I've always preferred the sound of a really good monitor speaker paired with a really good subwoofer. A little over a year ago, however, I happened to order some Magnepan MMGs. I had just gone through a divorce and I had recently sold my Paradigm studio gear, so I felt this was a nice, inexpensive solution at the time. Well, I found myself really drawn to the realism and open, airy, BIG sound of the Maggies.

Fast forward to today....I'm really wanting to make a very nice upgrade to my system, and bigger Maggies are the frontrunner right now. I've listened to a lot of other gear in the meantime, but the only thing I really found appealing was the Von Schweikert stuff. I got a deal on some of the little VR-1s, so I brought 'em home to play with them. They are very very good, but I find myself missing the qualities I listed above.

Well, I've known about Merlin for a while being that I grew up in Rochester, NY. I've never actually heard them, but the TSMs are within my budget, and after reading several reviews that described their qualities (specifically the 3-D soundstage, transparency, and detail), I can't help but be tempted to pick up a pair and give them a try.

Does anyone have prior experience with Maggies to the point that you could offer some feedback on how they would compare with the Merlins? Am I too far gone as a planar guy to ever go back to ANY monitor speaker?

Thanks,
AJZ

 Re: Merlins for a Maggie Fan - Rich Brkich 11:26:26 01/19/06 (1)
 Re: Merlins for a Maggie Fan - AJZepp 19:28:28 01/21/06 (0)

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 Re: Merlins for a Maggie Fan - Rich Brkich 11:26:26 01/19/06 (1)
 Re: Merlins for a Maggie Fan - AJZepp 19:28:28 01/21/06 (0)

Sorry for not responding to this sooner... have been a bit busy the past few days (was at Merlin yesterday).

Anyway, you pose a number of interesting questions which I will try to answer.

- Big sound vs. monitor sound. Personally I find a number of planars (and line arrays for that matter) to tend exaggerate the size of the sound field or stamp that size on all recordings, indpendantly of how they were recorded. If you like that, great... I would suggest that you stick with the Maggies. Assuming you have the room for them (planars need ample space around and behind them.... have all to often heard planars pushed up to close to the wall behind them and the result is a big, but very flat soundstage, often with pushed mids. Have said the above, a well designed monitor speaker will acuurately convey the sound space of a recording. I have heard the Merlins sound "big" when called for (large orchestral or coral works) and small (close miked solo voice for example) when the reording was small in scale.

- There are some things the little merlins will deliver, that the maggies can't. The Maggies are designed to a price point (I have torn into the insides of them and seen how they are made and the quality of materials... wire, caps, etc they use). The Merlin TSM is about the as sophisticed and refined little two way you can find. The quality and craftsmanship is superior and it shows in the sound. Certain micro dynamic details are just softened over by the maggies. There is a effortlessness (yes some maggie guys will think I'm full of it when I say this) that the maggies cannot match. The TSMs will dissapear and show the soundscape that is on your recordings.

Hope this helps.

Happy Listening,
Rich Brkich
Retailer & Audio Asylum Industry Liaison

I know you're busy, so I appreciate you taking the time to help me out :)

-AJ