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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
bobbyapalkovic
729 posts
 
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
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
I can't imagine adding a sub to the VSM-MXe and not feeling like I've ruined someting that did not need fixing. Like Scott says, the new lead-free stuff with the improved battery for the BAM makes bass that is totaly satisfying for me in terms of depth ( I listen to jazz primarily)and more articulate and communicative than ever, not that it was a slouch before.
bobbyapalkovic
729 posts
 
paul,
while it is true that the mxe is way more room filling than earlier versions, some who have very large spaces to fill would still not be happy. it is more of a tonality issue than the extention. i would run a sub second order at 30 to 35 hz in such a room. why give up the speaker's ability to sound as it can from 35 on up. subs are great if used correctly and in the right room.
you obviously don't need one.
best,
b
tabl10s's avatar
tabl10s
1,067 posts
 
I wonder how MXe's would sound with the Wilson Benesh Infrasonic Tone Generators?
bhoage
112 posts
 
I thought I'd just add my upgrade experience to the mix.

About little more than a month ago I loaded my Merlin's, (VSM-MX's into the car), and my wife and I drove them down to Bobby's place about 3 hrs away, give or take another 45 minutes to get across the border.

Bobby was great and took the time to show my wife and I around the place. It was really fun to see his whole operation and get a chance to look at the speakers in various states of construction. All in all it was a very pleasurable experience to be able to take the speakers there myself and get a better understanding/appreciation of what goes into manufacturing these great speakers. I would highly recommend this to anyone within driving distance.

Anyway, I've had the had the speakers back in my system for about a month now so I think I have a good handle on the changes.

First I would say that I noticed improved midrange clarity. There were vocal passages where they were clearer and easier to disern the words. I picked up on this improvement right away.

Next, the bass and lower mids have improved as well. The speakers now sound fuller/bigger than before. It's not an overpowering thing but there just seems to be a little more weight to the proceedings making everything seem a little bigger. My wife who doesn't really bother with this stuff but commented on it as well out of the blue, (no prompting from me on if she noticed any change or difference).

The other major aspect I've noticed is that the sound seems even more detached from the physical speakers. There was a substantial improvement for me with the battery, jumper and power cord lead free upgrade but with the upgrade to the speakers, now the last sense that the sound is actually coming out of the speakers themselves seems to have been removed. The music is just hanging there in space. I don't know if this is improved transparency or what but I can hear into the soundstage better as well. It really helps you to focus on the music and forget about the equipment, (the ultimate goal in my mind).

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the improvements that both upgrades have made and they have taken a great speaker and made them even better. If one were to do both upgrades at the same time I think they'd be astounded at how much better these already great speakers can get and I would highly recommend any of you contemplating it to go for it.

Thanks Bobby for continuing to evolve these speakers and helping us to get the most out of our investment.

Bryan
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