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Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Merlin Music Inc. VSM-M Speakers by rhyno

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REVIEW: Merlin Music Inc. VSM-M Speakers

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Model: VSM-M
Category: Speakers
Suggested Retail Price: $7050
Description: VSM-Millenniums
Manufacturer URL: Merlin Music Inc.
Manufacturer URL: Merlin Music Inc.

Review by rhyno on December 10, 2001 at 21:41:53
IP Address: 65.64.244.128
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for the VSM-M


i feel sorry for people who are forced to review the vsm-ms
within a few weeks or a month...the learning curve for these
speakers can be quite long, but well worth traversing (bobby @
merlin helps speed it along--what a peach). those who buy and
sell these speakers under the premise that they're not all
they're cracked up to be never got them set up properly. suffice
it to say, i've often heard it said that vsm-ms are an ideal
reviewer's tool: they're very responsive to upstream changes,
allowing you to evaluate the character of each individual
component. i concur w/ that statement 100%---any change, from IC
to power cord to transport to resonance control, is completely
obvious. if you're a reviewer, or an obsessive / compulsive
audiophile who's more concerned w/ gear than music, you'd be
hard pressed to find a more resolving speaker...an ideal 'tool'
if you will, and i cannot imagine any better.

but that's not why we're here. that's not why i listen.

i personally couldn't give a rat's ass about gear--i just want
the best (read: most emotionally involving and believable)
reproduction of recorded music possible w/in my home. there's a
lot of speakers that are not terribly resolving, but great for
those who want plug and play enjoyment (paradigm studios, vandy
2ce). merlins are DEFINITELY not so easy, but are they for music
lovers as well as reviewers?

yes.

how so? well, given my 1.5 yrs with them, i have gone from being
disappointed to startled to amazed to almost satisfied---and
being almost satisfied (i.e. done w/ upgrades) is a remarkable
statement coming from a confessed audiophile like myself. that's
why i've put off this review for a year, as i feel i can finally
speak competently on them.

IMAGING:
staging is terrific, with performers placed in a very real
panorama along the wall, extending well beyond the outside
planes of the speakers, with depth of stage being well
defined..the illusion of the stage extending much further back
than the wall behind the speakers is very convincing. image
density (when set up according to the instruction manual) is
stable and believable (some nights i worry that james brown is
going to try hitting on my wife). however, i find center imaging
to be another matter to be addresssed on its own. it is the
center image that often will extend forward and into the room
with some (not all) high end speakers (a character that results
in merlins sometimes being called "aggressive"--if you want to
be 5th row, you'll love it. if you want to be a detached
audience, look elsewhere--like SF). a speaker / system with an
exceptional center image will have a 3-d effect, where you can
hear AROUND the center image, perceiving substantial and well
defined space between, for example, a lead vocalist and a drum
kit. i have had a somewhat disappointing 3-d center image, but i
have every reason to believe that its more a function of the
fact that my 2 equip racks are between the speakers than a lack
of capability on the part of the merlins (damn reflection from
an AV system)...i'm not about to move my racks until i get a new
room, but i've talked to too many respected and knowledgeable
audiophiles who have merlins that also rave about a 3-d center
image with air behind the up front & center stage performers.
nonetheless, its important to note that my system, with the
poorly positioned racks, still has a better 3-d layering of
stage than any commercially available system in town, some of
which cost 5x more. (but i use rcrump's system as a reference,
and nowhere is there a more believable stage than his--its
ridiculous).
additionally, one nit that i've heard about the merlins is that
image height does not extend beyond the top plane of the
speakers. not true. (well, it was true until i got them set up
right). proper ICs and associated gear extend imaging quite
nicely in the vertical plane...its very obvious when the drums
are set up on a riser.

