Merlin TSM comparisons

Never mind, I retract my last question! I just discovered a huge (and pretty cantankerous) "Merlin TSM versus Green Mountain Calisto" thread. One of those is enough!

One thing I'll say about my TSM's is that they reveal everything. Even a small change in something is audible. For example, the setup instructions recommend that the speaker tweeters be between six and seven feet apart, but no more. Mine were a few inches less than six feet apart. I moved them a little over 6 feet apart and readjusted the toe-in with the set up tool. The soundstage bloomed even further, and the low end seems to have firmed up considerably. Interesting!

rebbi, i have used the speaker as little as 5.5 feet apart but only in a very narrow room and this was at a show.
farther apart the bass may tighten as you have less summing but it also may have lightened a touch.
imho, with a speaker as uniform as the tsm is in dispersion and bandwidth it becomes very easy to sense when you are right or wrong in set up refinements. and after you get used to what they do, it becomes even easier to dial them in. when a new pair is purchased and the owner reads the set up instructions, he can pretty much have them 100% right fromm the get go. i have designed an aligment tool so you can adjust the toe angle and made helpful recommendations from my years working with them. follow them and you should be all set.
good show.
do those things to your room and you will be even more happy.
best, b

I have experimented with my new TSM's position quite a bit over the last few days. At about 7 feet apart and 10 feet from listening position I get as near a perfect image and stage as I've heard from any system. But placing the speakers further apart seemed to "open up" some lesser recordings. The toe-in is also fun to play with. In the end I tend to return to the suggested placement.

One thing I found is that my Skylan stands (4 post) were not doing a great job when filled with kitty litter. I switched over to sand and things are now much better! I'm officially thumbs down on kitty litter as I do not believe that it's as effective at acoustic damping.

Cheers,

Rob

Bobby, in an 18x11 size room, what placement would you recommend for the TSM, VSM - same for both?