Bold, beautiful looks, magnificent sound if you had the power (the A's were very inefficient, the F's were not so bad). Awesome 3-D imaging capability, earthquake bass response (a flower on the coffee table would shake its leaves with Rick Wakeman's organ). Vivid treble - drums and cymbals were (seemed) actually in the room!

Ohm Model A: the Model A tended to sound veiled and withdrawn with typical amplifiers of the day (1971-73). It was not until I used 600W rms per channel did they have enough electrical drive dynamic range to open up and really start to shine. They sounded most realistic at near natural volumes: when a drum kick or a cymbal shot was near the volume of a real drum set played in the same room. The the Ohm A was very alive sounding - all veils removed!

Very heavy, difficult to move around. The Model A was very inefficient and could swallow the bridged Dyna ST400 (600 W rms), however super loud volumes were available, but only for about an hour at a time! You could cook the voice coiI eventually. I wish the voice coils had a thermal breaker. When Bob Ajaye left Ohm Acoustics the Model A was effectively history.

In 1972 I worked as an Audio Consultant in Roanoke VA. Our store was an Ohm Acoustics dealer. We had just seen the Ohm A and the new and much smaller Ohm F at a show in Wash DC. The handmade, one-off Ohm A's were magnificent. Actually the pic you see above is the Ohm A, the commercial smaller Ohm F was about 2/3 the height and width of the A and its Walsh cone had the bottom 2/3 made from a paper composite material, while the top high frequency portion was of titanium foil. The Ohm A on the other hand was 100% metallic cone, 18" diameter at is base (the F was 12" I believe). The model A cone was heavy aluminum as its base which extended about 3/4 of the cone height to the transition to the titanium foil "tweeter". The aluminum and titanium portions had different conical angles also, while the F used a single cone angle. The tweeter designs were similar on the F anf the A, the midrange, woofer and the voice coils were very different however. Bob Ajaye of Ohm was the master builder and tuner of the A, while the F was an assembly line "mass produced" product. I used Dynaco ST400 power amps, strapped to mono (600W rms per channel) on the As. I had Dyna preamps to, the PAS3x and the PAT4 and PAT5. I listened mostly then to rock music, and eventually blew the A's voice coil after a particularly loud and out of control party one Saturday afternoon. After the voice coils melted on Lou Reed's Rock 'n Roll Animal , we dissasembled the driver from the base cabinet and I remember getting burned on the giant magnet assembly! Damn that hurt! Man, those were the days. But not to worry, Bob Ajaye rebuilt them for me (under warranty!!!) and I was back in business in about 10 days.
Sonically, the A had thunderously powerful bass response, but relatively clean, even with the (veiled sounding) Dyna equipment. Denon turntable, Formula 4 (Polk distributor) tone arm and Fidelity Research MkIII moving coil cartridge. dB Systems MC-preamp. Back to the A's sound: the midrange and high end was crystal clear with just a hint of a FR dip in the upper mids. Cymbals would actually shimmer and hang in 3-D relief in my room. Unbelievable realism. The stereo image was to die for as these speakers were completely cylindrical and thus nearly omni-directional as a result. We used a lot of room sound control as I remember but once the room was tuned, it was pretty amazing. Talk about getting involved with the music! I started my own audio store in Roanoke iVA in 1975 and lost touch with Ohm. I heard that Bob Ajaye had left the company and took a lot of the Walsh practical knowledge with him. In 1984 I was a grad student at Duke (MSEE) and I needed money - I sold the A's to an eager guy who drove down from Pennsylvania to pick them up. My loss, was his gain. As he left, he was grinning from ear to ear. I was too, since I knew all too well what he would experience when he got them home and all hooked up. Tha Ohm A magic. - David R Smith

Customer Service

Ohm Acoustics was always a very friendly, customer oriented company, located in Brooklyn NY. Bob Ajaye would wear tight back leather gloves to drive (at very high speed) his car through the back streets of Brooklyn. A great guy.

Similar Products Used:

Nothing really close to the Ohm A sound of 1973. Other nice "big sound" speakers include (in cronological order) AR LST, Bose 901, Magnaplanar, Dahlquist DQ10, Quad Electrostatic, Magnepan, Fried Model H. I sold all my audio gear in 1982 and did without until about 1992. For the last 14 years I have lived with the amazingly articulate, super 3-D and extremely musical Martin-Login Monolith III.

