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MY REVIEW: Merlin TSM MMM BME

The Good & The Great speakers!

Cont’d from my last initial thoughts of these new TSM MMM BME (black magic edition) monitors…..

The TSM have averaged close to 300 hours emerging truthfully and sonically superior. I’ve not heard a more honest speaker such as these. When I listen to the music coming out of these monitors, my only thoughts are of memories, times and places of my life. Its funny how certain moments in life are summed up by various music/songs. That’s what happens when you have a good pair of speakers – you no longer listen to the equipment but drawn by the music. The speakers are so uncolored and true that it allows me to emotionally connect with simply the music and the artist. The new TSM black magic are like a candle in the darkness, it leaves nothing unhidden.

I’ve put this monitor into ring fights against ‘the great’ Sonus Faber Auditor, Devore Fidelity 3XL and Joseph Audio Pulsar. The TSM MMM Black Magic KO’d them all. There are 2 truths at play here: One is that many people do not know what instruments sound like in real life – hence confirming their lack of knowledge to listening since they have been so used to artificial sweeteners (colored sounding speakers) in their daily life. Secondly, most audiophiles will simply abandon and blame the truthfulness of the TSM because it reveals too much of the users faulty upstream components.

Perhaps the TSM black magic edition may still not appease to everyone as their cup of tea…not everyone is a musician who can hear true tones, attacks, decays and pitches of music from live instruments. Otherwise all other speaker manufacturers would have folded years ago. But to those who accept nothing but the truth, I gladly applaud and announce the Merlin TSM MMM Black Magic. It is the good speaker. After so many hours with this pair of TSM, the search is over. Yes Captain Kirk and the crew of the enterprise can come home now and begin a new voyage. The time now is to search out new music, different genres and perhaps make new memories with music as opposed to jumping on Agon or Ebay to rotate audio equipment. Time to get off the merry-go-round folks! And the new TSM is the ticket off that merry-go-round. Time to wake up from the Matrix and realize…the truth.

Please note that in my review of these newly acquired speakers of mine, I don’t talk about what the lows, mids or highs are doing. Why? Because everything the speakers do are musically correct! Who has time to dissect and regurgitate what others have stated already? Not me. Just listen!

Good speakers will leave you hungry for more music because it has subconsciously touched you at an emotional level. That’s what the TSM do! Great speakers (those the TSM KO’d) will grab your attention for a few minutes and then kick you out of the room. Maybe subconsciously making you want to go do something else altogether. Great speakers will fuel that wicked cycle of going through dozens of pairs of speakers and equipment throughout your lifetime here on earth.

Where do I go from here? I’m not sure. I guess I’m done? Like the alcoholic audio trader who’s come out of Agon rehab (from constantly trading audio equipment for years), like the convict exiting the cells from a 20yrs sentence…what to do now??? The TSM MMM BME has been my ticket out from that wicked cycle of audio trading. For those that are willing to listen they are wise. Only the fool, will say otherwise and to them they re-enter that merry-go-round madness still constantly searching….fast asleep within the Matrix.

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Sophia Electric 126S, Merlin TSM MMM BME (Black Magic Edition), Grover Huffman ZX, Shunyata, Sound Anchors, Well Tempered Record Player, Nagaoka MP-50, Heed Audio Quasar, ASI resonators & sugar cubes
vangstr
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,351 posts
 
Thanks, I needed a good puke.
sufentanil's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
sufentanil
782 posts
 
I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to communicate here.

I become skeptical when I hear assertions that one thing is the true way and everything else isn't, or that one thing does everything perfectly and everything else doesn't. Life is a series of trade-offs, and audio is no exception. Some speakers have an incredible dynamic range, others can hit very low bass notes in a realistic way, others have very well etched high frequencies that can accurately illustrate the shimmer of a cymbal, while yet others present the individual instruments as if they are properly arranged in three dimensions. So when I hear your assertion that "everything the speakers do are musically correct", it gives me pause.

I've heard Merlins, and thought they were very nice speakers. But the be-all-end-all, of course not. Nothing is.

I'm happy that you've found your speaker Nirvana, but I think in the future it would be more useful to fellow audiophiles to list different music that you've played through it and how its response compares with others that you've heard, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of this speaker vs some others.

Just my 2 cents.

Michael
chayro
2,926 posts
 
@Dekay- that was damn funny. Thank you for the gift of a good laugh.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
+1 Sufentanil! Very well said Michael!!

@Dekay, LOL!!
vangstr OP
28 posts
 
@Sufentanil - thanks for your response.

I appreciate maturity over immaturity. I listen to electronic, jazz and vocal. In the write up i wanted to skip over the usual repetoire of discussion that of other reviewers who go on to discuss little sparkles here or there…the more natural timbre here in that passage/song etc.. or the the highs were better in this or that way… because not everyone listens or will go out of their way to get that master track and listen for the same thing. Nor would they even know what that particular passage really sounds like in real life thats the truth. In reality, I would even dare to say that 50% of audiophiles out there haven't a clue as to knowing how real instruments such as drums, bass, cello, piano etc sounds like in real life - when in reality they just think they know - they really haven't a clue. You'll have to message me for that music list.

Most audiophiles been brought up their whole life listening to colored speakers that to them have become the norm - the standard - then upon hearing something with correct tones, pitches, attacks, they question it as "wrong" or that something is "missing". Granted the TSMs are not going to harness deep into the sub 40-50hz regions but well enough to differentiate the different tones therein accurately. Hearing this new speaker is believing! And to me, accuracy is very important (as opposed to a mere boom boom down to 35hz - I'll leave that to the un-trained ear), enough that when I hear drum kicks and brushes - being able to discern a nylon string from steel strings - the pitch of an artists voice - to me this and more... the TSM did all those very well. When a trio plays together, you can hear them individually playing together not merely as one note. I was simply listening to the music washing over me as opposed to listening with the eyes. To all the nayers out there, they can go challenge themselves with blind listening tests - a guaranty of failure for many. So for me, of all the speakers I've come across, none has been more truer in musical display than this one.

Unlearning bad habits is tough but once done, one can simply search for the truest and leave the mere hifi to those still in search of rumbling bass that rattles the picture frames or the high frequencies that only animals can hear.

Like you said, of course it's not the "be-all" speaker - of course not, but if this speaker fulfills up to 90% of correctly played music (which I am sure of) I can happily live with it. Granted it is not going to do subsonic base and earth shattering theatre surround because that is for the mere hifi audiophile.

I've owned a good half of and auditioned others of the following speaker brands in the past 5 years of this hobby: (owned) Harbeth C7 & P3, (owned) ProAc 1SC, (owned) Sonus Faber Auditor, Dynaudio Special 25, (owned) Totem Model 1, (owned) Devore Fidelity Gibbon 3, 3XL, and Nines, (owned) Reference 3A De Capo, Von Schweikert (model predecessor to VR5), (owned) Vienna Acoustic Haydn, Tannoy Kensington, Joseph Audio Pulsar and finally Studio Electric Monitor SE.

Please message me for specifics as to what I thought about each one - this response is long enough. Kudos to you if you've read this far - some have already skipped this with a laugh or as waste of their insignificant knowledge. Every kind of tires out there for everybody as you can see, but for me I've picked my all seasons and have come to call it quits. As I've stated, no more merry-go-round.
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