down to 29 Hz!). The F3 by itself would have been fine, and is an excellent value.