Merlin Music Systems Published Reviews

[PUBLISHED REVIEWS]

PREFACE: The following review is of the GenII Merlin VSM loudspeakers. Please refer to the VSM product literature pages for a description of the changes made since the GenII VSM. We apologize that the rest of the system description and VSM technical description is missing in this review. The whole review addressed other components (electronics) as well, but the magazine only furnished the translation for that part applicable to the VSMs which is exactly what we have reprinted below.

HI-FI DREAM, ITALY
FEBRUARY 1996

The Loudspeakers

The Merlin VSMs are from Merlin Music Systems Inc. American equipment, imported for some time now to Italy by Bluenote of Florence, the same company that imports the Bruce Moores products. The Merlin loudspeakers make no bones about their ambitions to rank among the top in the world. The price, which doesn’t top 10 million lire, makes them one of the smartest and most attractive buys for shrewd audiophiles with a good ear. But let me just free-wheel on about them, always the best thing to do with a product of this type on which you could write a monograph. The Merlins are floor-standing loudspeakers built with skill and love by people who still have a taste for the best in things and the enthusiasm of the evolved build-it-yourselfer.

No pains are spared anywhere in the design and construction, beginning with the housing in 4-cm MDF with its carefully calculated form and shape. The interior is padded with resonance damping material, Dacron fiber and open-cell foam. On the bottom, a sealed container containing 23 pounds of sand adds mass to the structure is on top of a 13-cm thick block to which the spikes (about which I’ll talk in a minute) are screwed. The woofer, the tweeter (the VSMs are 2-channel reflex) and the crossover are each in separate chambers, so that the waves generated by the woofer cannot interfere with the other two components. In short, the maximum attention has been paid to every design detail. Thrift is a consideration only where it will have absolutely no influence on the sound (for example, a painted finish instead of prized wood veneers) and expense is no object where sound is concerned, even in the most minute details and those which appear insignificant. A few examples: the four Edison Price terminals are solid copper (and I personally feel they are the best there are); the wiring is Cardas; the crossover electronics is all extremely high quality metal-film deposition resistors, OFC hand-wound copper air inductors with 0.02% tolerance, etc.; both the top and the front panels include circular-section brass bars that increase the surface tension and modify the resonance of the two panels; finally, the adjustable spikes that screw in to the bottom panel; three or four may be used (there are five inserts on the bottom) according to whether the user prefers a cleaner sound (three spikes) or more presence (four spikes). These may seem to be nuances, but if they are, they are nuances that count. Another example: no jumpers are supplied for the four terminals. An oversight? I feel that Merlin is right not to supply them: the VSMs require two-wire piloting (or double-amping). I don’t think anyone ready to spend 10 million lire will be daunted by the cost of a second power cable. But the very best thing about these loudspeakers are the drivers themselves. The woofer is the Scan Speak 8545, a 17-cm of extraordinary quality. This speaker is sold only in matched pairs and it is one of the most costly dynamic speakers on the market (even though in hi-fi this fact is of only relative importance). The cone is in cellulose and carbon fiber with a neoprene suspension which is braked to prevent excessive cone travel in order to assure minor distortion and to permit application of great powers.

In the Merlin loudspeakers, this woofer works in a 19-liter chamber and is capable of response to within 1.75 dB from 50 to 2150 Hz (crossover cutout frequency) and can reach 37 Hz with only 6 dB attenuation. not bad at all for only 17 centimeters! What’s more, it can effortlessly support 200 watts, producing 110 dB of sound pressure…

The Listening Environment

Never, but above all in the case of important systems, must we forget to take environmental acoustics into consideration. It must nevertheless be said that, thanks to the great versatility of the Merlins and to the marked personality of the system sound, the problem is less evident in this case than in others. But it still exists, and can be summed up as follows: there is no guarantee that the level of elegance and balance achieved in the sound of a system in a given environment can be maintained intact in another environment. It is therefore always worthwhile point up how, even if it is highly probable that the overall sound characteristics will remain unaltered in different environments, the details will always be more closely linked to the acoustics of the space in which testing is carried out. In any case, I am basically convinced that a little care is all that is needed to install the system I have presented without excessive differences in sound. And this is another of the many advantages of the system. Out of fairness, nevertheless, I must remind you that my test-room is an environment of about 100 cubic meters with acoustics that are correct but tending to absorb sound, due to the inclusion of rugs, curtains, sofas and above all Tube Traps strategically placed in the corners and along the walls.

