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RE: one pro's opinion

Bob,

I think only you can confirm your experience. I also think the "transparency thing" is what Merlins (and what all good speakers) are about. Colorful language aside, transparency, to me, is simply the lack of artificial artifacts in the sound of a component or speaker. I have owned and compared Reynauld's Twins, Trentes and Evolution 3s to Merlin's TSM-M, TSM-SE, VSM-SE, VSM-M and VSM-MXe. There is no question in my mind that the Reynauds are enjoyable speakers (I still have the Twins in my bedroom system), but in each one of them I hear colorations absent from the Merlins. Colorations that, once you are used to the Merlins, lead you away from the actual music and back into the mechanical reproduction of music. If you are hearing a particular "sound" from the VSM-MXes, my hunch would be that you're hearing it from upstream in your system.

No, I haven't heard the Magico, Kharma or Wilson brands. I live in the Orlando area, which is void of high-end gear, and so they are not accessible to me. I bought my first pair of Merlins (and most every other speaker I've owned) based on professional reviews (of all things!) and of course also based on my budget. However if Martin Dewulf holds such revered brands in the same company as the Merlins, that too should provide enough "street cred" to potential Merlin owners to take the plunge.

Personally, compared to all of the other speakers I've owned, from Sound Lab Dynastats to the various Reynauds, Gershman Avant Garde, Joseph Audio RM25 MkII, Magneplanar 1.6, Triangle Zays, etc., I would prefer to live happily ever after with the Merlin TSM-Ms (not even the current generation) coupled with a subwoofer. Now that I have the latest VSM-MXes, I can live ecstatically ever after, with no qualms about what I'm missing from other speakers. They are all-around fantastic transducers - take up little room, look great, and are built by master craftsmen one at a time with no tolerance for flaws in finish or sound. The most technically correct term representing the Merlin's sound is indeed "transparent." They are also engaging, full of light and life, dreamy with female vocals such as Eva Cassidy's Songbird, painful when listening to poorly recorded 1980's hairband music, lucious with any well-recorded harmonies (even the new Eagles CD), faithful to bass notes as opposed to creating false fullness in that region, fully capable of rocking one's world with rock (try No Doubt's last CD), firmly entrenched in the "less is more" realm of design - which aids in channeling their increbible coherence into every piece of music in your collection, and gosh darn it they just sound good :)

DKL


Edits: 01/31/08
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