A Review Reprint From Volume 7 Issue Number 3

Impressions:
The Merlin VSM-SE Loudspeaker

David W. Robinson
Editor-In-Chief

A Note From Merlin - Though it may not be clearly apparent in David's and Jennifer's articles below, please note that the Merlin BAM is an integral standard part of the Merlin VSM-SE loudspeaker system and it IS included in the speakers $5,950US retail price. The BAM can be purchased seperately for other Merlin VSM loudspeaker models ($850US retail price, single ended model). VSM-SE loudpseaker systems are available on a special order basis without the BAM. Now to David Robinson's impressions . . .

Enter the Merlin VSM-SE...

It was at about this time that another pair of speakers arrived in River City. Bobby Palkovic of Merlin had sent to Jennifer Crock a pair of his new VSM-SE‘s with their "Bass Augmentation Module" (BAM; see Jennifer‘s comments on pp. 80-82 [listed below] ). We were curious to hear what the VSM-SE‘s would sound like with the KORA equipment in listening room two.

I first tried the Merlin‘s without the BAM, curious to see how the two-way would perform without it. The VSM-SE‘s displayed several excellent traits immediately:

Imaging — the new Merlin‘s possess that magical ability to seemingly melt away, to disappear, mated with a delicious power of placement. One could simply close one‘s eyes, and point here, then there, then over there, while listening to recordings like Verve‘s exceptional CD/vinyl editions of Van Morrison and Georgie Fame on How Long Has This Been Going On. (The British vinyl strikes these ears as definitely superior to the CD, though the CD is very, very good, amigos.) Mobile Fidelity‘s reissue of Don Henley‘s Building the Perfect Beast is a real treat for me...it‘s got a number of Henley songs that I enjoy...and the Merlin VSM-SE did a fine job in placing Henley and his musicians precisely.

Soundstage — the combination of the KORA and the VSM-SE‘s produced a soundstage that was very wide, though perhaps not quite as deep as the VR-4‘s. Listening room two is a bit difficult in that regard, and the VR-4‘s do a good job in this area, so it seemed to me that the VSM-SE‘s were doing well in tough company.

Tonality — Tonally, the KORA/Merlin VSM-SE system had a delicious midrange — no surprise there, I suppose — and didn't display any notable roll-off in the higher frequencies.

I should note that in one listening session, Jennifer Crock, Michael Crock and I did notice some clipping in the vocals during the superlative "Morgen" on John Marks Records‘ Reverie, Romantic Music for Quiet Times. (We were all taken somewhat aback, but the recording is surprisingly dynamic in places.) The problem was not repeated on other recordings.

The lack of full bass extension to a "full-range fan" like me was impossible to overlook, however. I had a good sense of the Merlin‘s without the contribution of the BAM. It was at this point that I had to put the BAM into place, to see if the foundation could be strengthened.

That helped! The bass became noticeably more full, and the ability of the KORA amps to do a credible job in maintaining control of the lower frequencies was made far more clear. A fullness, a richness was imparted to the sound that was larger than I expected, and transformed Merlin‘s speakers into surprisingly enchanting transducers. The VSM-SE‘s without the BAM had a sound that I could respect; the VSM-SE‘s with the BAM had a sound that I could really enjoy. Before hearing the KORA/Merlin/BAM combination, I would not have bet any money that I would have liked them as much as I came to at that point.

Conclusions?

I admit that I was sorry to see the KORA/100SB combination go. The KORA Eclipse/100SB pairing shows a beautiful sense of styling, combined with an authoritative handling of the music, a tribute to an excellent design using a difficult tube to work with. And the Merlin VSM-SE‘s showed even a confirmed full-range listener like me that a properly designed two-way system with bass enhancement can offer a great deal of musical satisfaction...much more than I would have thought possible.

My compliments to the folks at KORA and Merlin; in the 100SB/Eclipse electronics and the VSM-SE/BAM speakers, they have made important contributions to the current state-of-the-art in high-end audio. Those of you who are looking for the strengths of tubes without serious drawbacks, and for the virtues of monitor speakers without sacrificing extension at both ends, should carefully consider these products.

