Merlin TSM-MM vs. Tyler Reference Monitor

Kid, thanks for your input. I'm curious, how big is your listening room? I have previously e-mailed Bobby at Merlin and he felt the SLI-80 would drive the TSM fine in my room. I am intrigued by the Merlin, but they are at the high end of my budget, so I am looking for a few other options before I make a decision.

Thanks.

Cruz123,

You are very welcome. My listening room is about the same size as yours. I would trust Bobby's advice 100% if he said it will be fine. I think the Merlin Speakers will be heads above the Tylers. As they cost more.

Like I mentioned, I don't think the Tylers are rated accurately. I was in our old house which I had a smaller listening room at the time and they just ate the SLI-80 up in triode mode. I would say they are closer to 84dB than the 87dB they are rated.

Enough so that I sold them. I now run a pair of Sonus Faber Grand Pianos which the Cary Powers effortlessly. You might also want to look at the Totem Model 1 Signatures. They sound amazing and would work well in your size room.

I have also owned both Sonus Faber Concertino and Concerto home monitors and really liked the Concertino. I wanted more bass so I upgraded to the Concerto but could never get the "magic" I got out of the smaller Concertino. The Concertinos with SLI-80 really sound nice. They will just be a little shy in the bass department but so will the Merlins.

If you want to email me and tell me what you really want to spend, I will be happy to give this more thought. I use to run a high end store when I was younger and have heard about everything out there. Well, almost everything. Good Luck!

Cruz123,

BTW: I really like your setup. I just upgraded from a Cary 308 CD player to a SONY SCDXA777ES. I was looking for a 308T but could not find one in my price point when it was time to buy. However, no regrets with the Sony.

Chris

Chris' comments on the Taylos sensitivity ratings are rather interesting... I have a room of similar volume (14X16), and when I was running them as my fronts they could easily be powered by even a Sonic Impact T-amp that puts out about 10 watts into 8 ohms... I guess it depends on how loud you play the music (in my case about 85db)... I would say the claimed 88db efficiency rating by Tyler was spot-on accurate, and that the Taylos are about an average speaker load to drive. Just a differing opinion for what it is worth...

As for how Merlins compare against the Taylos... I would say it is a difficult call... I love them both, and would be quite happy with either (so it would probably come down to cost and looks). It really is a matter of personal taste... I would recommend you audition them both and make your own decision... As an aside, now that Tyler has home auitions, it is a lot easier to give their speakers a try before commiting to purchase.

BTW: Loved the sound of those GPHs when I heard them recently Chris... Very nice indeed. :-)

---Dave

There was a thread at one point here about the Tylos' bass being "missing in action", you might want to search. Many sing the praises of the Tylers, but for whatever reason, I never got them to work well in my system. Totem Model Ones sounded much nicer in my room, I could never quite get away from the alloy cone sound signature from the Tylers. (At least thats what I thought I was hearing.) This is just my experience and as you know lots of listeners love the Tylers so take it with the prerequisite grain of salt. As for the Totems which I really love, although I found they wanted lots of power my friend who has them now gets great results with his Bedini 25x25.
Good luck Cruz.