Merlin Music Systems TSM-SE Loudspeaker

This is a serious loudspeaker. One chat with its affable chief designer Bobby Palkovic will tell you that. Unlike an haute cuisine chef who would rather fall on his boning knife than part with his secret recipes, Palkovic, with 23 years of experience in the field, happily provides full disclosure about virtually every ingredient in the complex stew that is his loudspeaker design. While the crossover is a second order design, he explains, both drivers are wired in phase. Hovland aluminum foil and polypropylene capacitor; are used, as are Caddock film resistors (that is, High End, expensive parts). Cardas wiring is used throughout and Music Post Bi-wire terminals add a classy, professional touch.¹ The grill cloth has a rather deep frame and is clearly intended - with Merlin's blessing - for removal during serious listening. And by "serious" I mean that, within the limitations of its small size, the TSM-SE is an extremely revealing loudspeaker. The sound isn't warm or dark or euphonic in character. There is no bloat at any frequencies. Its tonal balance is cool and dry. Stripped bare of all but the essentials. It's the signature of a speaker that thrives on detailing orchestral nuances.

The Merlin Music Systems TSM-SE is a 2-way dynamic driver loudspeaker of air suspension design.² Enclosure construction is heavily braced MDF with a massive one and-a-half-inch thick front baffle. Internal and external resonance damping is considerable, including the three brass rods that adorn the front baffle, also said by Merlin to further control cabinet resonances. Drivers are by Morel. The MW-164, this 6-inch damped pulp cone mid-bass driver uses a 3-inch voice coil, a rear-vented motor, and an aluminum basket. The tweeter is Morel's MDT 30, a silk, latex-impregnated, 1-inch liquid-cooled soft dome. Like I said, serious.

Palkovic considers the TSM a minimonitor design. And he doesn't use that term "monitor" lightly. An expression once reserved for professional equipment in both audio and video domains, the sobriquet is now employed in such a fast and loose manner it has degraded into showroom blather or is commonly used as a pretense to erudition. Palkovic believes that a loudspeaker must meet certain specified criteria in order to deserve the "monitor" designation. Among them flat frequency response within the limitations of size, and their amplifier "friendliness," having uniform impedance, phase, and amplitude characteristics. They should have near-field capability, a strong suit of smaller speakers, in theory if not always in practice. They should have the ability to handle a broad band of dynamics and to play loudly without distortion. Components should also be user-replaceable in the field. He states that the drivers and the crossover in the TSM would take just a few minutes to replace, given that remote eventuality. Arid the speaker would have to be rugged, which is why his basic finish is black polyurethane.

Not only is the TSM wired with Cardas, Palkovic uses Cardas throughout his reference system for evaluation purposes. While other cables perform well with the TSM (Palkovic admits he hasn't heard them all), the speakers were fine-tuned with Cardas wire in mind.³ Because Palkovic takes this synergistic approach to optimizing his speakers (not unlike Rick Fryer of Spectral developing amplification products with MIT as a cable reference) it's fair to report that for my tastes with this speaker I found the Cardas Neutral Reference a pleasant match. With a slightly laid back perspective and buttery smooth textures, this cable further expanded the already cavern-like soundstage the TSMs were achieving. The Golden Cross and Wireworld Equinox III were slightly more forward by comparison, perhaps a shade more dynamic. All deserve further discussion in the context of a comprehensive cable review down the road.

While the Merlin setup manual provides detailed placement information as well as a wooden alignment tool to set a 10 degree offset angle, I found that there was a bit too much lower treble energy - between 4 and 8KHz - for my tastes in that position. At my inquiry, Merlin pointed out that the tweeter was designed to provide good overall power response - which is the sum of the transducer's direct and reverberant behavior - and that further angling of the TSM might be needed for some tastes, I found an immediate improvement by using a tried and true British alignment technique; I crossed the axis of the drivers until they were no longer firing at my ears but at the point just forward of my nose. This not only smoothed the response but added depth to the soundstage. It also narrows it slightly. Alternatively you might toe the speakers out enough that the axis crosses just behind your head; not as much depth but a very wide stage can indeed result. It's a quandary, and while I understand in principle the reasons for the on-axis voicing of the lower treble, my preference would be to trade some claimed power response for overall greater neutrality in this octave.

The character of the TSM is quick, with a neutral overall presentation, perhaps a smidgen lean in the upper bass and very smooth extended treble that seems to relish reproducing string sections. The bottom octave is, not surprisingly, unavailable, but there is solid reinforcement in the mid-bass but without any bumpily-hump shenanigans that eventually grow wearisome. In fact the pitch and texture of bass into the 50 Hz range were captivating in their natural unboxy presentation. When the organ bursts forth during the third movement of Vaughn Williams Sinfonia Antartica [Bakels/Bournemouth; Naxos 8.550737], it brings with it the sense of air filling the hall and a fairly weighty approximation of the seismic thunder that I witnessed with the full Melos Pipe Dreams system at HP's. Subjectively, the drivers and cabinet are terrifically clean and free from distortion. Dynamics are very, very good. The speaker plays larger than its size portends and provides the listener with the secure impression that these transducers will take any signal they're fed.

