Ohm Model i (I Think)

DKMI

Active Member
My wife's friend retired last year and we just found out she's trying to sell a pair of Ohm Model i (that's what they look like) speakers her and her husband bought way back when they first got married. . She posted them on a Facebook buy/sell/trade group but got zero interest. I'm going to check them out on Sunday and either try to help her sell them or perhaps buy them from her myself if I end up liking them enough. These don't seem to have the Walsh driver on top. I've been trying to gauge their value, but haven't been able to find any for sale or any that sold on EBay. Anyone have any idea what they're realistically worth? I'm assuming they're bone stock.

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I just got a set free that are missing the grills and the low tweeters from the tops. I saw a set on eBay last week that didn't sell for $795 (I think). They were about $1300 for the pair new... I don't think I would spend more than $300-$400 for a mint set today. I've had a set of Walsh 2XO since the early 90s... these are a bit more conventional.
 
I just got a set free that are missing the grills and the low tweeters from the tops. I saw a set on eBay last week that didn't sell for $795 (I think). They were about $1300 for the pair new... I don't think I would spend more than $300-$400 for a mint set today. I've had a set of Walsh 2XO since the early 90s... these are a bit more conventional.
She got nowhere asking $400, but she didn't exactly list them in the best place to sell vintage speakers. I'm pretty curious about how they sound. The sad thing is when my wife told her that I dabble with vintage speakers, she said, "Had I known that, I would have called him rather than taking all the smaller speakers to The Salvation Army last week." All the smaller speakers? I'm afraid to ask. Her husband owned businesses and was the type to go into a store and tell the salesperson he wanted the best they had. He wouldn't necessarily research or shop around. He'd go to one store and buy whatever was best or that he heard was best. Wouldn't surprise me if he also had a pretty nice receiver that she might have just thought was old and tossed.
 
The crossover switches get pretty flaky over time. So much so that I bought a spare set of crossovers for the pair I had. When they were playing, which wasn't very long mind you, they sounded like there was real potential. Even with a few drivers not functioning (the switches)...

The motors on the original Ohm drivers are massive. One of the biggest magnets I've seen on an 8" speaker. The factory replacements, not so much. If you do pick them up, try your best to keep as many of the original drivers as possible.
 
They are way better than the conventional Walsh line unless we're talking true Walsh speakers like f's & a's. These speakers are meant to push some serious air. They have a great sound but due to crossover complexity and amt of drivers they do require some serious amplification to get cooking. I had 2 sets at one time. Ran one set with 2 Mac 2205 and the other with 2 NAD 2200pe. The more power the better. Zero distortion, they just get louder and louder. I have nothing against John stoeben the owner of ohm acoustics, I just think they are a shell of what the company once was. I would value the speaker for local sale in the 400-600 range. If your friend has little patience have her price them at 100.00 and they will be gone by sun.
 
She got nowhere asking $400, but she didn't exactly list them in the best place to sell vintage speakers. I'm pretty curious about how they sound. The sad thing is when my wife told her that I dabble with vintage speakers, she said, "Had I known that, I would have called him rather than taking all the smaller speakers to The Salvation Army last week." All the smaller speakers? I'm afraid to ask. Her husband owned businesses and was the type to go into a store and tell the salesperson he wanted the best they had. He wouldn't necessarily research or shop around. He'd go to one store and buy whatever was best or that he heard was best. Wouldn't surprise me if he also had a pretty nice receiver that she might have just thought was old and tossed.
Where is the Salvation army located?
 
IMG_20180411_000934204.jpg I wound up with this very exact pair .....the guy i got them from did a good job cleaning them up they really weren't in need of much just a little spot of white paint down at the bottom of the front of the wood on the face of cabinet I can still see a few grains of the white paint he missed... But here in the picture above first post it's the speaker on the left of the fireplace hearth.... because of a story about them being on fireplace hearth here in Oakland County Michigan.... and Several Telltale markings on the speakers in the wood grain also the giveaway...lol
I am glad I found this post.... but now I've come to understand... that the original Poster of this thread, DKMI did go to check these OHM MODEL I out and passed up purchasing them..... and a Great Guy named Steve that used to work for Tech Hi-Fi purchased them!
And he gave them some tlc and fixed the Low Tweeters on the top and had new ferrofluid put in them!...then Oiled up the cabinets and used them for a few months then sold them to me....
 
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Sorry, wasn't being snarky. I was just trying to emphasize the inflation for perspective. Someone had to shell out the buying power of $5000 for a pair. (ok, maybe I'm stating the obvious)

According to Ohm's website, these were about 1-1/2 times the cost of the next runner up. Maybe I'm missing one, but I think the next most costly Ohm pair was around $1000.

I should probably just shut up. Don't want to drive up prices. :blah:
 
I also have my eye on a pair of these locally on CL. They have insane power handling and supposedly sound very good.

For me....not sure about the grill on the top. Might be a pain to clean. I imagine it looking like a dirty lawn mower air filter after a year in my house.
Cats are gonna wanna try it out as a perch. And what am I gonna put my potted plants on?????

(there, drove the prices back down again....whew)
 
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I also have my eye on a pair of these locally on CL. They have insane power handling and supposedly sound very good.

For me....not sure about the grill on the top. Might be a pain to clean. I imagine it looking like a dirty lawn mower air filter after a year in my house.
Cats are gonna wanna try it out as a perch. And what am I gonna put my potted plants on?????

(there, drove the prices back down again....whew)
Did you get them? I see he pulled them off Craigslist a few minutes ago
 
No. I emailed him 3x and he never replied. At $200, they probably sold a while ago and he finally got around to deleting the post.
 
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