Merlin TSM comparisons

Yes, I did hear them, but really can't say that I had a fair chance to really evaluate them. My friend bought and sold them at a good profit. He did not think they were worth anything near what they cost. In fact he preferred his little Totems, which cost a fraction of the Magico price. He has since adopted the Merlin TSM-MMe has his top monitor. We did not like the top end of the Totems.

That said I'm not going to suggest that the Merlins are better because one or two owners felt that way. I will say, and I hope he doesn't mind, that Bobby believes he has the superior design. Before I got the Merlins Bobby also told me the TSM's would be better than my previous speakers, the Magnepan 1.6 QR's with Mye stands.
I will honestly say now that I did not believe him. The Maggies did a lot of things very well. But the Merlins do exceed the performance of the Maggies substantially, even in soundstage/image, which is the Maggie's home turf.

I guess the bottom line, echoed by other owners, is that I'm very impressed with these speakers! The system is warming up right now....going to check out Cyndi Lauper's new blues CD!

Rob

The Magico's I heard sounded very good but then again I would expect most any good speaker matched to the system I heard them on to sound very good also. The electronics and wires alone probably pushed or broker 6 figures. At those prices, there is room for preferences but not for poor performance the way I look at things.

I would not trade my OHMs for Magicos. I'd have to a/b compare on my system to know how my monitors compare. They both might at low volumes and the Dyns maybe at higher volumes. No way to know for sure without comparing on your own system.

Its also typcila that different speaker designs shine best with different electronics feeding them, so comparisons on a single system do not tell the whole story, no matter how good the system is.

I used to own the Ohm Micro Talls and they are terrific little speakers with the added benefit of a very small footprint. That being said the Merlins are in another league in every area I can think of, but again I feel Ohm makes an excellent speaker and I don't want to knock this underrated company.

OHm and Merlin have a lot in common as companies I think, mainly a very dedicated and long standing customer base.

Customer service seems to be paramount to both which is a key ingredient.

The biggest difference I think is that Merlin has more appeal to teh audio high end community in general due to its focus on absolute quality and associated costs that go with that in some cases, yet still ranks pretty well in the high end big picture, when you consider companies like Magico, etc.

John Strohbeen, the guru behind OHM, is a unique breed, an MIT trained engineer with a seemingly more blue collar pedigree. Take a look at the OHM shop sometime. There are photos in one of the Six Moons reviews, I believe. VEry low overhead apparently otehr than residing in Brooklyn, NY. The OHm line has always focused on highest quality sound for the lowest prices for maximum appeal. That's the case with their older conventional bookshelve and floorstander designs as well as their more recent bread and butter Walsh designs.