I owned the ML ReQuest and had the opportunity to play with their positioning in two separate (one dedicated) rooms for over a year. The ReQuests were a considerable jump up for me and I truly loved the sound, but after hearing a pair of Avalon Eclipse's (advertised on Audiogon and the owner was only 20 miles away) I knew that I had found the speaker for me. It wasn't until I brought home the Avalon's and compared them directly that I could hear the "dis"-integration of panel and woofer. I bought the Avalon's for reason's other than that (ie. rich textures while remaining extremely transparent, holographic imaging and HUGE soundstage), but the top-to-bottom coherence and low frequency transparency have become my main appreciation of these 2 way dynamic speakers. I don't doubt that other dynamic speakers can duplicate or exceed these qualities; however, I have doubts about the ability of a panel and dynamic woofer accomplishing the same. If the day does come that panel and woofer integrate seemlessly AND the midrange textures match or exceed that of my reference (at a fair price), I will be the first on the list of converts. I love the CLS, but it is too limited of a speaker for all music genre and too limited of a sweetspot (Wife likes to listen too on occasion). Next chance I get, I'll check out the Merlins. Live the good life! Jordan