Bold, beautiful looks, magnificent sound if you had the power (the A's were very inefficient, the F's were not so bad). Awesome 3-D imaging capability, earthquake bass response (a flower on the coffee table would shake its leaves with Rick Wakeman's organ). Vivid treble - drums and cymbals were (seemed) actually in the room!

Ohm Model A: the Model A tended to sound veiled and withdrawn with typical amplifiers of the day (1971-73). It was not until I used 600W rms per channel did they have enough electrical drive dynamic range to open up and really start to shine. They sounded most realistic at near natural volumes: when a drum kick or a cymbal shot was near the volume of a real drum set played in the same room. The the Ohm A was very alive sounding - all veils removed!

Very heavy, difficult to move around. The Model A was very inefficient and could swallow the bridged Dyna ST400 (600 W rms), however super loud volumes were available, but only for about an hour at a time! You could cook the voice coiI eventually. I wish the voice coils had a thermal breaker. When Bob Ajaye left Ohm Acoustics the Model A was effectively history.

In 1972 I worked as an Audio Consultant in Roanoke VA. Our store was an Ohm Acoustics dealer. We had just seen the Ohm A and the new and much smaller Ohm F at a show in Wash DC. The handmade, one-off Ohm A's were magnificent. Actually the pic you see above is the Ohm A, the commercial smaller Ohm F was about 2/3 the height and width of the A and its Walsh cone had the bottom 2/3 made from a paper composite material, while the top high frequency portion was of titanium foil. The Ohm A on the other hand was 100% metallic cone, 18" diameter at is base (the F was 12" I believe). The model A cone was heavy aluminum as its base which extended about 3/4 of the cone height to the transition to the titanium foil "tweeter". The aluminum and titanium portions had different conical angles also, while the F used a single cone angle. The tweeter designs were similar on the F anf the A, the midrange, woofer and the voice coils were very different however. Bob Ajaye of Ohm was the master builder and tuner of the A, while the F was an assembly line "mass produced" product. I used Dynaco ST400 power amps, strapped to mono (600W rms per channel) on the As. I had Dyna preamps to, the PAS3x and the PAT4 and PAT5. I listened mostly then to rock music, and eventually blew the A's voice coil after a particularly loud and out of control party one Saturday afternoon. After the voice coils melted on Lou Reed's Rock 'n Roll Animal , we dissasembled the driver from the base cabinet and I remember getting burned on the giant magnet assembly! Damn that hurt! Man, those were the days. But not to worry, Bob Ajaye rebuilt them for me (under warranty!!!) and I was back in business in about 10 days.
Sonically, the A had thunderously powerful bass response, but relatively clean, even with the (veiled sounding) Dyna equipment. Denon turntable, Formula 4 (Polk distributor) tone arm and Fidelity Research MkIII moving coil cartridge. dB Systems MC-preamp. Back to the A's sound: the midrange and high end was crystal clear with just a hint of a FR dip in the upper mids. Cymbals would actually shimmer and hang in 3-D relief in my room. Unbelievable realism. The stereo image was to die for as these speakers were completely cylindrical and thus nearly omni-directional as a result. We used a lot of room sound control as I remember but once the room was tuned, it was pretty amazing. Talk about getting involved with the music! I started my own audio store in Roanoke iVA in 1975 and lost touch with Ohm. I heard that Bob Ajaye had left the company and took a lot of the Walsh practical knowledge with him. In 1984 I was a grad student at Duke (MSEE) and I needed money - I sold the A's to an eager guy who drove down from Pennsylvania to pick them up. My loss, was his gain. As he left, he was grinning from ear to ear. I was too, since I knew all too well what he would experience when he got them home and all hooked up. Tha Ohm A magic. - David R Smith

Customer Service

Ohm Acoustics was always a very friendly, customer oriented company, located in Brooklyn NY. Bob Ajaye would wear tight back leather gloves to drive (at very high speed) his car through the back streets of Brooklyn. A great guy.

Similar Products Used:

Nothing really close to the Ohm A sound of 1973. Other nice "big sound" speakers include (in cronological order) AR LST, Bose 901, Magnaplanar, Dahlquist DQ10, Quad Electrostatic, Magnepan, Fried Model H. I sold all my audio gear in 1982 and did without until about 1992. For the last 14 years I have lived with the amazingly articulate, super 3-D and extremely musical Martin-Login Monolith III.

