Merlin Owner's...

Thanks for your comments, Bobby. You're a classy guy. How does damping factor work? I get this sense that tubes and class A's have sloppy signal degradation so a properly made speaker will sense the point at which they should stop responding and do so before the end slowly arrives. Perhaps by relying on the signal curve slope. A high damping factor SS amp cuts the signal precisely so the speaker, essentially a signal slave, stops responding. Is this your understanding?

Baddabob,

I have had a pair of Merlin VSM-SE and VSM-M hooked up to a Bryston 4B-ST amp and, as Bobby said, it just was too damped in the bottem end. The Bryston worked wonderfully with previous speakers (Gershman Acoustics Avant Garde RX-20, Revel F-30, Paradigm Studio 60 v2) but just not with the Merlins. Sold the Bryston upon Bobby's and seemingly everyone else's recommendation and bought a used Belles 150A Hot Rod amp (~$700 US). Solid state, 125 WPC, MOSFET transistors.
Much better fit, and less money to boot!

From a fellow Canuck,

David

What a persistent bunch. I guess I'll have to keep it in mind.

Baddabob,
We're not really persistent. We're just happy.
I know; you don't see that around here all that often, but with most Merlin owners it's true.
For me, buying Merlins was the smartest audio purchase I've made in my 20+ years of this hobby. Many friends have purchased Merlins since hearing mine. The best part is that now they buy me free drinks! Talk about the gift that keeps on giving...Cheers,
Spencer

Spencer
Luckily, took me only 12 years...very pleased !!
Chris