Merlin Upgrade Experience


I recently had my (very late production) VSM-SEs upgraded to current status and thought I'd share my initial impressions on the change for anyone who might be interested.

Bobby tells me that pre-upgrade my VSMs were among the last SEs manufactured, and thus were quite close to the MM although not yet so badged.

My context for commenting on the VSMs includes both "in a vaccuum" impressions of their sound as well as comparison to other loudspeakers that I own and use regularly.

Until recently, I've owned 2 homes and thus the Merlins were the main speaker in town and my Verity Parsifal Encores served the same purpose at the beach. Additionally, I own a pair of Sonus Faber Cremonas which live in my living room. From time to time, I have been able to insert all 3 into my main system and they now all reside in a single, suburban residence (alas the baby arrived and beach house went!) more easily allowing for direct comparison.

PRE-UPGRADE:

My personal definition of the distinction between a music lover and a music loving audiophile is that the music lover wants all his records to sound good, while the audiophile wants his bad records to sound bad. By this definition, the VSM SE was a classic audiophile device, while the Creomna is more a music lovers device. Bad sounding records (and I own way too many) have tend to sound bad on the VSM SE and less so on the Cremonas. Conversely, the distinctions between any 2 records show up much more vividly on the VSM - for me, this is not a bad description of a phenomenon that many people like to call transparency.

IMHO, the likely cause of this difference is a measure of mid-bass warmtn and low bass wallop on the Cremona compared to some mid bass leanness and deep bass limitations on the VSM SE. The overall frequency response graphs of these speakers may not differ wildly, but there is significant difference in the octave to octave balance and resultant tonal signature:

The Cremonas have significantly more energy below the midband than do the VSM SEs. FWIW, the Verity - which in many respects combines the best of both worlds -- is voiced much closer to the Cremona. I suspect that most of the criticism of the VSM SE is due to people who either prefer a warmer voicing, need more ultimmate deep bass capability, or both. People with larger, less damped listening spaces probably highlight these issues in their environment.

THE UPGRADE PROCESS

Due to logistical issues on both sides, the process took longer than either Bobby or I would have liked. While his enthusiasm for his product may strike some as a "bit much", say this for the guy: He looks after his customers with unusual energy. He kept in regular touch with updates during the process and followed up multiple times after delivery. By any standard, in any business, this is a very high level of customer service.

I actually decided on this upgrade somewhat reluctanlty. Almost 2 years prior to pulling the trigger, I heard the then current VSM MX (MM?) at a local dealer. I was impressed by the warmer tonality and apparently unchanged mid band transparency, dynamics, imaging, and bass pitch definition. As far as I could tell at audition - the speakers biggest shortcoming had been ameliorated (though not eliminated) while its strengths had seamingly all been reatined.

However, an in-store demo is not dispositive, and I was still concerned that the speaker might lose some of its "magic". For as long as I can remember, much of my favorite mid band reproduction has come from speakers which (like the VSM SE) featured less than full energy below the mids (from earliest Quad through latest Lipinski). Hence my hemming and hawing. Ultimately, I went for it - though I remained a bit conflicted.

POST UPGADE

These observations must be qualified by the change in listening environment attendent to my move and the limited (2 weeks+) exposure to the new speakers. The listening room environmental effects are somewhat reduced by the continued
opportunity to compare the upgraded VSMs to the Verity and Cremonas.

In short - I couldn't have asked for very much more.

This upgrade is a VERY skillfull balancing act from Merlin. The most obvious difference is improved deep bass dynamics - which are immediately evident on tuned drums. Descending drum patterns on Peter Gabriel's Last Temptation no longer evidence rapidly diminishing power. Kick drum
and bass drum (Putttin' it Down, Out of The Cradle, Sinatra Live at The Sands, "E"'s Shine It All On) all showed greater impact up through significantly higher SPLs.

Meanwhile all else is right in the VSM universe. The mid-band is still SOTA for me;
voices on Sam Cook's Night Beat, Marti Jones' Unsophisticated Time, Joan Armitrading, etc. etc. were consistently as good as I've heard.
massed horns from the aforementioned Sinatra through Duke Ellington's Queens Suite and Intimacy of the Blues are still stunning.
Individual Horn timbre still amazes (The Hawk Flies High, etc.)

My take - this is the same speaker with obviously improved deep bass performance. My gut impression is that little adjustment was made in the warmth region (maybe tweaked up a smidge) but that the overall signature feels warmer by dint of increased energy below 60ish cycles. This is just a guess - no measurements taken.

IN SUMMARY

Bobby likes to talk in percentage improvement. I can't say that I think that way and I would be at a total loss to attach a number. I would say that this is the same speaker with so much of its near SOTA capability retained and its most obvious shortcoming significantly redressed. If you liked the SE, I'm almost certain you'll love the cuurrent version. If you were lukewarm, you might find yourself convinced. If you REALLY didn't get the appeall of the SE, I doubt this new version will be your cup of tea.