Bold, beautiful looks, magnificent sound if you had the power (the A's were very inefficient, the F's were not so bad). Awesome 3-D imaging capability, earthquake bass response (a flower on the coffee table would shake its leaves with Rick Wakeman's organ). Vivid treble - drums and cymbals were (seemed) actually in the room!

Ohm Model A: the Model A tended to sound veiled and withdrawn with typical amplifiers of the day (1971-73). It was not until I used 600W rms per channel did they have enough electrical drive dynamic range to open up and really start to shine. They sounded most realistic at near natural volumes: when a drum kick or a cymbal shot was near the volume of a real drum set played in the same room. The the Ohm A was very alive sounding - all veils removed!

Very heavy, difficult to move around. The Model A was very inefficient and could swallow the bridged Dyna ST400 (600 W rms), however super loud volumes were available, but only for about an hour at a time! You could cook the voice coiI eventually. I wish the voice coils had a thermal breaker. When Bob Ajaye left Ohm Acoustics the Model A was effectively history.

In 1972 I worked as an Audio Consultant in Roanoke VA. Our store was an Ohm Acoustics dealer. We had just seen the Ohm A and the new and much smaller Ohm F at a show in Wash DC. The handmade, one-off Ohm A's were magnificent. Actually the pic you see above is the Ohm A, the commercial smaller Ohm F was about 2/3 the height and width of the A and its Walsh cone had the bottom 2/3 made from a paper composite material, while the top high frequency portion was of titanium foil. The Ohm A on the other hand was 100% metallic cone, 18" diameter at is base (the F was 12" I believe). The model A cone was heavy aluminum as its base which extended about 3/4 of the cone height to the transition to the titanium foil "tweeter". The aluminum and titanium portions had different conical angles also, while the F used a single cone angle. The tweeter designs were similar on the F anf the A, the midrange, woofer and the voice coils were very different however. Bob Ajaye of Ohm was the master builder and tuner of the A, while the F was an assembly line "mass produced" product. I used Dynaco ST400 power amps, strapped to mono (600W rms per channel) on the As. I had Dyna preamps to, the PAS3x and the PAT4 and PAT5. I listened mostly then to rock music, and eventually blew the A's voice coil after a particularly loud and out of control party one Saturday afternoon. After the voice coils melted on Lou Reed's Rock 'n Roll Animal , we dissasembled the driver from the base cabinet and I remember getting burned on the giant magnet assembly! Damn that hurt! Man, those were the days. But not to worry, Bob Ajaye rebuilt them for me (under warranty!!!) and I was back in business in about 10 days.
Sonically, the A had thunderously powerful bass response, but relatively clean, even with the (veiled sounding) Dyna equipment. Denon turntable, Formula 4 (Polk distributor) tone arm and Fidelity Research MkIII moving coil cartridge. dB Systems MC-preamp. Back to the A's sound: the midrange and high end was crystal clear with just a hint of a FR dip in the upper mids. Cymbals would actually shimmer and hang in 3-D relief in my room. Unbelievable realism. The stereo image was to die for as these speakers were completely cylindrical and thus nearly omni-directional as a result. We used a lot of room sound control as I remember but once the room was tuned, it was pretty amazing. Talk about getting involved with the music! I started my own audio store in Roanoke iVA in 1975 and lost touch with Ohm. I heard that Bob Ajaye had left the company and took a lot of the Walsh practical knowledge with him. In 1984 I was a grad student at Duke (MSEE) and I needed money - I sold the A's to an eager guy who drove down from Pennsylvania to pick them up. My loss, was his gain. As he left, he was grinning from ear to ear. I was too, since I knew all too well what he would experience when he got them home and all hooked up. Tha Ohm A magic. - David R Smith

Customer Service

Ohm Acoustics was always a very friendly, customer oriented company, located in Brooklyn NY. Bob Ajaye would wear tight back leather gloves to drive (at very high speed) his car through the back streets of Brooklyn. A great guy.

Similar Products Used:

Nothing really close to the Ohm A sound of 1973. Other nice "big sound" speakers include (in cronological order) AR LST, Bose 901, Magnaplanar, Dahlquist DQ10, Quad Electrostatic, Magnepan, Fried Model H. I sold all my audio gear in 1982 and did without until about 1992. For the last 14 years I have lived with the amazingly articulate, super 3-D and extremely musical Martin-Login Monolith III.

