[rif]

Someone on my local Craigslist is selling a pair for $1200.

He says they have been totally rebuilt - the voice coils, spiders, interconnects, foam surrounds, and everything inside the cone that is essential to aligning of the cone among other acoustic qualities.

[mick wolfe]

Call John Strohbeen at Ohm and ask if he did the rebuild. I think he'd also give you a fair assessment of their value.

[S Clark]

Wow.  I looked at a pair of those back in 1977.  They were impressive back then, not sure how they would compare today.  They took hundreds of watts to come alive, and watts weren't cheap then.

[S Clark]

Someone on my local Craigslist is selling a pair for $1200.

Correction, has a pair offered for sale.  An earlier pair on flea bay, maybe the same ones, had no interest at that price. I'd offer substantially less, unless I had a real desire to own a pair.  A single didn't sell listed under $400

[Phil A]

Remember the Ohm Fs well.  A friend had a pair and I always like them.  In the 80s I got more into HT (had surround sound in the early days with time delays) and then in the late 90s started back into 2-channel again.  I have a pair of Ohm Microwalsh Talls in a spare system now.

[jonbee]

I owned Fs and a couple pairs of Walsh 5s. I love the Fs back in the 70s, but when I bought a pair about 15 years ago I was disappointed. Very bass heavy, with a very recessed upper end. Not competitive with modern speakers, imo. The Walsh driver has a steady downward slope to the range.
The 5s used a tweeter to improve this situation, and they were quite good, with the huge soundstage offset by a still recessed upper midrange. Overall an impressive sound, but not quite "audiophile" because of the non-linearities. Blending a tweeter with the Walsh driver is a trick I'm not sure they quite accomplished.
YMMV.
So what are they worth? Listen for yourself and decide if they are your cup of tea. Only you can value them.

[FullRangeMan]

Someone on my local Craigslist is selling a pair for $1200.

He says they have been totally rebuilt - the voice coils, spiders, interconnects, foam surrounds, and everything inside the cone that is essential to aligning of the cone among other acoustic qualities.

Change the recone kt from a driver is not rocket science but its good the tech have experience in the task and tech info from the factory.

Note that changing the type or amount of acoustic stuffing inside the enclosure will change the sound. That stuffing is a personal taste as it can change the sound in a bold way.

[S Clark]

Change the recone kt from a driver is not rocket science but its good the tech have experience in the task and tech info from the factory.

Note that changing the type or amount of acoustic stuffing inside the enclosure will change the sound. That stuffing is a personal taste as it can change the sound in a bold way.

Gustavo, take a look.  The Walsh driver is very different from any other speaker.  I wouldn't let anyone other than the manufacturer work on it. 

[FullRangeMan]

Correct, even better.

[JLM]

A friend, who is a vintage speaker fan, owns a pair.  Very few know how to recondition that unique driver, prices therefore are all over the place. 

Yes, bass heavy and treble light, but make a very pleasing (vintage) sound and they can be placed almost anywhere to provide a realistic soundstage.  My friend warns us at every audio meeting that the multi-material cone can easily be ruined by being overdriven, so not well suited for parties, rocking out, or use in a large room.

[rif]

Thanks guys, I think I'll stay away from these.  They sound like they are a little too finicky for me.

As for repairs, hears what the Ohm website says:

All Ohm F’s are beginning the end of their functional lives. There is a foam damping material used around the base of the driver and inside that is failing from old age. We have never successfully repaired an Ohm F that was failing this way (the cone gets modified when you remove the old material and no longer sounds the same). For years, we replaced the old drivers with new ones. The last of these were made when the last craftsman retired. No more originals are available. But a series of upgrades with second generation drivers are available.

[FullRangeMan]

What is the material in question?
There are plenty subs to replace it.

[dB Cooper]

A friend, who is a vintage speaker fan, owns a pair.  Very few know how to recondition that unique driver, prices therefore are all over the place. 

Yes, bass heavy and treble light, but make a very pleasing (vintage) sound and they can be placed almost anywhere to provide a realistic soundstage.  My friend warns us at every audio meeting that the multi-material cone can easily be ruined by being overdriven, so not well suited for parties, rocking out, or use in a large room.

The word 'on the street' at the time was '200 watts to drive it, 250 watts to blow it up'.
Possible that the upgrade to the newer drivers would be worthwhile, esp. if the price of entry was favorable. If you have $1200 in the old ones and $1500 in upgraded drivers, that's chump change in today's deep-end speaker market. You could expect much better performance too, judging from Ohm's website info.

Never have heard Ohms (they don't do the shows) but I've always wanted to.

[dB Cooper]

What is the material in question?
There are plenty subs to replace it.

Again from Ohm's own documentation: "We have never successfully repaired an Ohm F that was failing this way (the cone gets modified (read: damaged) when you remove the old material and no longer sounds the same)."

If Ohm themselves can't do it, I suspect John Q. Amateur probably doesn't have much of a chance. There may be some brainiac DIY'er whose knowledge about this very unusual driver exceeds that of the manufacturer themselves, but I doubt it.