Merlin Owner's...

I bet black chrome would be incredible... Not glossy yellow, mind you, but incredilbe nonetheless ;-)

Why not removing the analog crossovers and making the speakers digital to remove their inherent "problems" as well...j/k

an 845 based amp will sound wonderful on the vsm mx. i would still rather have an otl as an absolute but heh, we are all different.
blue black chrome is too far out there for us to reasearch right now. one step at a time.
digital crossovers have many positive attributes and are incredibly precise. but the vsm has very tight amplitude and phase especially if it is listened/tested at the musical center and 10 degrees off axis as recommended. this type of measured response is as flat or flatter than any i have seen in stereophile. and when you take into consideration that the drivers work incredibly well as a pair and offer fabulous self damping characteristcs you can spend a lot more time developing the specific characteristcs of the components in the audible path. we have much better believability and musicallity on our side with passive devices. the choice of course is ultimately yours but i know what i would prefer hands down.
b

Would a 211 based amp work also?

well of course it would but again just consider that some of these lower powered amps have limitations in bass definition and extension. and thet they will have problems playing large complex orchestration at higher volumes. if you are after a liquid nature though, you are looking in the right direction.
but i know you, you just have to be different, don't you?
;-)
b

Ya got that right! Besides, there are'nt any Joules to be found used.