Hi George!
Isnt this a great hobby? During the time that I have owned the Merlin VSMs, I have also owned a pair of Revel F30s, a pair of Gershman Avant Garde RX-20s and Paradigm Studio 60 v2 (also took out on loan Dynaudio Contour 3.0). All of them (except the Dynaudios) showed the mid-bass hump via my RS digital dB meter. For me, they definitely sounded heavier then the Merlin but untrue, and after a short period of time, annoying. The Merlins (I have the VSM-MX) measure, from 200 Hz down via the Stereophile Test CD #3, relatively flat (+/- 2 dB) except for a 5 dB suckout at the 63 Hz signal, right down to the 31.5 Hz signal. That suckout is a room problem.
Additionally, in my experience, equipment matching IS important here. I had initially used a Sonic Frontier Line 2 SE (a very well reviewed tube-based preamp) with my old VSM-M. It sounded lean to the point where I bought a REL Storm III subwoofer. After finally going with the numerous suggestions of the Joule LA 100 MK III preamp, I sold the subwoofer as the speakers sounded much more fleshed out. It really was not a bass issue.
For a good discussion on this, have a look at an old thread of mine about Merlin's and bass.
David
Isnt this a great hobby? During the time that I have owned the Merlin VSMs, I have also owned a pair of Revel F30s, a pair of Gershman Avant Garde RX-20s and Paradigm Studio 60 v2 (also took out on loan Dynaudio Contour 3.0). All of them (except the Dynaudios) showed the mid-bass hump via my RS digital dB meter. For me, they definitely sounded heavier then the Merlin but untrue, and after a short period of time, annoying. The Merlins (I have the VSM-MX) measure, from 200 Hz down via the Stereophile Test CD #3, relatively flat (+/- 2 dB) except for a 5 dB suckout at the 63 Hz signal, right down to the 31.5 Hz signal. That suckout is a room problem.
Additionally, in my experience, equipment matching IS important here. I had initially used a Sonic Frontier Line 2 SE (a very well reviewed tube-based preamp) with my old VSM-M. It sounded lean to the point where I bought a REL Storm III subwoofer. After finally going with the numerous suggestions of the Joule LA 100 MK III preamp, I sold the subwoofer as the speakers sounded much more fleshed out. It really was not a bass issue.
For a good discussion on this, have a look at an old thread of mine about Merlin's and bass.
David