Everyone whose Merlins...

Obviously, most people that have this speaker love it. Most commentators at shows and magazines love it. What makes it so special? The key for me is that it is able to reproduce beautiful from top to bottom in perfect balance. With this speaker, from low bass (though not the lowest ocatave) to the high register you have a sense of proper proportion, nothing gets hidden, nothing is exaggerated. I think people referto this a smoth tonality, these speakers have it. They also convey an incredible liveliness or jump factor, while it can fully articulate a whisper, it can instantly repsond to a crescendo - that is, it has excellent dynamics, present and crisp. The soundstage with every recording changes -- this is as it shuld be, it does not impose a character on the recording, it lets the recording speak for itself - it is accurate and honest. The truly amazing thing about this speaker is that it can do all that with just two drivers and a small 43x8.5x8.5 cabinet. Much of its cohesiveness must be due to the fact that it only has two drivers, but how does it product that sublime, rich, detailed bass from a 6 1/2" woofer/midrange driver. Well, it must be great drivers, a well engineeered enclosure, a great crossover, and of course the BAM (external, electronic Bass Augmetation Module). However it is done, the VSM-MX provide the total package, unless you listen to 16Hz electronic tones - I don't, for listening to music, nothing is missing (noting meaningful). If this was a large, multi-driver speaker producing the same sound, it might even sell more. With the deceptively simple cabinet (though beautifully painted and elegant indeed) and only two drivers it might be hard to understand how it can be worth $10K. Listen to this one blindfolded and you'll soon understand. Undoubtedly one of the great speaker designs.