How well do you know your merlins?

marty,
i have a dealer friend that would loan you some to try.
it would be a reasonable comparison i supose. certainly for the sf the hovland is the cable of choice but the verity you may or may not prefer the golden ref but on the merlin i would think it a sure thing unless i have misjudged you.
what power cables are you using on the equitechs.
and which equis do you have.
i like copper litz like golden ref on line level equi and jps ac+ on power amp equi.
best, b
on power amps.
best, b

I have recently had a few "philes" come over to listen to my system using a Joule LA150 MKII and either a CAT JL2, Music Reference RM9 SE, or my Ars Sonum through my VSM-MXes; I can say, and I hope they were not just being flattering, that they consistently said the VSMs were best speakers they have ever heard. I don't know, I have not heard them all, but the speaker is truly a work of art and with the cohesiveness and dynamic impact combination that is only possible with two very high quality drivers.

'57
I can't believe that you placed both the Ars and CAT up for sale...Shocking!

I will keep whichever doesn't sell first, if I could only keep one amp it would be the Music Reference, not becuase it sounds better than the CAT (that is a matter of taste at this level, though I give the edge to the CAT), but it is much lighter, taks up less room and puts out less heat. If I were on the budget, the Ars is a perfect match with the Merlins - in fact if I simply wanted to enjoy music and wasn't so much of an "audiophile", the Ars is really the no brainer. I think the Stereophile review got it right regarding the Ars, you either start with it becuase of the price point, or you end with it when you are done with the equipment merry-go-round.