I'm not very active on this or any of the audio websites, but recently switched from a pair of Golden Ear Triton 7s to a set of Ohm 1000s.
First, I'll state that I did really enjoy the Triton 7s in the three years I owned them. I found them voiced quite neutrally in the midrange, with unusually good bass extension and smooth, extended treble. Their one drawback for me was the size of the sweet spot.
My stereo is in our 14' X 13' living room, with 10' ceilings, that is also used for watching TV and other activities, so there are serious constraints as to what goes where. There are also three openings into other rooms that complicate the matter.
As such, every serious listening session required me to move one speaker, adjust the toe-in, and move my chair so that I was in that one special spot where everything came together. It still sounded pretty good elsewhere in the room, but the true magic disappeared when anything was out of place.
I owned a set of the original Ohm Fs back in the 1970s and always regretted selling them, though they would have been far too large for my current room. I well remember their downright spooky ability to float a 3-D image in the room, regardless of where you were. Hence, it seemed worth it to give the current Ohms a try.
The 1000s were the right size for my room, and they arrived about a month after I ordered them. The most favorable of my first impressions is that the Ohm 1000s make me feel like I've had the shackles removed that kept me pinned to a small sweet spot when I wanted to do serious listening. It is simply marvelous to be able to move about the room or sit elsewhere and have the music continue to image like a live ensemble, without the 3-D qualities disappearing or changing unnaturally.
I used to tell myself that when I'm listening seriously, I sit quietly in the one small sweet spot, and if I'm not there, then I'm just listening casually and imaging didn't matter. I think I've been cheating myself with that view.
The other strong point is that acoustic instruments, and vocals in particular, are extremely well voiced. They are natural and accurate sounding. This, in combination with the big sweet spot, makes the sonic image float eerily independent of the speakers -- very nice. My reference for recorded music playback is mainly based on unamplified acoustic instruments and voice. If a speaker does this well, then I'm going to be pretty content.
The were only two initial drawbacks. One was that bass was a bit unexpectedly shy, but that was solved wih some minor positioning moves. The other was some upper midrange sibiiance on certain recordings. It turned out that the Ohms' quasi-omni radiation was resonating the back panel of the flat screen TV. A bit of adhesive sound dampening on the back of the TV cured that problem (though it'd likely be even better if the TV was removed, but that's not happening.)
I have fairly eclectic musical tastes -- classical (from liturgical to chamber to full orchestral), jazz, folk, Americana, bluegrass, blues, big band, and so on as well as a bit of rock 'n roll. I've yet to come across a good recording that doesn't sound wonderful on the Ohms, regardless of where one is sitting or standing in the room.
These speakers probably aren't for everyone. I know some people want "better" than natural or realistic -- they are looking for an enhanced reality, something I call the "Kodachrome effect". There are hundreds of different speakers on the market and all of them have their fans. However, if you're looking and can relate to what I've written, it is probably worth checking out Ohm.
