GMA Callisto VS. Merlin TSM

This post might be too late for Minbean now but I thought that I'd post it anyway - I visited the Green Mountain Audio factory in CO & heard the Callistos mounted on Skylan 24" sand-filled stands. The source was a Sony CDR (forget the model #), the DAC+pre was a modified Birdland Odeon-Lite, the power amp was a $2500 stereo Edge & all cabling was Virtual Dynamics Master series.

I can tell you that the Callisto stands up to all the hype that I have read about that speaker! The sound thru this system (modest by many of us' means) was simply superb! The factory listening room was nothing to to write home about but it was treated in the critical areas (ASC tube trap between the speakers + along the 1st reflection points, absorbers behind the speaker) but still the sound was extremely dynamic, transparent, clear & most of all the music had soul to it. Such good sound in such modest settings - to me, it felt that the speaker had removed the speaker-room equation. Common sense prevailed in setting up the speaker (proper separation, correct height, not too close to the back+ side walls & 100 hrs of burn-in) & not much more.
We played a variety of music & the speaker's characteristics did not change, the image remained locked at ear-eye level.
One of the most fascinating things was how much bass that little 6.5" woofer put out! On several notes I could hear it resonate in my chest! Totally unprepared for that! There is a dual down-firing port that is partially responsible for this bass + of course, the speaker engineering. The bass was distinctly ported (vs. sealed) but I'm happy to report that there was no overhang (something I was very antsy about before I heard the speaker).
Even if it is for grins, Minbean, do listen to the Callistos. They just sound right all the way & with any music. A speaker for all seasons!

Wait a minute guys!
I'm beginning to see this thread soon turning into a GMA vs Merlin mud-slinging contest! :-(
BEFORE it degenerates into something of this sort I would like to try to abort such a deviation. Please allow me this!

Minbean: buy whatever you like. Neither I not songwriter are trying to convert you into a GMA owner. OK?
I was merely suggesting that you listen to the Callisto for yourself. Just FYI, you will discover that the TSM & Callistos have more in common sound-wise rather than being different.

Jim2, Minbean: both you guys are misinterpretting/distorting the meaning of the statement "The ability to play and enjoy ANY recording is one of the primary advantages of time/phase aligned speakers".
The GMA speakers do *NOT* cover-up bad recordings to make them sound good. That is *NOT* what is meant by the above statement.
I think that songwriter explained quite well what he meant to write. I cut & pasted his words here again: "Here's what i'm saying, and i'll try to put it as plain as possible. If your speaker has phase shift (most do) when you playback a distorted recording, the speaker's phase distortion is distorting everything that comes into it,including any recorded distortions, so your hearing distorted distortion. It's a multiplicative process, not additive."

From my personal experience I can vouch that bad recordings sound worse/much worse when the speaker adds its own distortion. The speaker's distortion sounds the worst of all the components in the audio chain, IMHO, because the phase shift put onto the music signal varies w/ frequency (because of the x-over circuit design). IOW, *IF* the speaker's distortion was constant over frequency I believe that the bad recordings would not have sounded so bad.
(it is true that the power amp's output is also freq dependent but IMHO the additional phase shift from this active circuit/power amp is much less than that from the passive speaker x-over network).
The GMA speakers have very little phase shift in the bulk of the audio band hence they allow the listener to listen to all of his/her music collection with far less fatigue than most other speaker offerings in the marketplace.
This is all that we are trying to convey to the other members posting in this thread. Hopefully this is comprehensible to all! :-)

I've heard the Merlin VSM-MM floor-stander. I can confidently say that the Merlin & GMA sonic signatures are close cousins more than anything else. I think that the TSM sonic signature will follow the Merlin house sound (unless Bobby has a split personality where he is making a floor-stander for home use & a monitor speaker for studio/pro use! I don't think so but I could be wrong).

Reading Minbean's latest posts I seem to be getting the feeling that he is looking for a studio/pro monitor to debug his amplifier designs. Correct?
If so, the GMA speakers are not (to the best of my knowledge) made for studio/pro monitoring use. They are meant for listening in the home environment.
If minbean is looking for studio/pro monitors how about the Rogers LS3/5a or some spin-off of this model (harbeth, Sterling, etc). Alternately, a Tannoy DMT series (owned by nearly every studio in the world) will also make an excellent monitor for this purpose.

Bobby, that mud-slinging comment was not aimed at you by any chance! Just wanted to be clear.
My post was aimed at making songwriter's comments clear as it seems that they were being miscontrued. Your last post has said the same thing in your own words. Thanks again for re-iterating.
I agree w/ you w.r.t. leaving the man alone to enjoy his purchase. I would not have re-entered the thread but did so when I saw the misinterpretation of sonwriter's comments.
Well, what do you know.......you got Drubin again playing doubting-Thomas & taking the same tack as some other members posting before him!!!! what, do these guys just don't want to understand???

Ooops, Drubin!! Sorry! looks like I'm to be blamed for mis-construing your comments! LOL!

>> I find this issue of making all of one's recordings
>> sound good very interesting.
to me, this read like a sceptic's comment!

>> It is something I look for in components, but probably
>> would not were I a reviewer or designer.
I was iffy on interpretting this one too!
if the component makes all my music sound good for the correct reasons, then, as a reviewer/designer, I'd seek such a product.