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Review: Merrill Audio Taranis Amplifier

Category: Amplifiers

Listening Impressions Taranis Class D amplifier from Merrill Audio

[url=http://www.merrillaudio.net/taranis.html]Teranis amp on Merrill site[/url]

This is a summary of listening impressions gained over the last few days during an in-home audition of Merrill Audio’s Taranis power amp. Some comments are in comparison to Cyber 800SE (tube monoblocks) and Hegel H200 (solid state integrated) gear listed below. Comparisons to these other amps were made on the basis of past listening experience with them, the Cybers being last used just before the Taranis was installed.

When reading reviews, I like to understand what equipment the reviewer has been listening to previously, as well as the supporting equipment used, room details, music played, listening habits etc.. Some of that info has been provided here too. Please pardon the resulting (lengthy) pre-amble.

Thanks to Guido Corona for suggesting the Taranis.

For professional reviews of the Taranis see:
Part Time Audiophile
[url=http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2015/06/17/review-merrill-audio-taranis-stereo-amplifier/]Part time Audiophile Review[/url]

Enjoy the Music
[url=http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0715/Merrill_Audio_Taranis_Stereo_Power_Amplifier_Review.htm]Enjoy the Music[/url]

Taranis amp – key features:
• 400 wpc into 8 ohms; 600 wpc into 4 ohms
• Custom designed input stage
• 100k input impedance
• Hypex Ncore NC500 module output stage
• Maximum Output: +/- 80 Volts, 26A (as reported by Tom Lyle, Enjoy the Music review)
• No caps in signal path
• Stainless steel case with mirror-finish front panel
• Dimensions: ~17”W x ~14 3/4”D x ~3 3/4”H
• Weight: less than 30 lbs.
• No conventional on/off switch
• Amp is powered up so long as power cord is attached
• Mute switch located right front underside of case
• LED based power meters on front panel
• On/off switch and brighness control for meters located left front underside of case

Room:
• ~20’ W x 21' L to 30’ L ; 8’ ceiling
(Length 21’-30’ due to right half of rear wall at 21’ dropping back to 30' on left)
• Speaker placement 37” from front wall and 6-7’ from side walls
• Typical listening volumes 80-87 db
(Radio Shack meter settings: C weighting, Slow response)
• SPLs measured at listening position ~8-9' from center of speakers
• Engineered hardwood floors with large padded area rugs
• GIK acoustic panels over drywall; 2 corner bass traps behind speakers

Music supporting observations reported here:
(titles in quotes are specific tracks used)
• Bozzio, Levin, Stevens - Black Light Syndrome “Duende”; “Book of Hours"
• Daniel Lanois - Belladonna “Sketches"
• Fabiano Araujo - Rheomusi “Negro"
• Peter Gabriel – So “Mercy Street”; “Excellent Birds"
• Rory Gallagher - S/T 1st solo "Gypsy Woman”

Listening impressions:
(as of writing, ~40 hrs. logged “burning in” w/XLO Test CD Track 9 and music)
1. Out of the box, sound is heavy in upper bass/lower mid-range. Treble rolled-off.
(newly re-installed cabling for use with Taranis possibly contributory)
2. After ~20hrs., things opened up considerably.
3. After ~24hrs., the music is very clear with good treble extension and improved tone balance.
4. After 40 hrs., noticeably more “air” + subtle improvements to treble, and tone bal.
5. Midrange is well represented. Sound is not lean.
6. No hint of thin or shrill at any point.
7. Not harsh or fatiguing even at volume.
8. No trace of any distortion or “muddiness”.
9. Instrument separation remains good even when things get busy (and loud).
10. Good definition at leading edges of notes. Clean attack.
11. Excellent resolution yet very easy on the ears. Not edgy or harsh.
12. Detail preserved even at lower volumes..
13. Good high frequency extension tho’ not “sparkly”; but treble is natural sounding.
14. Listening to XLO CD (Track 7 Demagnetizing Sweep) SPLs across frequency range feel largely constant - more so than with Cybers. During sweep, can feel increased SPL at higher freq. w/Cybers.
15. Tone balance falls between Hegel and Cybers…brighter than Hegel but not as bright as Cybers. (Yup, tubes brighter than ss in my system/room, to my ears)
16. Images are very solid and stable.
17. Center fill between speakers is the best ever.
18. Along with remarkable clarity, strong image support is key a attribute of this amp.
19. Bass seems slightly deeper than w/Hegel or Cybers (e.g., Gypsy Woman) and is well controlled.
20. Bass is nicely “nuanced” (texture, timbre, tone, etc.); e.g., Book of Hours.
21. Sound stage is wide (wider?) and high (higher?). Extends well outside speakers.
22. Front of sound stage possibly slightly more forward than with Hegel or Cybers.
23. Stage depth, ambient detail, air - a little reduced compared to Cybers.
24. Merrill suggests reduced “airiness” due to less “out of phase” artifacts than with tubes. I think difference in treble balance contributes. BUT Taranis’ sound definitely gained airiness with time in use.
25. Compared to Hegel or Cybers, Taranis seems to support slightly greater separation of layered/multi-tracked vocals; e.g., PG on Mercy Street; PG&LA on Excellent Birds.
26. Layering of instruments (especially percussion effects) on Sketches is striking.
27. Decays last a long time (e.g., Sketches)
28. Very low noise floor. On a couple of occasions, startled by silence between tracks; thought CD player had stopped. Don’t understand this “effect”.
29. After 8+ hrs. continuous playing, amp case is comfortably warm, not at all hot.
30. Light weight is a boon for relocating equipment and for lower shipping costs.