(tangent on ICs: bobby @ merlin routinely raves about select
brands like JPS and Cardas, but universally pans silver as being
too bright and aggressive. my personal belief, based on quite a
few tests, is that silver can be very bad w/ merlins. however,
silver done properly can make for the best ICs available, with a
clarity that copper can rarely touch. it took 3 iterations of my
silver ICs along w/ some time on a MOBIE before brightness
character was removed and they acted VERY well in the system. if
i didn't have access to a MOBIE, i'd recommend against silver
too, or i'd buy silver ICs from mfgs that burn in prior to sale,
a la TG Audio---do this, and silver will be just wonderful.)

TRANSIENTS and MICRODETAIL
merlins have an electrostatic-like quickness to them that will
enable them to snap off a note with remarkable quickness, while
retaining the decay far beyond that which other dynamic driver
speakers are capable of. its really remarkable and every
audiophile should hear merlins simply for this
experience...notes popping out of nowhere well into the
listening space (again, "aggressive") and then extending an
impossibly long time, revealing information on familiar CDs that
you never heard before. if there's another dynamic driver
speaker that can do this, i haven't heard it...not wilson, not
vandy, not revel, not even rockport--well, maybe rockport. i
find this decay of information to be one of the most alluring
factors about these speakers...it makes it sound closer to being
a believable illusion. (that is, if your upstream components
deliver it first.)

(the stat-like quickness is far more achievable w/ a dynamic
speaker when you only have 2 drivers, and the larger is only a
6.5". more on this later, as this is a tradeoff. but by the same
token, if you want this type quickness w/ a 4-driver dynamic
speaker, expect well into the $5 digits)

COHERENCE
oh yes, the evil of all loudspeakers: the crossover. for every
speaker that has a great transition between bass and midrange
driver, there's a thousand that dont. i dont understand why
audiophiles dont appreciate this fact: when you add an external
component to filter frequencies, you will likely introduce
time-phase anomalies and thereby remove some of the purity of
tone and seamless nature of the entire presentation. i've heard
good (revel), bad (nameless to protect them), and PERFECT (full
range stats with no crossover, of course) crossovers, and any
audiophile who thinks a $5k speaker w/ 3 drivers is better than
a $7k speaker with 2 drivers is a fool...its not quanity of
components, its quality. so if we accept the fact that every
crossover, at its best, is trying to NOT be noticed, we should
also thus try to reduce or remove the use of crossovers as
well.

so the vsms have 2 drivers. one crossover. right out of the
gate, that's better than 2 crossovers. now, couple that w/ the
fact that the crossover is to the tweeter (i.e. high freq
material, where the ear is less sensitive than w/ upper bass /
lower midrange material), and you're setting yourself up for a
seamless presentation. the 6.5" mid-bass driver does a TON of
work, and it does it SOOOOOOOOOOO well. its a sweet, seamless
presentation of music, artfully crossed over into the dynaudio
esotar tweeter so that there is no perceptible array of drivers
or line-sourcing of information.

FREQUENCY RESPONSE:
lows: now for the tradeoff w/ that 6.5" woofer. they don't fill
big rooms, or throw a lot of air. if you're looking to get
shaken and stirred as a top priority, look elsewhere (or check
w/ me in a few months when i'm done integrating my entec subs:
SWEET!). but even then, w/ an array of 4 12" drivers per side a
la legacy speakers, you've just got yourself a whole bunch of
other issues (like articulation, room integration, etc). for me,
good bass, clean bass, fast bass is preferable to BOOM bass. if
you want boom, get legacy or hook up any schlock sub on the
market--and when you hear the difference, you'll go back to the
merlins w/ BAM. very simply, the bass is a revelation. these
speakers have the most terrific transient articulation with low
freq info that i have ever heard. they start and stop within a
nanosecond (particularly w/ the belles 350a with its damping
factor > 1000), and reveal almost all other speakers as having
problems with bass overshoot and speed. bass articulation is,
likewise, terrific...lots of easily discernible information
below 50hz, rather than the one-note thump so common below 50hz
in lesser speakers.