Bold, beautiful looks, magnificent sound if you had the power (the A's were very inefficient, the F's were not so bad). Awesome 3-D imaging capability, earthquake bass response (a flower on the coffee table would shake its leaves with Rick Wakeman's organ). Vivid treble - drums and cymbals were (seemed) actually in the room!

Ohm Model A: the Model A tended to sound veiled and withdrawn with typical amplifiers of the day (1971-73). It was not until I used 600W rms per channel did they have enough electrical drive dynamic range to open up and really start to shine. They sounded most realistic at near natural volumes: when a drum kick or a cymbal shot was near the volume of a real drum set played in the same room. The the Ohm A was very alive sounding - all veils removed!

Very heavy, difficult to move around. The Model A was very inefficient and could swallow the bridged Dyna ST400 (600 W rms), however super loud volumes were available, but only for about an hour at a time! You could cook the voice coiI eventually. I wish the voice coils had a thermal breaker. When Bob Ajaye left Ohm Acoustics the Model A was effectively history.

In 1972 I worked as an Audio Consultant in Roanoke VA. Our store was an Ohm Acoustics dealer. We had just seen the Ohm A and the new and much smaller Ohm F at a show in Wash DC. The handmade, one-off Ohm A's were magnificent. Actually the pic you see above is the Ohm A, the commercial smaller Ohm F was about 2/3 the height and width of the A and its Walsh cone had the bottom 2/3 made from a paper composite material, while the top high frequency portion was of titanium foil. The Ohm A on the other hand was 100% metallic cone, 18" diameter at is base (the F was 12" I believe). The model A cone was heavy aluminum as its base which extended about 3/4 of the cone height to the transition to the titanium foil "tweeter". The aluminum and titanium portions had different conical angles also, while the F used a single cone angle. The tweeter designs were similar on the F anf the A, the midrange, woofer and the voice coils were very different however. Bob Ajaye of Ohm was the master builder and tuner of the A, while the F was an assembly line "mass produced" product. I used Dynaco ST400 power amps, strapped to mono (600W rms per channel) on the As. I had Dyna preamps to, the PAS3x and the PAT4 and PAT5. I listened mostly then to rock music, and eventually blew the A's voice coil after a particularly loud and out of control party one Saturday afternoon. After the voice coils melted on Lou Reed's Rock 'n Roll Animal , we dissasembled the driver from the base cabinet and I remember getting burned on the giant magnet assembly! Damn that hurt! Man, those were the days. But not to worry, Bob Ajaye rebuilt them for me (under warranty!!!) and I was back in business in about 10 days.
Sonically, the A had thunderously powerful bass response, but relatively clean, even with the (veiled sounding) Dyna equipment. Denon turntable, Formula 4 (Polk distributor) tone arm and Fidelity Research MkIII moving coil cartridge. dB Systems MC-preamp. Back to the A's sound: the midrange and high end was crystal clear with just a hint of a FR dip in the upper mids. Cymbals would actually shimmer and hang in 3-D relief in my room. Unbelievable realism. The stereo image was to die for as these speakers were completely cylindrical and thus nearly omni-directional as a result. We used a lot of room sound control as I remember but once the room was tuned, it was pretty amazing. Talk about getting involved with the music! I started my own audio store in Roanoke iVA in 1975 and lost touch with Ohm. I heard that Bob Ajaye had left the company and took a lot of the Walsh practical knowledge with him. In 1984 I was a grad student at Duke (MSEE) and I needed money - I sold the A's to an eager guy who drove down from Pennsylvania to pick them up. My loss, was his gain. As he left, he was grinning from ear to ear. I was too, since I knew all too well what he would experience when he got them home and all hooked up. Tha Ohm A magic. - David R Smith

Customer Service

Ohm Acoustics was always a very friendly, customer oriented company, located in Brooklyn NY. Bob Ajaye would wear tight back leather gloves to drive (at very high speed) his car through the back streets of Brooklyn. A great guy.

Similar Products Used:

Nothing really close to the Ohm A sound of 1973. Other nice "big sound" speakers include (in cronological order) AR LST, Bose 901, Magnaplanar, Dahlquist DQ10, Quad Electrostatic, Magnepan, Fried Model H. I sold all my audio gear in 1982 and did without until about 1992. For the last 14 years I have lived with the amazingly articulate, super 3-D and extremely musical Martin-Login Monolith III.