A Review Reprint From Volume 7 Issue Number 3

Highly Biased Output:
The Merlin VSM-SE Loudspeaker

Jennifer E. Crock

MERLIN! Acoustical magician?

Back when I really got into the thick of audio things, the typical form factor of any reasonable speaker was a three way. There was some sort of 10, 12, 15 or 18 inch woofer that had to do double duty, covering both lows and lower mids; a mid range driver that never really went much below low treble; and some sort of high frequency unit that might be a tiny cone, a dome, or a small horn.

Over the years, driver technology evolved to a point where a single driver could combine the role of the mid and low range drivers into one, thus eliminating one crossover and making a smaller package possible. Cabinets previously viewed as ‘bookshelf’ size were then liberated from wall hugging to find new homes on makeshift stands out in the listening room where a real stereo soundstage illusion could be generated. Compared to their generational predecessors, these new small speakers traded off a slight loss in deep low end for huge gains in imaging and midrange voicing accuracy. What we now know as the mini-monitor was born.

Great advances were made by the British in improving clarity, all the while losing size. With the advent of larger and more powerful amplifiers designed around the then-new power transistor, energy losing compensation networks could be implemented to make the speakers sound even better, though at the price of efficiency.

As with so much in life, things seem to take circular routes, and in some ways come back to points of origin. Improving the resolution of the speakers eventually began to reveal the shortcomings of the new high power amplifiers that made the speakers both possible and practical. Consumers began to choose lower power amps of both the ancient tube and modern transistor variety because they flat-out sounded better than the big horsepower models. This drove the speaker driver designers to new heights of science, rediscovering efficiency and managing to keep distortions low. Speaker system designers responded with a huge variety of two-way systems, featuring mostly five, six, and eight inch woofer-mids, and mostly domes of about an inch diameter. The only real obstacle to ease of use for most of these systems was the complete lack of any well-designed stand to hold them up. As we all well know, a sub-industry has sprung up to fill that need for reliable stand ins, but not all systems designers wanted to leave the support to chance and so came up with a brilliant solution to the problem. Logical deduction: If the bottom of the speaker is low enough, it can rest on the floor and render the need for a stand moot!

Bobby Palkovic of Merlin Music systems has for years been making both conventional big floor-standing 3-way systems, and compact 2-way mini-monitors. The solution to the chronic "stand problem" became obvious, and the mini grew its box in the downward direction. This now much-more-than-needed cubic volume could easily be utilized to add mass to the speaker by filling it with heavy material, thus reducing image-smearing vibration. The VSM was born.

The word out there was that that VSM was an acronym for "Very Scary Monitor" — scary in that it was very good, almost scary good! A friend of mine owns a pair of them, and I had to agree, particularly in the area of imaging. In the absolute sense, I found the low end to be typical of all speakers with roots from the mini-monitor genre — that is to say, just a tad bass shy. At the other extreme, in the high frequencies, I found them to have a touch of forwardness. These small faults aside, the Merlin VSM was plenty good enough to reveal subtle differences in the audio chain driving them.

In recent years the Merlin VSM has come to be recognized as something of a "truth teller": which is to say, they reveal the character of the equipment they are used with, rather than imparting a significant sonic color of their own. Several amp and front-end designers began to use them in reference systems.

Not willing to rest on his laurels, Bobby kept on developing his basic design. Our friends in the capacitor business, the fine folks at Hovland, had been developing a high-grade inductor, as well as evolving the performance of their caps. The two firms worked together to bring the passive crossover elements in the VSM to new heights. The slightly forward high in the original design was replaced with a more mid-aligned position in space. Overall clarity was better too, but the problem nagging all compact 2-ways since time immemorial still remained, that of the so-so bottom end. The VSM rolled off in the low forties — not bad at all, but Bobby wanted more. He postulated that if an electronic bass boost were installed before the power amp, low frequency energy could easily be increased. This had been done before, with some measure of success, but not without some risk. Increased low frequency electrical power could overextend the motion of a driver, or overheat the voice coil, thus deforming or melting it. So...Let’s put in a steep cut off in the really low end of things, and retain the boost just above it. Viola! No — that’s a big violin, but I think you get my drift. It worked. It REALLY worked! The electronic box was named the BAM, for "Bass Augmentation Module," and when combined with the improved internal crossover makes a new system named the VSM-SE. The "SE" is no brainer...go ahead and guess.... That’s right! Special Edition.