Everything about this loudspeaker seems to have been designed with the soundstage and the image foremost in mind. It's that stunning when you fire it up for the first time. The TSMs find the walls and boundaries of an orchestral venue like a bloodhound tracking an escaped convict. The side-wall reverberations from the tympani and bass drum in Oue's reading of Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition [Reference Recordings, RR-906 HDCD] were thrilling, as well as instructive of the hall's size. So was the spacious, articulate presentation of female voices in Rutter's "Lux Aeterna" and the classic "chonk, chonk" of a Gibson F-hole jazz acoustic guitar in "Moten Swing," both from the Reference Recordings Sampler Volume 2 [RR905HDCD]. Every instrument assumes a defined position, from the outside edges of the right and left channels to the farthest point behind the speakers. It's a little eerie how complete this illusion is on some material. Even when I assumed I knew the limits of the depth of the soundstage of certain recordings, this effect grew slightly more defined. I think the reasons for this are complicated, but microdynamics and a no-nonsense transient attack certainly play a pivotal role.

Did I hear dynamics? Roy Gaines I've Got the T-Bone Walker Blues [Producer: Joe Harley, Groove Note; GRV-2002-2] is an explosively musical illustration of how the TSMs perform when they're put through their paces. On "Stormy Monday," there is a muted trumpet playing out wide on the right, with an acoustic piano getting hammered with sixteenth notes on the far left. A tenor sax is on the inside edge of the right channel but positioned farther behind the trumpet. Gaines and his electric guitar are in a pocket in the center (the guitar is slightly to the listener's right), with snare, drums, and acoustic bass slightly behind. Gaines alternates between lead lines and thick, pad chords on his mellow Gibson 175. And throughout you can hear the vibrating metal snares beneath the lower drumhead, both after being struck and rattling in sympathy with the music. I can be that specific because the TSMs are that specific!

Again, the Merlins show their mettle in the low-level resolution department with the background chorus in Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game" [Hits; Reprise 9-463262 HDCD]. When you can begin to count the number of chorus members and delineate the harmonic parts, you know the speaker's onto something. Hint: Listen for the soprano singing above Joni. The same high level of background retrieval is evident when Rickie Lee Jones harmonizes with Lyle Lovett on "North Dakota" Joshua judges Ruth, MCA/Curb 10475). A terrific halo of ambient air is realized, courtesy of the Merlins.

I do have a couple of quibbles where amelioration would only add to an already pleasurable experience. The tendency toward leanness in the upper bass takes a little of the full-bodied roundness off the end of the trumpet during Roy Gaines "Stormy Weather." And some of the chestiness leaves Sinatra's voice when he sings the smoky title track "In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning" [Capitol 72434-94755-261. Positioning the speakers closer to the back wall provides some reinforcement in this range, but I'm such a sucker for soundstage integrity that I left them out the full 44 inches, and put up with the loss of that little bit of beef in the bass.

Merlin the magician was teacher and mentor to King Arthur at Camelot and before. Merlin knew the future, although he was destined to live facing backward into the past. Some say there is no magic in the world any longer. A pity, if you believe that. If your conclusions mirror mine, though, I bet there might just be a Merlin in your future.

NEIL GADER

ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
Front End, Analog: Sota Cosmos Series II; SME V tonearm; Audio Technica ML170; Lyra Lydian cartridges
Front End, Digital: Rotel RCD-95; Philips 487 CDV transport with VAC 22.1 DAC
Preamps: Placette Audio Dual Mono Line Stage; Forte 44; Rotel RC-972; SimAudio Celeste
Amplifiers: SimAudio Celeste; Rotel RB-891; Clayton Audio S-40
Integrated Amplifiers: Plinius 8150; SimAudio Celeste PW-5000
Cables & Interconnects: Cardas Golden Cross; Cardas Neutral Reference. Wireworld Equinox II

Manufacturer’s Response:

Footnotes:

1. Also supplied with each pair are a set of 4 RC networks consisting of a Caddock resistor and a Hovland capacitor wired in series to bridge the speaker terminals. These act much like an amplifier's Zobel network to eliminate ultra-high treble frequencies. Palkovic suggests checking with your amp manufacturer regarding the presence of a Zobel in its circuitry. Otherwise let your ears decide.

2. Merlin has been a manufacturer of loudspeakers since 1983. The company secretary and cabinetmaker is Bill Hooper, who has designed sound reinforcement systems for mixing, production, and management of live performances, and played horns and guitars in blues and rock bands. Palkovic himself consulted for recording studios, not only during recording sessions, but in construction of recording venues. He used to play percussion and electric bass in blues and jazz groups.

3. I had no Cardas, so at Palkovic's behest, George Cardas sent his top-flight Golden Cross and his most recent design Neutral Reference, a medium priced effort. All the cables were configured for bi-wiring.