Best Speakers at RMAF 2011...?

I heard the Merlin's. They consistently sound warm and musical at every show I go to. I especially like the quality and finish.

The only bummer is that I'm not too big a fan of the BAM Module (some type of bass alignment filter, that you put between the amp and preamp). It seems a little bit gimmicky. I prefer the more simple setups... Example (although this could be sacrilege): If an integrated has enough power for the speakers, I would prefer to use integrated amps.

Any thoughts on whether the BAM on the Merlins makes a huge difference, in real world settings?

I'd say my favorite was the Wilson Sasha's being driven by the Agostino monoblocks. Bass was a touch heavy in that small room, but it was so dynamic I didn't care! A lot of fun listening in there.

I also liked the Raidho/Nodost room and the Kaiser Kawero's.

I don't understand how anybody could enjoy those Western Electrics though. To me they sounded like listening to music over a telephone, no extension at either end.

having read about BAM but not actually heard, I suspect BAM can make a significant difference in extending the low end with the Merlins.

I say this because the OHM speakers I use take a similar approach. The difference is OHM uses an inexpensive passive circuit connected internally off the crossover called the "Sub Bass Activator" I believe to extend the low end of many or most of their models by default these days. They also offer it as an option to enhance the low end of older OHM speakers similar to Merlin. I purchased it for my old OHM Ls that I have had for 30+ years now and the bass is quite excellent. I believe my newer OHM 100 and OHM 5 series3 driver based OHM speakers also use this circuit by default. The cost of the "Sub Bass Activator" circuit as an enhancement for teh OHM Ls was less than $100 I recall.

I think of these types of devices as specialized equalizers that are integrated as an option to the base level speaker design. A vary practical approach I think to wean better bass performance out of a smaller box if done right I believe.

Bose 901s are speakers that many may be familiar with that use a similar approach (heresy!) but to a much broader extent I suspect in that the basic 901 design is considered flawed by many and requires the equalizer to sound good, whereas with OHM and MErlins it is used to enhance and extend an already solid design.

Emerald Physics is a line that does similar things like Bose but using modern digital signal processing technology, which I suspect could work quite well though I have not heard those either.

optimus, the bam module may not be what you think it is. the vsm was designed with a small volume in the woofer chamber to give the best possible mid range, to keep the efficiency up for ultra low powered tube amps, the damping up and the distortion down. we use the boost of 5.2 db at 35 hz to compensate for the loss of internal volume. the sensitivity would go down to 84 db to get the deepest bass in a large enclosure, the mids would be sounding like they came from a tunnel, the distortion would go way up and you would be on the verge of unloading the woofer constantly.
the two bandpass filters remove out of band ultra sonic information in the hf and subsonic energies below the fs of the woofer. any out of band energy beyond the res freqs cause a profound increase of im distortion in the bandwidth between. it is profoundly audible and imho, all speakers should offer this in some way.
everyone prefers it in the system. whether it is right or wrong was settled almost 20 years ago. it is designed to be used in line level signals prior to the preout stage in a tape loop or between the source and pre.
the speakers and bam are designed as a system.
ok?
thank you for your comments.

I was most impressed with the Vandersteen Sevens. I'd put them in the top 3 speakers I heard, the others being TAD Ref 1 and Avalon Ascent. I also quite liked the Thiel 3.7

In the underwhelming department, I was disappointed with the Revel Studio 2s after all the glowing reviews as well as an endorsement from someone with ears I trust. Perhaps I just don't care for Levinson electronics?

PS: Thanks for the reply, audioconnection