merlin with conrad johnson?

hi egidius,
the vsm has a degree of damping to control amplitide and resonance so it is best to use the speakers with more fleshed out/relaxed electronics. in order of being fleshed out/relaxed i would select the cj, then the pathos and then the krell. no need for high current and high damping/feedback here. the mxe with be much happier with ss and we have many using them now with ayre, mac and many others with good solid comments of approval from owners. but they still shine on tube electronics. i would keep the cj and see how you like it on the speakers and then decide to stay or move to something else after hearing it. the cables will be even more important in my opinion. what are you planning on using for cables and what source pieces?
regards,
bobby

hi bobby!

(I have asked him of course before, so this his public answer detailed elsewhere before: Thanks!)
I notice, Einstein does not appear in this equation? I suppose it is too early, as it has been just a year since they appeared in the states, whereas in europe they have been long acclaimed. Anyway, I do have three different sets of speaker cables, which I want to weed out as well: straight wire rhapsody, einstein, and a handmade sven boenicke cable, which is basically one solidcore, comparable to DNM reson.
Source should really stay the bow. It is very able, if a tad full at the bottom. Nice pace.
hi dgarretson, so I thought! Interesting setup you have. I might hold on to my bass correction system just to see how it fares, even though i actually want to get rid of it: My Stella Novus woofer is essentially what later became a Velodyne DD15, all there except for the added software compatibility. BUT - my aim has been to simplify life. chuck away useless things - and a woofer is quite useless for a violinist like me ;-)

egidius,
i have not heard the einstein amp and what i do not know i do not comment on.
design seems good but you must listen to it on the speakers too and decide that for yourself.
dave g is a very bright man and he really knows what he likes. his amp does sound a little too present for my tastes and he is right that he can pull the speakers farther apart but he will lose tonality and would then be a good candidate for a sub.
the likelihood that you will need one is remote if you liked the gen 3s. the mxes sound much more room filling and fleshed out, more continuous, more complete, more expansive and offer a real improvement in the musical center. all important things to a violinist like yourself. depending on your room size, i am very doubtful you will want a sub but again, leave that decision for when you get the vsms broken in and judge for yourself. i quite sure i know the way you will go on that topic.
which einstein do you have, the 50 watter or 100 watter? and which output tubes, 34s?
bobby

Hello, the einstein is called "the absolute tune" which seems somewhat absolute to me, but it does deliver; I am not a technician, it is an ciclotron-OTL design making 50 watts, and not output tubes: it actually uses one mosfet per channel, but has four 6922 in the prestage. egidius

this is something you have to hear for yourself egidius.
i was thinking of something else but this is very interesting. bel amps do sound very good too, keep that in mind if need be.
50 watts is more than enough power and the output impedance should be high making for an undamped sound.
one listen will tell all for you.
regards,
bobby