The cut off point to protect the driver from large excursions was set at 30 Hz. This is low enough that most musical instruments will be reproduced in the entirety of their range. The only exceptions would be the lowest key or two on an 88 key concert grand piano, and some of those obscene 30 and 40 foot pipes found in only a few really big pipe organs. The frequency range immediately above the cutoff is now very accurate in its frequency response.

The really important thing is not just the flat amplitude response, but the flat phase response that accompanies it. The bass region now attaches itself to the mid-bass and mid range without drawing attention to itself. It is just there. This proper blending is largely due to the proper phase response. Another benefit of good phase accuracy comes as a surprise to some: if you choose to augment the lowest frequencies with a true sub-woofer system, it can be dialed in at 30 Hz, and it will blend in with perfection. Adding a true sub to a main system that has gradual roll off, with its attendant phase shift, is very difficult...blending almost never occurs well. With the VSM-SE, blending is a snap.

One might be concerned about filling a large room with music from a moderately sized driver as found in the VSM-SE. Not to worry. The reduced long throw excursion and reduced heating from the removal of subsonic energy allows the driver to deliver more acoustic output in its functional pass band than would be possible in an unfiltered state. Another benefit is reduced Doppler and IM distortion when playing loudly, thus improving the music throughout the entire range of the woofer-mid driver.

The VSM-SE looks just like its earlier counterpart, the VSM. It is a slender black tower with handsome gold tone vertical accent bars. The edges are rounded to functionally reduce edge diffraction effects, and provide a pleasing to the eye soft edge. At just under six thousand dollars, this is defiantly not a budget line product, but neither are the sonic results. True, there are speakers in the same price range that in one way or another may exceed the VSM-SE, but few would have the sense of balance found in this finely evolved product.

The new VSM-SE with its improved passive parts and an active low frequency compensation device (the BAM) launches this speaker into rare company. With its new found low frequency extension, this compact two way can now speak with a large element of truth, and authority.

I should mention that I used several amplifiers listening to the VSM-SE’s: the Atma-Sphere M-60 Mk.II, a pair of the Blue Circle BC-2 monoblocks, and a small home brew transformer-coupled, zero feedback tube job. None of the amps experienced the least bit of difficulty driving the speakers. As I had come to expect, the Merlin VSM-SE’s easily revealed the character of each amp.

The very best part of reviewing these speakers wasn’t just listening to the speakers, it was also meeting the designer Bobby, albeit on the phone. He has to be one the nicest guys in the audio industry. He is also vitally interested in making sure that owners of his speakers are getting the most from them. As a VSM owner or prospective purchaser, I am sure that you will find him to be new friend. I am looking forward to meeting him in person at the upcoming CES.

Reprinted from Positive Feedback, Vol. 7, #3, Fall, 1997, and Copyright 1997, all rights reserved, by Positive Feedback. Positive Feedback is a creative forum for the audio arts published five to six times per year. Subscriptions are $30 per six issues in the U.S.A., U.S.$45 in Canada, and U.S.$75 elsewhere on the planet. To subscribe to Positive Feedback, to sign up as a distributor, or to advertise, contact: Positive Feedback, 2939 N.E. 155^th, Portland, OR 97230. Phone numbers: (503) 256-1300 (Business Office Phone), (503) 254-3866 (Business Office Fax), (503) 257-2002 (Editorial Office Phone). Editorial E-mail address: davidr@ix.netcom.com Web page: http://www.positive-feedback.com . Positive Feedback encourages the submission of articles, essays, and reviews to the above address. Ad rates available upon request.