AUDIO IDEAS GUIDE (Canada)
January, 1997

Merlin VSM
Suggested. Retail: $5500 pr (Canadian Dollars)
Dimensions: 42 7/8"H x 8 5/8"W x 10 1/2"D
Canadian Distributor: Tri-cell Enterprises
4 Newlove Court, Rexdale, Ontario M9W 5XS
PHONE: (416) 748-8300
FAX: (416) 748-6937

Accompanied by a folder full of fulsome praise, the Merlin VSM was apparently developed for "recording studio use and high-end home entertainment systems", and "was critically designed meet the unique demands concerning professional performance parameters and State of the Art sound reproduction." Its main claim to fame is the DynAudio Esotar D330 tweeter, of which only 1,000 pairs are manufactured annually. According to the fulsome folder, "it is the general consensus of the press that the Esotar is the finest high-frequency reproducer ever made." The claimed frequency response of the Esotar is +/-1.75 dB from 2150 to 20,000 Hz, and only down 2 dB at 30 kHz.

The matching woofer is from ScanSpeak, a carbon-fiber/paper composite 6 1/2" driver with an inverted dust cap at center and a 2" voice coil. Crossover is at 2150 Hz, and the circuit uses "Hovland aluminum foil and polypropylene capacitors. Caddock metal film resistors mounted on heat sinks", and is wired with Cardas cable. Inputs are bi-wire Edison-Price Music Posts.

The VSM comes finished in black paint with Brass accent strips on front and top. The cabinet is very solid and rigid, with 23 pounds of "compressed fine grain sand" inside, and a 1 1/2" thick front baffle. The enclosure is also heavily braced and weighs 80 pounds (including the sand). Screw-in cones are provided, three for each speaker, and it was recommended to me that the VSMs be tilted back about 5 degrees for best sound.

Our measurements confirmed the smooth frequency response, as the summed axial response (SAR@ at top shows. The Pink Noise Sweep (SNR) that overlays the SAR is even smoother in the treble, showing the tweeter's even radiation into the room. In the bass the divergence between SAR and PNS simply indicates this front ported design's limited interaction with room boundaries; the port is quite high above the floor on the baffle (24"), and could therefore use a little corner reinforcement to bring up the bass. Overall, response is very linear from 40 Hz to about 9 kHz, +/-2 dB in the room curves over a 30 degree listening window, especially smooth between 15 and 30 degrees. I'll say more about the significance of this below.

Even the quasi-anechoic curve (second from top) is very linear covering a +/-3 dB tolerance from 800 to 20 kHz. This on-axis unsmoothed measurement is useful in that it often indicates audible anomalies that seem to disappear in the smoothing of the axial measurements at 0, 15, 30, and 60 off axis. Here we see a minimum of lobing across the crossover region, with a few dips at and above 2.5 kHz, with a little extra energy at 10 kHz. As can be seen in the axial curves, this is a controlled directivity design, but one with a lot of energy within the listening window above 2 kHz. Normally the SAR and PNS curves will tend to roll off a little with increasing frequency.

Impedance is well controlled, hovering within 5 ohms of 20 ohms across the frequency range, while electrical phase is exceptionally accurate. With its high impedance and accurate phase, the VSM should be an easy load to drive, and is quite efficient with a 90 dB/watt sensitivity, and is said to be able to handle 200 watts of power. Low-powered tube amplifiers may be an option here.

Driven by the Bryston 3B ST and the N.E.W. DCA-66 with its battery power supply, I found the sound of the Merlin VSM somewhat bright, even after tilting it back on its coned spikes, and experimenting with wall proximity. It will sound best quite close to a rear wall, its high front port not as easily excited by boundaries in the deep bass.

The Merlin does have a hint of pedal, though not as much as the nearfield bass measurements suggest. Still, excellent bass is possible from this very good woofer-with the speakers near corners. Choral voices were very clear through the VSM pair, with individual voices delineated, but some extra sibilance intruded, and our female voice test was a little sharp in sound. The Esotar shows lots of detail and transient speed, but though neutral and quick, it is also unforgiving as well as revealing.

Percussion could be a bit splashy at high levels, though the VSM will play loud, and that little 10 kHz peak in the quasi-anechoic measurements may be what I was hearing; these speakers will sound best straight ahead with the listener on a 20 axis between them, as suggested in the axial measurements and noted above.

There is an immediacy about the VSM that will excite many who hear it. Many speaker designers intentionally pull back the midrange a bit to help put the image a little behind the speakers, but Merlin designer Bobby Palkovic seems to want this speaker to put voices and instruments in the room in front of the speakers. This effect is underscored by its fast macro- and micro-dynamics, an impressively explosive quality, and the remarkably full and deep soundstage. These speakers image very well, their point source character a major strength of the Esotar tweeter.

There is also a harmonic integrity in the VSM's sound that makes for excellent string tone, from violas to cellos and basses, and very realistic (and dynamic) brass; you may be a little too close to the conductor, but you're definitely there.

The overall impression of the Merlin VSM is of a very accurate and revealing speaker that will require very good sources and electronics upstream. More of a studio monitor than home hi-fi speaker, I found much to admire in it but less to find affection for, and I say this having lived with such studio monitors as the B&W Matrix 802. But in a wider room than mine, say 15 feet or more, and with the speakers widely separated and a listening distance of about 15 feet, too, the VSM can provide a very realistic picture of a musical event.

Though I know of no consensus among journalists on the superiority of the DynAudio Esotar tweeter, the Merlin VSM has been getting some good press, which is well deserved. As a truly accurate high-end speaker it has earned it, and I recommend an audition to anyone seeking this accuracy, and sonic revelation on a smaller scale than that of the Waveform.

VSM

Click for Specs

Merlin Music Systems Inc.
4705 Main Street, PO Box 146
Hemlock, New York 14466
PH (585) 367-2390 FX (585) 367-2685
E-mail: info@merlinmusic.com
www.merlinmusic.com