Merlin TSM comparisons

Guppy,

Yes, power and also importantly current.

I've found high power, high current separate amps to be best matches to the OHM Walshes rather than integrateds because it is very expensive to build a high power and current power source into an integrated without having negative effects on the overall sound due to proximity of low level circuits in teh pre to EMI fields generated, etc.

IcePower and OHMs are a match made in heaven that several on this site have latched onto, including me.

Prior to Icepower, the amp requriements to max out OHMs may have made them less cost effective in teh end compared to easier to drive designs, as I suspect the MErlins are. Icepower breaks down those barriers though some better Icepower amps, like the BCs in my rig, are still not cheap. WYred 4 Sound is probably the best value in IcePower to drive OHMs, especially if one is using a tube pre-amp.

There are a lot of snafus one can encounter in trying to piece together a top performing rig alone.

Merlin seems like a practical fast track to high end performance for many. The design seems well thought out to work well for most user with most available equipment and Bobby provides teh guidance and expertise when needed. That is a very effective combo!

I also used an Onkyo 9555,class D, with the Ohms and it was a very good match. As far as Merlin goes they only make two models,one monitor and one floorstander, which are both two way designs and have been continuously evolving over the years with great skill and devotion and as you say Bobby provides great guidance with the speaker positioning and associated components as well as just about any other audio question and the bottom line is customers are very happy with the results so word gets around and Merlin thrives.

OHMs are not tube friendly, so if a tube amp is a must, you can get by perhaps, but are not likely to max out performance with any OHM Walshes I suspect.

500 w/ch IcePower is the bomb however with both my OHM Walshes, 5S3 and 100S3. The Dyns and Triangle work fine with the IcePower but the differences with those from prior amps (Carver m4.0t and Musical Fidelity A3CR) is not as significant.

I've also owned B&W P6s and Magnepan mg1c's, and original OHM Walsh 2s in recent years prior to my current setup. The B&Ws were nice in larger rooms but never imaged the way I liked. The Maggies were fantastic for years in the large basement room of my old town home but never clicked in my new house. The Triangle Titus' with sub was the best combo I had with these speaks in house at the time. That was a top notch combo running off a Tandberg tr2080 receiver in my second rig. The original OHM Walsh 2s were nice but not nearly as refined top to bottom as the newer designs (they were over 25 years old though). I traded those in towards the OHM F5s. OHm has a very nice trade-in policy where you can receive up to 40% off new speaker cost by trading in up to two pair of older OHMs that I took advantage of to obtain the F5s at a very favorable price compared to new Walsh 5S3s.

I agree tubes don't work well with the OHMS, but the Unison Research Unico hybrid did a nice job. I thought the Triangle Cometes performed much better with tubes.