Is there an alternate to Martin Logans?

Tubegroover. Please forgive me for asking the obvious, but if the Merlin takes all that time, loving care and special treatment to sound good... why didn't you just buy a speaker that sounded good in the first place? I just bought the Silverline Sonata which I think everyone would agree is far better then the Merlin. Hell you could set it upside down and on fire and it would sound better then the Merlin. Personally I like speakers that don't cut the balls off the music and that's just what that piss poor excuse of a woofer Merlin uses does. If the Merlin makes you happy, more power to you. I just tend to like music instead of hifi but then I'm not you. If I was I'd probably kill myself.

Joe Who says that the Merlins' don't sound good out of the gate? First of all I don't need to go down to 25hz or rock the walls to enjoy music, been there done that, it is hard to get it right in a room my size. I've got no qualms with the Silverline Sonatas, but I don't think they are nearly as coherent as the Merlin's, since they are a 3-way but hey, that isn't to say they aren't great speakers. The Merlins don't have any boom, I like that. They are after all only a 2-way but they do have some hair on their balls, pretty impressive for a 2-way. What da ya expect from a 7" driver in the way of bass? I'm happy for you in that you like music over Hi-Fi, me too. Well Joe you know how it is in Audiophilia, things aren't always as obvious as you simply put it. Maybe I should go listen to more live concerts say 20-30 a year instead of 10 or so. Maybe that would give me a better FEEL for music over Hi-Fi. What da ya think? And on a final note don’t worry about me too much, I’m not about to throw in the towel just yet. Thanks anyway for your concern. Will

Tbonephile, take a look at the Linn AV 5140's.

I'm not a big fan of ML. They make decent product, but the cone bass does not fully mesh with the panels. The Aerius suffers least from this problem. On the other hand, MLs do alot of things very well and I can easily understand why people, including people who know music, like them. My own tastes and biases lean towards cone speakers. Panel speakers seem to get the transients and the decay right, but the sustain, at least to me, doesn't sound right. As everyone knows, the primary problem with cone speakers are the boxes. No matter what you do it's inevitable that speaker cabinets will color the sound. If you really want to get the best of both worlds, try a baffless cone speaker (Audio Artistry and Gradient). I only know the AAs by reputation, but the Gradient Revolution is an extraordinary product. It doesn't sound "hi-fi", particularly through the mid-bass, it sounds real. There are no perfect speakers, every product is a collection of compromises and the designer's mix will appeal more to some than to others. Let's respect each other.

I'm a trombonist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, I would consider myself a very well trained musician. I have probably heard more of what a live instrument sounds like then most. As far as decay goes, Musical decay is dependent on the hall that we play in. We compromise in our playing to adjust to the reverb etc.. in the playing venues. Many of what people think sounds good, is not what music sounds like in life. People should take more opportunity to listen to live music. you'll be surprised at how much better it sounds :o) I'm not saying that I have better ears then other people, just probably better assement of whats tonally correct.