Early Merlin Speakers

They were easy to drive and well built. They were very tube-friendly.

I have a pair of vsm-bm in my main listening room and a merlin 3 way speaker  which might be the b2 or b3 in our bedroom. My wife and I listen to music in bed every night and fall asleep with smiles on our faces. They are not as detailed as the Tsm's and vsm's but they still sound great.  

 The most early models, had a foam wrap around all sides of the speaker.   These  would be models like the two way  model 1B or 2B, 3  way model 3B or the big 5 driver 3 way, the 4b.

 Later on they went to a cloth wrap tape design with a solid wood decorative piece on the rear of the speaker.  These had the EX or EXL prefix. I.e EXL2, EXL3 etc. 

 All the speakers pretty much shared the first-order crossover and mechanical time driver alignment in their design.  

 Then there was also the big top-of-the-line modesl, the Pendragon and the Excalibar.  

I became familiar with the Merlin Soeakers in the mid 80s. I currently have a pair of the 1Bs which still sound good. The foam wrap surround has deteriorated . I plan on covering with a finish burlap type fabric.