GMA Callisto VS. Merlin TSM

I have been working with my amplifier to re-route feedback from "from the final out to differential input" to "from the driver stage to differential input" with a purpose to decrease the amplifier's damping factor and isolate the feedback loop from the speakers.

I have never expected such a difference!

The charactor being picky for recording dissapeared to almost none or nothing particular.

Everything is so clear, smooth and musical. And most amazingly, the speakers dissapeared completely leaving only a very compehensive sound stage. I can't hear anything like distortion if not known from original source. Now I understand what the other TSM-MM users were about to praise!

I have to do more things to clarify why this happened but it looks like the change brought the whole system almost to the level of perfection.

I applaud Bobby of Merlin for his excellence in designing the speakers and also for his enthusiasm to support the users! Thank you!

songwriter72@,
I did A/B according to your suggestion and honestly I could not hear any more distortion or harshness from TSM-MM than the headphones. Or TSM-MM was not interpreting music in any less enjoyable way than the headphones. I recommend you to have a chance seriously listen to TSM-MM in correct set up. I have to say that your assumption orignally had too much gap from the reality.

songwriter, i read this prior to your further comments:

"The ability to play and enjoy ANY recording is one of the primary advantages of time/phase aligned speakers. I no longer have un-listenable or un-enjoyable recordings in my collection since purchasing the GMA speakers."

and undertood that "ANY" actually means "ANY". i interpret "play and enjoy" to mean "sound good". i don't think i was "twisting" anything. i was just reading your thoughts. thoughts which you obviously felt the need to elaborate upon further and i appreciate your further qualifications to your remarks. take care.

minbean,
thank you for the new information. if you had watched me closely for many years i have had the preference for amplifiers that are less damped/lower feedback and actually run my joule vzn 100s with the feedback off or the berning in the lowest feedback setting. when you have a speaker like the merlin that is so uniform from top to bottom a damped amp/wire or source will choke the tone to a degree. if a speaker has the bbc style dip, the mid depression relative to the bass being up by comparison calls for a damped amp for control. even changing the wire to a more finely stranded copper cable will sound like you have extended the bandwidth extremities because you have relaxed the mid band.
keep me posted and enjoy!
thanks,
bobby at merlin

hi songwriter,
you and i are actually much closer together than you might think. i am very sure that the gmas were a complete revelation to what you had before and i am glad that you have found them. you obviously enjoy them tremendously and be sure, that they are a great product.
as a designer, i must look at all relative issues and not fixate on one over another. you might be really shocked to know exactly what my feelings are on phase and time alignment. i can tell you i share much of your belief but i will not go into that here. i just think there are more important issues that need to be dealt with if the phase and time issues are dealt with in a comprehensive manner. that is why, when ever i did a seminar i asked those attending what their personal preferences in reproduced sound were. i found it was a mixed bag that was constantly changing.
for that reason, i feel strongly that until you hear my speakers playing music the way they were designed to be used or see them tested, you are relating assumption based on preconception.
it may be true that you still won't enjoy them as much as your gmas but you know what? i'll bet you like them more than you thought you would. they have other stregnths to consider.
in the past you have gone after a number of my customers and upset them with aggressive comments/behavior. volker in va on audio asylum was another occurance like this one. here the professor said he likes the explicit nature of the vsm and you took it to mean that the speaker was flawed. you cared not that he was listening too much in the near field and used silver wire on them. again the comment of using the headphones as a comparison tool. i specifically recommend not to do these things but guess what, he likes/prefers it that way. it was and is, his taste.
the same went on here with minsoo. does not matter how he has them set up or what he is using on them...it is the speaker that is wrong.
i hope this that this can finally be put to rest songwriter. it is good to feel so strongly about a thing, but not to be a pest.
these speakers are used by many as a reference tool for many things and it is not because they are flawed. they are very continuous and show great contrast without being bright (if set up as i suggest). they have a very wide bandwidth and sound like music.
again, i think you would like them.
regards,
bobby