I want these speakers, Ohm Acoustics

afterburnt
afterburnt Posts: 7,892
Does anyone know much about them? Crazy that the factory still sevices them. An ol mob buddy of mine had them when I was a kid and could only dream of having such things.


https://www.cnet.com/news/forty-years-ago-the-ohm-f-speaker-was-a-game-changer-it-still-is/

Comments

  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    I've heard them. Like other omnidirectional speakers I've heard they don't do center imaging very well, but are kind of fun short term. One other thing, they do not sound good on bare floors as the bass is boomy.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • afterburnt
    afterburnt Posts: 7,892
    Thanks Jesse, nostagia kind of thing. They would be fun to have, what a concept.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    Absolutely Bruce, they were pretty radical back then. One of those speakers like the DQ-10 and Carver Platinum that one should hear along their audio journey.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • afterburnt
    afterburnt Posts: 7,892
    Makes me wonder, these guys were pushing the the envelope in the day. We were supposed to have nuclear turbines in Toyotas by now lol. But here we are with pushrods and pistons in 2017.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    edited May 2017
    The Ohm F loudspeakers (at least the classic ones) are also very insensitive (sort of like Magneplanars in that regard -- especially the early Magneplanars). They need gobs of power for best results.

    The classic versions of the Fs also used foam suspension -- rehabilitation of these monstrosities is a labor of love.

    F1nut hits the metaphorical nail on the head in terms of their characteristics, I'd opine.

    I like the fact that the Walsh drivers look like the nozzles of the rocket engines on a Saturn V first stage :)

    OhmWalshF_100608_0214.jpg

    Ohm, bless their hearts, still build and sell omnidirectional loudspeakers. Their "lower end" efforts use, in essence, regular cone drivers mounted upside-down atop vented enclosures as sort of "poor persons' Walsh drivers" :) They also have tweeters, so they're a bit like some of the Bose designs, or the Stig Carlson loudspeakers (e.g., the Sonab loudspeakers).

    http://ohmspeaker.com/speakers/?gclid=CLuK_MPo2NMCFdGIswodHrECHw

    I have a pair of the Ohm Walsh 2s in the basement.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    Some they no longer support i had heard as the drivers are unobtainable. But yes classy that they did for decades...
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    edited May 2017
    Since I mentioned ol' Stig (and spelled his surname wrong -- it's Carlsson!), I feel a need to post some of his creations :)

    ol' Stig himself (R.I.P.)

    43863bc38e-Stig%20Carlsson.png

    Some Sonab/Carlsson loudspeakers:
    15337336_720068881492164_1761741004374802432_n.jpg?ig_cache_key=MTM5NzQ3MzkwNDcyNTc1OTI3Mg%3D%3D.2.c
    sonab_oa14.jpg
    3909177298_f573b16e5f.jpg
    10b29567_2212_zps4e74082d.jpeg

    Appearances to the contrary :# these loudspeakers used good drivers (mostly Peerless, if memory serves and by all appearances) and sounded, in my limited experience with them, pretty darned good.
  • afterburnt
    afterburnt Posts: 7,892
    mhardy6647 wrote: »
    The Ohm F loudspeakers (at least the classic ones) are also very insensitive (sort of like Magneplanars in that regard -- especially the early Magneplanars). They need gobs of power for best results.

    The classic versions of the Fs also used foam suspension -- rehabilitation of these monstrosities is a labor of love.

    F1nut hits the metaphorical nail on the head in terms of their characteristics, I'd opine.

    I like the fact that the Walsh drivers look like the nozzles of the rocket engines on a Saturn V first stage :)

    OhmWalshF_100608_0214.jpg

    Ohm, bless their hearts, still build and sell omnidirectional loudspeakers. Their "lower end" efforts use, in essence, regular cone drivers mounted upside-down atop vented enclosures as sort of "poor persons' Walsh drivers" :) They also have tweeters, so they're a bit like some of the Bose designs, or the Stig Carlson loudspeakers (e.g., the Sonab loudspeakers).

    http://ohmspeaker.com/speakers/?gclid=CLuK_MPo2NMCFdGIswodHrECHw

    I have a pair of the Ohm Walsh 2s in the basement.

    Funny you should say that, Saturn5 first stage motors are F1's
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    afterburnt wrote: »

    Funny you should say that, Saturn5 first stage motors are F1's

    They're not mine >:)

    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • msg
    msg Posts: 9,308
    Haha, fun thread, neat speakers.
    Those Sonab/Carl-two-esses-on speakers are interesting too! I'm going to have to read up on those different array designs.

    I got a good little laugh at this line in the article link Bruce posted :)
    According to Ohm's President John Strohbeen, the early production Fs had "functionality issues." "They needed 300 watts to get going, and 301 to blow them up," Strohbeen said with a chuckle.
    I disabled signatures.
  • FTGV
    FTGV Posts: 3,649
    edited May 2017
    mhardy6647 wrote: »
    They also have tweeters, so they're a bit like some of the Bose designs, or the Stig Carlson loudspeakers (e.g., the Sonab loudspeakers).
    Mr Burhoe and Shahinian did similar Omni-ish designs.Pleasant sounding but as mentioned the big diffuse room filling ambient soundfield is not for the pin point imaging crowd.

  • Those are the speakers that convinced Rex81 to sell his SRS SDA 2s.