midrange: i'm not going to spend much time lavishing praise on
any speakers midrange...if a speaker can't get the midrange
right, its crap. for god's sake, the midrange is where the music
lives, and where the ear is most sensitive. i'll say simply that
i perceive no artificialities...no frequency bumps, no suckouts
(hint: NO CROSSOVERS!). this speaker has its own issues and
faults, but rest assured, the midrange is not one of them. if
you hear merlins w/ problems in the midrange, its the upstream
components. i've used CJ, belles, and joule to great effect,
with the latter 2 getting the nod over the CJ for overall
performance, but each has a wonderful midrange and mated quite well.

highs: w/ the appropriate upstream gear (i've had terrific luck
w/ my belles 350a amp), the highs have a trememdous amount of
air without ANY hint of brightness...cymbals shimmer and
demonstrate a brassy metallic quality that few speakers get
right--often cymbals take on an etched or white noise type
character---and my merlins did too, until i got a great amp
(belles)--then the shimmer quality came through, clear enough to
hear the decay of the strike as an ongoing process, rather than
a slightly fatiguing and obviously artificial reproduction of a
cymbal (i find such etched character common amongst metal based
tweeters like thiel).

CHARACTER:
i hate saying things are neutral. EVERYBODY says everything is neutral. so rather than saying that it is, i'll provide a few obvious comparison:
vs. SF: SF emerges as boring though technically competent but rounded
vs. Thiel / Wilson: both emerge as bright
vs. Revel: revel emerges as romantic and rounded
---so rather than saying that merlins are neutral (i'll try to resist, but its hard), i'll say that these others are anything but.

NEGATIVES
pretty simple really, along the following 4 points:
1) they cannot fill a big room (my guess is 15X 25 would be all
the larger to go comfortably)
2) the freq balance gets a little bright w/ increasing volumes
(as fremer first pointed out in stereophile, but these are
NOWHERE near normal, or even elevated, listening volumes. these
are HIGH SPLs that would be impossible to put up w/ for 30
minutes straight, regardless of if you had a wife or neighbors)
(NOTE: early tests w/ my entec subs has remedied this
problem--but i have a lot more listening to do first before
calling it a success)
3) very VERY sensitive to upstream gear--the merlins demand
quality moreso than most other speakers, particularly in regards
to 'airy' vs. bright highs, bass transients, and staging.
4) "aggressive" staging, with performers extending well in front
of the speaker plane

(that being said, i don't really consider the last 3 to be
faults, just observations. and the first fault is not surprising
given the 6.5" woofer)

OVERALL, to give these speakers an unqualified thumb's up would
be a mistake; there should be a quiz for each prospective owner
to pass prior to purchase, or dealers should be far more
consultative to the prospective buyers. equip matching with
these speakers is critical (how many times have i stressed
this!?!). i've talked to too many merlin owners who buy them
unheard and are disappointed b/c the sound is bright or
aggressive...well, its not the merlins fault (rather, its the
amps by bryston / krell / classe / etc. that ARE bright). and if
your system is unsatisfying, point the blame elsewhere. its not
the speakers fault.

simply, these speakers CAN be for music lovers, and they CAN be
the amongst the best of the best (and CAN outcompete anything
under $20k), if you spend the time to match them up w/ the right
upstream gear, tube or solid state (of course, get the matching
wiring harness). given an owner that will spend the time getting
it right, its unlikely to get much better.

rhyno


Product Weakness: i'm tired of typing. read the above.
Product Strengths: what? i said, read the above.


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: belles 350a
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): joule electra la-100mk2
Sources (CDP/Turntable): pioneer pd-65> bel canto 1.1
Speakers: merlin vsm-m
Cables/Interconnects: Custom Silver ICs, JPS Super Biwires, TG Audio SLVR on amp
Music Used (Genre/Selections): all except rap / country
Room Size (LxWxH): 14 x 25 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: none
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1.5yrs
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): XS Tech Strata 1000 batter pack PC
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Merlin Music Inc. VSM-M Speakers - rhyno 21:41:53 12/10/01 ( 20)