The Sound

The most striking thing about the sound is that absolutely no one characteristic strikes you. This means that everything is perfectly balanced or at least that all the parameters are brought together in an absolutely natural manner. I realize that in these cases speaking of musicality might be considered to have little meaning or to be too abstract. But if you have occasion to listen to the my system you will understand that musicality is exactly the right term for the lure of the system sound. My audiophile friends who dropped in to my test room before and after Christmas have all been enchanted by this non-system system to the point that they didn’t want to leave. Not that we have achieved absolute sound - which doesn’t exist - and neither can we talk off the cuff about the impossibility of improvement or a sound for all tastes. Despite what some may think, the audiophile luckily still has a strong leaning toward that individualistic subjectivity which represents one of the few remaining obstacles to the total leveling-out of our brains. And it is therefore legit - and for me, still a cause for satisfaction - that some of you may consider this a type of sound you do not like. This does not stop its being a truly splendid sound. It is incredibly dynamic. The contrast makes the details pour out in a continual flow and assures that each detail is rich and in perfect focus. It is as coherent as single-channel sound. You never notice the crossover and I might add that there is no hiss whatsoever coming from the vented port. Listening fatigue has been completely eliminated. This means that it is a sound for true music lovers, for people who listen to their systems often and for long periods and whose satisfaction lies not in owning certain equipment but rather derives from a love for well-reproduced music. I listened to records after records, both high-quality recordings and lower-standard recordings. Our system did justice to all of them. Even when the system inevitably let us hear the limits and the defects of a recording, it never humiliated nor mistreated it. You could hear that it was doing all it could to make the sound acceptable. And believe me, the hi-dreams capable of uniting such a well placed penchant for forgiveness with a rigor suitable for quality recordings are very few and far between. And what’s more it’s extremely versatile. Are you a jazz fan? This system recreates all the lure of jazz, discreetly pointing up the solos, placing all the instruments accurately in space, succeeding in immediately communicating a sense of rhythm. Do you prefer chamber music? You have the string quartet you like so much right in front of you, with its rich and sparkling violins, the warmer and more staid viola, and the cello that sounds like it’s singing. Do you love symphonic music? Reproduction of the symphony orchestra is one of the pieces de resistance of our system, since it is capable of transmitting the feeling of the whole without, if you listen carefully, giving up reproducing the sound of each instrument with great precision. This is thanks to a great capacity for introspection, but also to the extreme correctness of the tone-color. Do you like rock? The speed and the dynamics are overwhelming: involvement is guaranteed. Do you prefer opera? Or singer-songwriters? Reproduction of the human voice is another of the strong points of this system. Coherence is in great plenty, there is no lack of separation nor of presence. Are you still doubting? The sound of this hi-dream is Sunday-best, scrupulous, rich in feeling and above all honest. It doesn’t cheat even when it would be excusable, and neither does it run rampant over the weak.

In a gentlemanly manner, it goes its way heedless of fashion and whim but always thoughtful of the ears of its owner. That’s what it is: a sound that transcends fashion might be the most apt summary.

Conclusions

I ask your pardon for the length of this article. I have taken unfair advantage of your patience and I am sorry. But I had three good reasons for being longer-winded that usual: one, hi-dream comes but once a year and, as the old folks say, once a year you owe it to yourself; two, the components of this system are almost all interesting novelties and I couldn’t pass up the occasion to talk about them in a little more detail; three, it’s not ever day that I find such clear support for my theory that at least in hi-fi it can happen that a whole is better than the sum of its already excellent component parts.

VSM

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