Unlike any other speaker. Much like an electrostatic with a room sized "sweet spot", but with strong bass.

Appearance....very unique looking , one guest called them "manly"

Nominally 4 ohm, can drop to 2 ohm or less. Takes a capable amp. Am using a BGW250D and it is a good combo.
1 of my drivers is pre 1978 and 1 is post 1978, so evidently 1 was blown.

constantly vigilant not to overdrive them, they are SO GOOD that I want them to last as long as I do.

I heard my first pair of OHM F's in 1977 at a high end stereo shop in Portland, Oregon. Was completely "blown away". I had been an enthusiast for many years, but had never experienced any speaker like them. That was 30 years ago, never forgot them. 2 years ago, purchased some OHM 2XO's. Very nice, but not the same. Was impressed tho with the tech support from OHM's president, John S. , even tho these were vintage products.
This year I found a pair of F's on Craig's list. Owner was not an audiophile and just had accepted them for money owed from a client. He was not able to drive them and wife didn't like them.
I got there before the crowd and purchased them without being able to demo them. A real "pig in a poke".To shorten the story, they turned out great.
I contacted John S. @ OHM again and he has helped me out. With his guidance, I've progressively reduced the fuse size to 3A from the factory 4A. (starting at 1a working up in 1/2A sizes and blowing them until I reached optimum.)
Have also removed crappy binding posts and internal wiring and replaced. Removed white paint splatters and lastly dyed the tents to a more modern black.

When guests hear them, smiles come up quickly. Many call them the best image that they've ever heard. Being 1 driver and no crossover, they are seamless. very smooth with a powerful bottom end.

Customer Service

tech support straight from the company president. Cant get much better than that.

Similar Products Used:

There are no similar products. Closest was OHM 2XO

Have JBL L100's, L36's,L26's,4412's, 4410's. They have mostly been moved to storage after I bought the OHM's

Incredible full soundstage, your room becomes a concert hall, great detail in everything about bass frequencys. The coolest looking speaker you have ever gazed upon, lots to talk about. If you think your a punk and would never listen to classical music ever, these speakers will change your mind on that in one listen.

Need high quality, good power level, 4 ohm driver capability to sound correct. They need a dedicated space in your room to sit, they are somewhat large. They could use a non-powered subwoofer to help out when you wanna crank the bass up. Otherwise they can get muddled quickly with heavy metal and loud rock music.

I remembered these speakers since I was selling Pioneer speakers on the street back in the late 70's. I always used to browse into "audiophile" stores which were very common at the time, and listen to all of the expensive speakers. The OHM F's really stuck out in my mind as the greatest speakers I had heard at that time. As years went by, I finally had enough money to buy a good used pair and give them a listen in my new home.

I can only say that I wish I had these speakers my entire life. These are wthout question STILL one of the best speakers in the world. There are NO speakers anywhere in the world that can compare to the soundstage developed by these monsters. These speakers are so good, that your equipment actually becomes the weak point. You need a good amp/reciever that can dribe 4 ohm speakers without effort. Forget about todays AV Recievers, no matter how many belss and whistles they have on them, all you need with these speakers is 2 channels of high quality sound and it will be among the best aural experiances you will ever have. These are the best forget all the rest. The design of these has never been dupilcated so no others can compare in sound quality.

Customer Service

good, they can be rebuilt I have heard, even though OHM will tell you they won't sound the same, I think they are just pushing their newer lines. I have heard re foamed versions and when done correctly they sound just like new

Similar Products Used:

There is no comparison out there...sorry

Coherent, smooth sound with very good detail on vocals, when using good electronics (mine are modified from stock). I can listen to these speakers all day and not get tired of them.

Needs a good, powerful amplifier to drive it. Can't play very loud, but loud enough for me. Foam surrounds go bad over time, but can be repaired. Ohm says that a repaired F never met original specs as far as the units they have seen.

I will add to the information that other reviewers here have said so well, and offer some suggestions to improving the F experience.

I first became acquainted with Ohm Acoustics through a local stereo store ~35 years ago, that showed me a photo of the Ohm A speaker. The speaker looked like a nose cone, made of a steeper titanium upper and an less steep sloping aluminum lower. The different slopes was to compensate for the different velocities of the bending wave in the cone material, so that the speaker produced a phase-coherent wavefront in the horizontal direction over a full 360-degree circle.

