[An Excerpt From]
Music, Sound and Personalities:
The 2004 CES and T.H.E. Show

by Dave Glackin
Text and photos by Dave Glackin

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Bobby Palkovic, in the best photo I’ve ever taken of him

It is always a pleasure to spend time in the Merlin Music Systems room. I’ve awarded the gracious Bobby Palkovic best sound in show several times in recent years. Bobby has continued to improve his very highly regarded Merlin VSM loudspeakers, and this year they were sounding exceedingly neutral and transparent, with a really fleshed-out soundstage, basically better than ever. The Merlins were being fed by a VPI TNT 6 turntable, a Convergent Audio Technologies (CAT) SL1 Ultimate preamplifier, and CAT JL3 triode monoblock amps. Thanks for your hospitality, Bobby, and for providing a calm harbor within the boiling tempest of CES for year after year

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