Merlin TSM comparisons

I've said before that I think that Ohm and Merlin have at least one thing in common: the vision of a single designer who has continually refined a few basic concepts over a long period of time. And in both cases, calling the company number is likely to get you an extended conversation with the very helpful head honcho. :-)

One other difference I think I note between Bobby and John is that Bobby has an absolute vision of what it takes to get the best sound that he believes in and shares that openly with his customers.

John Strohbeen will provide guidance when asked but is more about giving the customer what they want rather than what he thinks is best. He will tweak his standard designs as neededif the customer asks, as long as he does not see any inherent problems.

Both approaches have merit depending on what the customer is looking for.

the downside of John's approach is I think sometimes the customer thinks they know what they want and John oblidges, then they may have second thoughts afterwards.

Intetesting too that generally John recommends NAD amps if someone asks which to use with the OHMs. Personally, I think you can do better if your goal is the "absolute sound", but NAD offers good value for most so I understand why he does that.

One of the things I like about Ohm (along with a recently auditioned pair of Duevel Planets, is they are great for playing music when I'm having a party! Few speakers fill rooms with good sound the way Ohm speakers do. Mirage has also tackled that concept with some success.
The Merlins are a "sit down and listen" type of speaker.

Rob

I suspect also that Merlins are more amp friendly than OHMs and Dynaudio Contour 1.3mkii also for that matter.

Not that these sound bad with lesser amps, only that they sound increasingly better with more powerful good amps.

Same true regarding Totem also from what I have heard.

Triangle Titus are very amp friendly. I hear fewer differences from amp to amp.

I also have a pair of OHM L bookshelf speakers that I have owned for over 30 years. I custom upgraded these myself a couple years back with some very good Morel woofers and the OHM sub bass activator circuit (similar in goals to Merlin BAM). These are not teh smoothest of my smaller box speakers, but for pop/rock music, they may just be the most rewarding. Of course, I am not a speaker designer and would not claim my custom enhancements to be teh best. OHM sometimes offers these completely refurbished with new drivers and circuits for $599. They sold for $499 and were my favorite smaller bookshelf speaker back then in 1978, so you can get an idea of teh potential value factoring in inflation, etc. with these nowadays. I'd like to hear a pair of OHMs professionally upgraded Ls. or even larger C2s or Hs.