Ohm literature shows photos at two frequencies of what is clearly a recognizable square wave output from the speaker cone, although the square wave was not perfect. Julian Hirsch of Stereo Review also mentioned this in his review of the F in 1973. I don't know of any speaker at that time, or since, that has tried to demonstrate its phase coherence in this way. Years later, I tried to measure square waves and was able see square waves on the scope at some frequencies, knowing how difficult this measurement is to do correctly.

It was shortly thereafter that I attended, I'm told by the store manager, the world premier of the Ohm A. As far as I know, the president was only person from Ohm there, but he left the company about ten (?) years later. There were probably around 40 or so attendees throughout the day. Many were looking at the cabinet bottom to see where the sound comes out, because the speaker was mounted with the traditional 'back' side upward. Of course, those that had already been initated into the theory knew better. It was incredible to hear bass through the treble out of one single driver cone! I could stand to the far left or right, with both speakers in line of sight and still hear both of them. No other speaker could do that.

The sound of the A was incredible and clean. A friend had one of the first pairs made. At his home during a party, I was in a conversation with someone while the speaker played a woman singer. Suddenly, I turned my head toward the speaker to look for the singer. Then I realized that I was listening to a speaker, and that this was the ONLY speaker that has caused me to react like that. I had to get one, but the price was too much ($650 at that time) for a college student.

A couple of years passed and Ohm introduced the smaller Walsh speaker, the model F, which was introduced after a bunch of Ohm conventional bookshelf speakers along the way. The F was more efficient and could be listened to with as little as 60 watts/channel, but the ampilfier quickly reaches its limits before the speaker really gets going. It needs a lot of power, but can't handle too much.

A few years later, I sacrificed and got for a pair of Ohm-Fs (c 1976) for $775 from a friend who had two pairs. Re-listening to my favorite records, the speakers brought out every detail that I did not hear before. Even my dad said about the same thing. Many of my guests also remarked at the excellent sound, even though I was using the Dynaco PAT-4 and Stereo 120, pre-amp/amp combination (60 W/ch, 8 and 4 ohm load). Especially noticable were the "s" sounds on voices, clearly heard, not smeared or piercing to the ear. Sounds start and stop when they are supposed to.

Some years later, I got a Phase Linear 400 Series II power amplifier (300 W/ch, 4 ohm load). Boy did the F's come alive with this amp. Also the damping factor of this amp is 1000 at mid frequencies, and probably is pretty good at low frequencies, just what the F needs to control the voice coil. The bass is tighter with this amp than the Dynaco 120. I also used 12-gauge wire to connect the amp to the speakers instead of 18-gauge lamp cord with the Dyna amp, and bypassed the F's internal wiring, connecting to the binding posts near the cone. This helps preserve what damping factor the amp has by minimizing the resistance between the amp and the speaker. I also tried shorter lengths of 10-gauge wire; there is a noticable improvement over the 12-gauge wire, but not much.

I kept the speakers for 19 years. The foam surrounds disintegrated. I bought a replacement surround from a company advertising in the mags and did the work myself. Yes, you can do it, but have to be very careful not to damage the cone, and align the cone properly before gluing the surround to the basket.

The repaired speaker sounded better than just before the repair. Also note that the foam that lines the inner part of the aluminum section of the cone also deteriorates, as well as the 'putty-like' material that lines the titanium part dries out over time. Sound changes over time as a result of this, especially the highs, although it still sounded O.K.

After listening to the re-foamed F's for a few months, I contacted Ohm but the speakers were not repairable. I thought of ways to remove the 'putty' (which I was told a long time ago was "Mortite"), and replace it, as well as the same for the foam on the aluminum section, but never attempted. Maybe someone braver and more skilled...?

Some improvements I made included wrapping the metal supports (later U-channel metal, or metal/wood combination) of the magnet with black felt. This reduced the diffraction effect of the sharp edges and significantly improved the sound. Also, the sound is better with the grills removed, but the grills were also improved with a lining of felt on the wooden structure, which made the F's more listenable with the grilles on. The flat black part on which the F basket is mounted is also lined with black felt. More improvement heard.

