9rw,
the vsm has been made for almost 13 years and there have been 7 versions in that time. the speaker that came out first was a very different speaker than today's and much less expensive to build. we also offered it sans bam and at a very low price (which we mentioned at the time) as an introductory offer. just the cost of the mx's finish and the super bam alone more than doubled my cost. numerous refinements and changes have resulted in a huge improvement in sound so it is really unfair to try and compare costs because we are not talking about the same thing at all.
my landed cost for the tweeters alone is over $525 a pair and they used to cost me $300 years ago.
knowing that there are thousands of pairs in the field, you need to know the product to know what is currect and what is not.
i apply the smallest markup possible for my business to be self sufficient. that is common knowledge.
prices are mentioned at www.merlinmusic.com on the pricing page.
coherent? hell yes, imho. but like anything else, you need to be selective about ancillaries. if you want a ferrari to run like a ferrari, you need 100 octane fuel and specific expensive tires on each corner, don't you?
what you heard at the time you heard them is dependant on the model and how they were used and what with.
you can't make 100% of the people happy, 100% of the time, can you? still though, i am very proud of the number of people we have made happy with them.
regards,
bobby
