Merlin VSM MME Master BAM Modification

Oh of course, im on touch with him. Just wondering what people do. I do want to change slightly the tonal balance, so im curious.

As a Merlin VSM owner from 2007, my advice is - DON'T MESS WITH IT!  If you want to change the tonal balance, the best way is to get an excellent subwoofer (or two) - I use a JL Audio Fathom crossed over at 32 Hz.  The second best way is to change your speaker and/or interconnect cables.  I would NOT modify the frequency response of the BAM - Bobby spent about 15 years optimizing that system.

Agree re frequency response.  However, the BAM can be meaningfully improved with a better external LPS than the stock button cell batteries, and better coupling caps than the stock Hovlands.

Oh of course, im on touch with him. Just wondering what people do. I do want to change slightly the tonal balance, so im curious.

This speaker was designed to work with amps that had a fairly high output impedance. That might be why you’re having an issue with tonal balance, if you are using an amp with a low output impedance.


While Bobby was alive, his speakers were the most commonly used with one of our amps called the M-60. We showed with Merlin at shows using M-60s. The M-60 has a pretty high output impedance compared to solid state amps. I’m only mentioning this so you know I’m not making this up.