Since Ohm could not repair the Fs, and the 'putty' and foam continued to go south, I talked to Ohm directly and got a pair of Walsh 5's, as a trade-in of the F drivers. I compared both for over a month or two. The Walsh 5 is smoother over the midrange than the F's I had. [Note that I said the pair that I had.] Different pairs can sound different. Even swapping the left and right speakers of my F's can sound different, so I always try both ways and use the position that sounded the best. Compared to Walsh 5, my pair of Fs had a slightly more pronounced, perhaps nasal, midrange. The highs were less than the Walsh 5. So I kept the 5's and shipped the F's back to Ohm.

Unfortunately, the Walsh 5 cabinets I got were not as appealing in the wood grain than the F's cabinets. My wife liked the F cabinets, and so did I. So another call to Ohm allowed me to get the F-3 upgrade (in addition, at additional cost too), which is the Walsh 5 drivers that fit onto the F cabinets, but lacking the 27 position controls that the full Walsh 5 has. I've measuered the response down to about 29 Hz on the F-3s in a 17' x 25' room.

So, I'm now running Walsh 5's in the front, and Walsh 5 (F-3) in the back in either two-channel or the optional Hafler surround configuration, for music. For theater, I have options to use the back F-3's as either the surround (with subwoofer setting off, as the speakers do very well in the bass anyway), or as subwoofers.

If you can find a pair user, go for it. either way, Ohm will accept them for trade-in toward their current line of speakers.

Customer Service

Ohm customer service is wonderful. They are willing to help you get what suits you for a reasonable price and has a long trial period so you can get used to listening to the speakers and be sure those are what you want.

Similar Products Used:

Walsh 5, upgrade for the Ohm F. Custom-built 3-way speaker (40 Hz up to ??).

Everything.....

Little on Highs but some recordings i have found are not the greatest..

I just recently traded a pair of NotePerfect Alpha speakers to a wonderful gentleman in chicago area for the OHM Walsh model F.... Bigger than I expected.. Got them home Put them on my system WOW. everyone talks about lack of bass... Well it could be room acoustics amps cables or just about anything... The response is perfect.... Best trade so far. I use them with Dynaco Pas-4 Dynaco CDV-1 tube cd player Zu cable Libtec speaker cables Zu cable Gede Interconnects' Micheal Wolff Power cables Krell KSA-150 Power Amp... The harder i drive them the better they play..

Similar Products Used:

Symdex Sigma Omega A/D/S Ess Heil Dynaco Note Perfect. Telefunken BRAUN Quatre

Wide soundstage, smooth warm refined sound. Beautiful walnut finish. Not as heavy as the original...

Weak bass, no on spaker controls as with other Walsh Series. No castors.

These speakers were part of a "test run" Ohm did when first converting the Walsh F from the classic tall inverted cone to a more standard Walsh Can design. They were hand delivered to their previous owner by the head of the company. I'm the second person to own these speakers. As a result the speaker looks a little stunted and does not quite have the finish of the Original Ohm F or later Walsh numbers. I have Ohm Walsh 4's and 2's. The F's replaced the 4's as mains in my home theater. After about a month I can say that the F being a top ported design does not reach as low as my Walsh 4's and the soundstage is not as detailed. Highs are also not as detailed as this prototype does not have the Walsh SuperTweet near as I can tell. They sound is smooth, refined, layed back. Very suitable for jazz, classical. Rock and Rap don't fare well without a subwoofer. I certainly wish these speakers had the original large inverted dome driver but they do not. With the Walsh Can the F's a good speaker but perhaps not a great one. If I intend to keep these I'll probably get one of the Company upgrades.

Similar Products Used:

Ohm Walsh 4's, Ohm Walsh 2's

stereo imaging;no crossover;ohm support (they are still upgradable)

age is causing deterioration. According to Ohm, manual is wrong and product only goes to 17kHz (my manual says 35-20k) aluminium part of cone prone to (at least) cosmetic damage. Some (not me!) would say their weight. No longer reparable by the factory :(

I picked these speakers up years ago, when I finally had the money to start shopping for stereo equipment. I went with a fellow enthusiast who actually knows a lot more and we stumbled upon these rare gems. I have been pleased and am currently trying to get another matching walnut pair to serve as rears for HT. Ohm doesn''t make anything like these even today. All the newer designs have a "super tweeter", probably to address the high end issue that my manual claims doesn''t exist (see weekness), so I don''t know if they will sound as good. Current equipment: B&K Ref 30 Sunfire Cinema Grand Pioneer DV37 Sony 333ES Sunfire TrueSub MkII DT CLR2000 (used only for HT) DT BPX (used only for HT)

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