Merrill has been great to deal with - responsive and gracious; a good person to do business with. Will purchase this amp. No consideration given for the write up. A write up was not discussed during our “negotiations” or at any other time.

Associated gear
• Consonance Ref 50 MkI preamp (2 6H30s; 1 EZ80) w/Pangea 14SE power cord
• Totem Forest speakers
• TEAC Distnction Series CD3000 w/Shunyata Venom S power cord
• Cardas Parsec IC (unbalanced) from TEAC to preamp (1M)
• Cabledyne XLR ICs from preamp to Taranis (1M) w/XLR to RCA male/male adapters at preamp (preamp is not balanced)
• Shunyata Venom power cord on Taranis
• Morrow Audio SP4 speaker cable (2M)
128x128ghosthouse
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse OP
4,281 posts
 
That's great you heard the Veritas, Don. Didn't know you were familiar with Merrill. They are certainly out of my league too (Thor's also would be a stretch, for that matter). I was mainly looking for a back up SS amp. Thought Class D because I already had an A/B SS integrated and had noted the "post-tubes" direction you took with amplification (though I did not know those were DIY). I contacted Guido about some used Class D stuff I saw on A'gon that was more affordable. He suggested I consider the Taranis. Can't comment on Guido's point about a Merrill house sound. But if that's the case, I like living in that house. I will hazard a guess that Merrill's custom input stage has something to do with it's stated 100K ohm input impedance that is allowing it to pair up nicely with the Ref 50 tube pre-amp I'm using. From the little reading I've done, I think high input impedance is otherwise not typical of Class D.

Regardless, the sound is excellent. Listening (LOUD) to some Tears for Fears that I haven't heard in years. Roland certainly enjoyed complex arrangements and multi-tracking. The sound with the Taranis is clean and uncongested. Nicely detailed but not harsh (I'm repeating my review, I guess). And saying clean does not mean sterile. The music has great heft and body. It's just more "there"...has great density (to steal someone else's adjective). 400 watts really has these Forests sitting up and talking.

OK. Fun stuff. Hope more people get to enjoy Merrill's tech. One final comment, as good as things do sound, I've ordered a Schiit SYS. We'll see how things sound without any pre-amplification. Output voltage from TEAC & Gungnir managed by a potentiometer should be adequate . We'll see if things remain as robust sounding as now or if they get all "anemic and skinny".

Later. Ciao.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Ghosthouse, the low input impedance of Class D modules is by no means universal.

For example the NC500 used in Teranis appears to have an input impedance of 16.5K Ohms, which is raised to 100K Ohms by the custom input stage designed by Merrill. On the other hand, the higher end NC1200 module has a much higher native input impedance, as seen in the Merrill Veritas for example, which uses the stock NC1200 circuitry to manage its inputs, and yet achieves a whopping 90KOhms of input impedance.

The Bel Canto Ref600 are also based on NCore NC500 and have their own custom input stage to create high imput impedance. They declare 200KOhms of input impedance.

Saluti, G.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse OP
4,281 posts
 
Guido - Thanks for that correction on "typical" Class D input impedance.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Charles, you will find some class D amps still today having input impedances below 10KOhms from some manufacturers. But higher tier manufacturers tend to ensure that their class D devices have high output impedances to ensure cross-compatibility with most SS and tube preamplifiers.

G.
dpatterson
105 posts
 
I have a Schiit SYS in my upstairs system with Bifrost w/ Uber upgrade running to Tube Audio Design Hibachi mono blocks and the Von Schweikert VR4jrs. It's not bad but I'm guessing you'll like your system with the preamp in. The SYS volume control isn't that great but what do you expect for $50.00. Probably going to send the Bifrost in for the multibit upgrade. Looking to move to Yggdrasil for the main system in a couple months when some used ones should be around.
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