Though true headbangers still need not apply - I suspect that just about everyone else will really like this speaker. FOR THE MOMENT, it has displaced the Verity P/E as my first choice for serious listening to high quality source material. It's new and that may change over time, but for me-for now- it's about as strong an endorsement as I can provide.

Marty

A Note; The speaker still seams amp friendly in a big way. They work like champs with Cary 805s (expensive) and Pancor Dyna re-issues (dirt cheap). Haven't yet had rthe chance to try my 300Bs.

Another note: Bobby uses BAX global which has about as good a rep as any shipper I know. Unfortunately, it seems that BAX subbed out the "last mile" in this case to a local company which, from the appearance of the crates, uses chain saws to move boxes. Notwithstanding serious damage to the cartons, the speakers arrived unscathed. Score on for for Merlin's packing/crating protocol.
martykl
I must say that over the past two years with my Merlin TSM-MXs I have really enjoyed the Merlin magic these speakers convey. A delightful listening experience.

Two weeks ago, I upgraded to the TSM-MXe.

Very first impressionÂ…
Midrange clarity and texture were excellent, an immediately noticeable difference. No strain for my ARS Sonum Filarmonia amp which effortlessly presented the music. The greater clarity here seemed to offer better contrast to the background. Like a lower noise floor. I guess I'm fortunate in that I have a basement (all to myself) that is dead quiet so I can really hear these improvements in sound quality. The highs were very good but at first sounded a little less clear on the top. I called Bobby and he advised that the new no-lead jumpers needs a little time to settle in.

By the end of the 2nd week Â…
The mid-range clarity was excellent. Highs were clear and overall presentation top to bottom was smoother and more balanced. Lower mids and base developed a clearer fuller tone with rich texture. I can best describe this by the reproduction of the tones of a stand-up base, which sounded fantastic. Piano (my favorite), sounded clear with excellent decay.

As I mentioned, these MXes are mated with my beautiful ARS Sonum Filarmonia. Although my Filarmonia has the ability to drive the TSMs quite loud even in my large room which is 17 x 26 x 8, I do use a sub for tonal balance due to room size. The combo is superb.

Let me just say this is a no-brainer upgrade which improved the performance of this already excellent speaker beyond my expectations. Thanks Bobby for the fast turnaround in less than a week!
This is a copy of an email I recently sent to Bobby in regard to my Merlin VSM-MM.
Hi Bobby,
Yeah, I recieved the lead free jumpers, the 230amp batteries and lead free power cord for Superbam, but I incurred a back injury shortly after recieving items so wasn't able to give a lot of listening impressions. After more listening impressions I can now report that what I hear is really quite amazing for what seemed like minor changes to me.
First of all, another level of transparency, background details I previously strained to hear are now simply there, just part of the mix, not spotlighted like I've sometimes heard with other system upgrades, wow!
The second improvement is more profound, the bass is so much more articulate, and I can now much better hear the tonal characteristics of drums and bass string instruments. This improvement has also lowered the frequency balance of my system, instead of being slightly balanced towards the upper mids, my system now seems more perfectly balanced, slightly lower in frequency. I also find myself now focusing more on lower frequency information, I think I may have shaded my focus towards upper frequencies previously, as the lower frequencies were simply not as articulate and tuneful as the mids and highs, I'm sure this plays a role in my perspective of tonal balance as well. Simply put, these upgrades are awesome, what I previously thought was 'just right' seems to have been an illusion. I will defintely go with the entire lead free upgrade when I can find the time to visit NY.
Thanks again Bobby, Scott
Bobby, you could obviously design any kind of speaker that you want, and in the early days you did design very different speakers. You made the decision to master the execution of a two-drive, "full-range" speaker with one x-over, using the BAM to(?) avoid a third driver with an additional x-over. Is your decision not to design a multi-driver three-way based on inherent problems of complexity (a design principal), or the difficulty of mastering and perfecting two very different approaches to making a full-range speaker? The VSM-MXe is the result of evolution and perfecting over time, so I guess I'm looking for some insight into your approach to speaker design and what you have chosen to bring to market.
paul,
originally my goal was bandwidth, so i made bigger multidriver systems with a larger wave lauch. these were better suited to larger rooms. now i strive to make the speakers be as coherent as possible, like a one way in effect. with vastly superior continuity and completeness. multidriver systems have their own inherent flaws with diffraction, stratification of output, complication/just more to make sound like one. to me the less complicated system can and does disapear more so and sound like it is energizing the air to a greater degree. smaller rooms are what most of us live in so i spend my time working on products better suited to this end.
musical center is where is am now. of course if you want to use merlin speakers in bigger rooms and need more bandwidth, use a sub.
best,
b