Really Great Art

by Uwe Kirbach
Stereo Magazine 9/2007 (Germany)
Translation: Volker Franke

 Bobby Palkovic and his floor-standing Merlin loudspeakers are gray eminences in US-high-end: More than 50 manufacturers are using this two-way design as their reference.  Thirteen years of development have now rendered the newest version, the VSM-MXe.  It surprises and excites with unique characteristics.

 Everybody remembers their first encounter with stereo-headphones.  Exciting, funny things happen in your head.  Or the first bass-waves flapping your pant legs.  Then, the intense first experience of spatial presentation from a stereo system.  A powerful, for some even drug-like feeling, to let the speakers virtually transport you to the recording venue, irrespective of whether it is a real or an artificial electronic space.  Apart from such sensory kicks – isn’t the purpose of music to transport the listener into another world?

 Bobby Palkovic’s Merlin VSM-MXe floor-standing loudspeaker, in its current incarnation, fulfills this purpose in a sheer shocking way.  It tears open the window into recorded space.  Unbelievably extended representations are possible, just like the lowest exhalation of notes, in all their spatial depth. This especially contributes to the live-like experience.  And this does not come as the result of an effect-loudspeaker, but of one that is extremely balanced, as it proved after some initial doubts. 

 The speakers disappear completely both as acoustically as well as physically recognizable objects.  Even with the most dissolving enclosures, one usually gets the impression of an acoustic focus right around the speakers.  The Merlin, by contrast, when driven by optimal equipment, disappears completely as an identifiable source of sound from the listening position.  Good-bye speaker sound.  But not like other speakers, which are not locatable with closed eyes.  Most of the time, they do not just let the cabinet itself disappear, but right along with it, they also dissolve the body of the instruments.  Result: the sound floats spherically in space.  Not with the Merlins.  They present the physical presence of an acoustic bass, a bongo far outside the loudspeaker base, with all their lumps and bumps.  Absolutely fascinating!

 But the Merlins are shocking in another respect as well.  Just like they reveal the unique characteristics of the upstream system in never-before-experienced clarity, e.g., in terms of variations among different pre-amps, the overall sonics vary immensely as well.  There was superb bass and wonderful slip-proof tonal control from the current version of the Jadis JP 80 MC.  By contrast, the Mark Levinson-voiced Red Rose Silver Signature demonstrated its extraordinary ability to display spatial width and the positioning of instruments therein.  Kondo’s KSL-M7 pre-amp mesmerized with its superior portrayal of sonic colors and its very special palpability and inner coherence; Linn’s Klimax convinced with its determination and captivating, energetic spirit.  But the unbelievably transparent Merlin also reveals, at times relentlessly, how far away the various pre-amps are from the greatest advantages of the others.  Although everything speaks for the Merlin, its phenomenal transparency is no doubt the result of its exceptional absence of any discoloration and distortion.  At the end of a sonic chain, however, this has consequences: Every upstream flaw entered into the system will be ruthlessly revealed.  Not in such a way that the Merlins would amplify them, like equipment that merely magnifies distortion.  Not at all.  But in such a way that audible deficiencies will come to the fore.  Prior to the Merlin VSM-MXe, no other loudspeaker insisted continuously that I check all aspects of the equipment and over and over try to improve them.  One thought appeared, as I moved footers, searched for the ideal cable and worked on the otherwise very satisfying acoustics of my listening room: Instead of listening to this or that musical passage for the hundredth time while tuning, I could actually calmly play new or long neglected records.  Perhaps listening to a Verity Parsifal Ovation, which is also among the very best in terms of musicality and transparency, but which also conveys a smooth and forgiving silkiness.

 On the other hand, somebody ought to develop forcefully into the future in a loudspeaker market in which the majority steps in place.  And Bobby Palkovic has really generated a series of innovations over the past 13 years of development.  It all starts with the enclosure: Externally visible are three brass tuning-rods integrated on top and in the front of the cabinet.  They serve to control the pitch movement of resonance patterns in the baffle.  Under the automobile paint, we find unsuspected basic material: so-called pan-fiber, especially dense pressed material made out of Canadian wood pulp, distinguished from regular MDF by its significantly smaller proportion of synthetic glue.

 Noticeable is also the unusually large radius of the rounded edges.  They result in minimal corner diffractions and produce consistent diffusion, so that acoustically the loudspeaker resembles a diffusing ball.  This uninhibited diffusion presented itself with an unusual characteristic: As the first front-firing loudspeaker, the Merlins preferred room treatments at the center back wall and side walls of the listening room for balanced sonic colors and a truly magical spatial presentation.  Similar to the careful selection of system components, the Merlin also requires the utmost audiophile care in its positioning.  But in return, it presents an unusually small basic footprint and allows for positioning further away from the sidewalls.  Its developer not only recommends a distance of about two meters between speakers and a minimum of three meters from the listening position, he even furnishes a wooden alignment tool that allows quick placement of the loudspeakers at an angle of 10 degrees from the listening chair. 

