Abrahavt
Personally, I would rather trust the opinions of the Merlin owners in the discussion forums...I think their opinions are worth more than the dealers..many threads and posts here and on Audioasylum concerning the info you are looking for....
It seems that at least 70w seems to be a safe "working wattage" for the VSMs.Less can also work well of course,depending on the character of the amp,a 35w can actually sound more dynamic and in a sense more powerful than a 200w power amp...the Merlins do not present a difficult load to an amp,with the 6.5 ohm minimum impedance,so you dont need high power for control of the speakers...
Do not even think about using the Merlins without the BAM !!! Sorry,it does not work....sounds much better with the BAM as it is intended to be used,you can however play around with the positioning of the BAM in the system ie.Between source and pre,pre and power or tape loop (if possible)Will be interesting what you find to be the differences...perhaps you can post it at a later stage on this forum.
You can follow Bobby's recommendations regarding cables...very difficult to prove the man wrong,he knows his speakers very well....
Hope you are very happy with your De Havilland amps..I use a Pathos Logos for my VSM-MMs and couldnt be happier !
Chris
Personally, I would rather trust the opinions of the Merlin owners in the discussion forums...I think their opinions are worth more than the dealers..many threads and posts here and on Audioasylum concerning the info you are looking for....
It seems that at least 70w seems to be a safe "working wattage" for the VSMs.Less can also work well of course,depending on the character of the amp,a 35w can actually sound more dynamic and in a sense more powerful than a 200w power amp...the Merlins do not present a difficult load to an amp,with the 6.5 ohm minimum impedance,so you dont need high power for control of the speakers...
Do not even think about using the Merlins without the BAM !!! Sorry,it does not work....sounds much better with the BAM as it is intended to be used,you can however play around with the positioning of the BAM in the system ie.Between source and pre,pre and power or tape loop (if possible)Will be interesting what you find to be the differences...perhaps you can post it at a later stage on this forum.
You can follow Bobby's recommendations regarding cables...very difficult to prove the man wrong,he knows his speakers very well....
Hope you are very happy with your De Havilland amps..I use a Pathos Logos for my VSM-MMs and couldnt be happier !
Chris