 While constructing the crossover and selecting the cabinet, Palkovic realized that sharp phase changes are particularly annoying to our auditory senses.  As a consequence, he looked for two enclosures that provided a smooth in-phase transition for his favorite 12-dB crossover.  Dynaudio’s famous and expensive Esotar tweeter and a Scanspeak 8545-06 woofer, specially built for Merlin, fulfill these requirements.  Indeed, even after months of listening, both superb enclosures still sounded like they are one unit, one piece of the puzzle helping the speaker’s virtual acoustic disappearing act.

 Exciting in this context are also the adjustable feet.  Their five-part construction supposedly took two years.  They are manufactured by a supplier for the air space industry who guarantees their sonically-optimized thread tolerances.  Crazy!  They demonstrated their function in direct comparison to the usually superior Harmonix TU 220-MT.  Both sounded virtually identical underneath the Merlins.

 The fact that Bobby Palkovic exclusively uses first-rate, and at their price point by no means standard, expensive parts is evident everywhere.  Only a pair of thin jumpers looks pretty inconspicuous.  But they proved to be cyro-treated Cardas jumpers that prompted a big Eureka-effect: Using them locked the sonic picture into place.  Sonic colors, dynamics, spatial presentation extended wonderfully, and the music attained a decisive rhythmic boost.  The developer, who resides in the state of New York, explained to my surprise, that the jumpers provided the tweeters with precisely balanced levels, impossible to achieve with any other cable.  Later on it became apparent that the Cardas Golden Reference loudspeaker cable harmonized particularly well between amplifier and speakers, resulting in a natural extension and fuller body of the lower mids.  But decisive in the superb overall result were the jumpers.  You can safely save on expensive bi-wiring.

 Instead, you will need an additional interconnect in another important place.  Palkovic distributes his speaker with a so-called Super BAM, a box that connected into the system fulfills three functions: at 35 dB it boosts the bass by about 5 dB enabling the speaker to provide bass delivery of a box twice its size but without its problems.  This is because it corrects phase in exactly that region and cuts off below 28 Hertz as well as above 200 kHz.  The lower cut-off relieves amp and speaker of the amplification of frequencies that would normally lead to considerable intermodulations, which is typically indicated by soft, booming bass and noticeably lowered maximum volume levels.

 The upper cut-off frees the system from high frequencies and the effects of electromagnetic interferences.  Indeed, the Super-BAM delivers convincing results.  With it, the Merlin can play incredibly loud, Palkovic notes more than 110 dB, but more than anything, it is in the best sense of the word a prerequisite for the speaker’s incredible transparency.  Obviously, the BAM creates such a radically improved work environment for loudspeaker and amplifier that you can burry any concern over having this additional component in your system.  Its advantages are simply irresistibly fantastic.

 But the Super-BAM creates more difficult user conditions.  You will need either a tape loop, i.e., an active monitor switch at the pre-amp, to include it.  Or you can connect it between CD player and pre-amp – if you do not listen to any other source.  A pre-amp with built-in phono-stage, but without tape monitor, will leave you in the cold regarding the Super-BAM.  It can’t be incorporated.  I cannot recommend the alternative suggested in the instruction manual of connecting it between pre-amp and amplifier.  All attempts with different components resulted in a cooling of the sound.  Obviously, the dedicated connection through the pre-amp is the preferred option.  But, you can also order your Super-BAM with a second set of inputs, e.g., for connecting a stand-alone phono-stage, at extra cost.

 Since the Merlin VSM-MXes did not seem power hungry, thanks to the Super-BAM, I tried them with an inexpensive integrated amplifier, Unison’s Sinfonia.  Indeed, 30 Watts are enough, even in my large, notoriously power-sucking listening room.  In addition, an excellent integrated amp can shorten the path to a homogenous sonic picture.  Also, the balance of the cables is important; artificial effects provided by some ultra-expensive exotic cables are ruthlessly revealed by the Merlins.  The clean sounding, well manufactured, and at the same time relatively inexpensive Ensemble-Leiter Dynaflux and Megaflux did an excellent job.

 Regardless of whether the latest version of the Merlin VSM is used in a well-tempered, cost-effective system or in the ultimately tuned super-high-end system, Bobby Palkovic’s unbelievably efficient creation will put its musical spell on any listener. 

 These are the sophisticated all-round speakers with low power requirements that I have been waiting for.  Why did I not describe all their fascinating capabilities with ample musical examples?  Because I would then have described only the recordings and the connected components.  This is how neutral the Merlin VSM-MXe play.  No wonder, that they are used as a trusted developmental tool by manufacturers ranging from Cardas to VPI.  Should you have the Davos-LP (Reference Recordings RR-12) handy: on to the Merlin dealer and turn it up really loud.  You will listen all the way into the room, see into it, feel the high sonic energy like meteorite fireworks on your skin.  And then, when playing “The Gates of Davos” you will be tossed from the turned-over giant drum The Beast back into your chair.  Crazy live-like levels.  The cabinet produces incredible vibrancy while remaining completely stable.

 Exciting, funny things happen in your head.  Bass waves that flap paper on the table, but not from a noisy bass port.  Extreme experiences of space … a powerful, drug-like feeling, to let yourself be transported right to the recording venue by these two loudspeakers.