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Merrill Audio ELEMENT 118 on Tour

As some of you know I had to deal with a serious family medical issue which has been miraculously cured. So the new ELEMENT amplifiers are getting out to all those asking about them and the few lucky ones that have purchased them.

The ELEMENT 118 and ELEMENT 116 will be going out to reviewers and on tour to various audiophiles and dealers. So more will be showing up. I will provide a short trail and welcome questions and comments, all in good spirit.

After years of research and using OEMS, we have a proprietary design that we believe is an order of magnitude improvement over the previous amps and also sets a standard across all the classes of amps in terms on sonics. Of course taking a listen and doing a comparison is the best way to confirm this.

The new design is an open loop, zero feedback, and zero deadtime, using the Gallium Nitride Transistors - which unlike other transistors have close to zero capacitance and hence allow very fast switching. Additionally the PCB and layout is a highly advanced layout that reduces the parasitic capacitance and inductance to near zero, allow close to zero overshoot and ring, and of course the zero deadtime. The open loop, zero feedback, zero deadtime allows a spacious and precision stage with long detailed decays, very fast attack without the parasitics causing other distortions. The first 10 seconds impresses the listener with a musical tone, that is open, wide and fast. The rest is musical immersion.

I will post the systems as they are run through as best I can. Enjoy and I hope you get to listen to the ELEMENT Series of Power Amplifiers near you.
merrillaudio
merrillaudio OP
63 posts
 
@viber7
Just to set the record straight for those reading, I did not design or invent the term, "Soft landing" as stated in the paragraph, 
As for the Christine preamp, this is an excellent preamp with tremendous speed, dynamics, and an ultra low noise floor and not surprisingly, is an ideal complement to the Element 118. It incorporates a unique feature that Merrill calls a "soft landing." This means that transients never have a hard edge and this feature, according to Merrill, is responsible for the Christine's fatigue-free presentation.

This was from Marshall Nack so I would like to give him the credit for this. You can read more in his review here.
https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/christine-preamplifier-merrill-audio/

Many thanks viber7 for providing such a detailed, thorough and investigative report, not to mention the amount of gear put together to make this happen. It has always been a pleasure having this candid exchange with you over the years.  You provide a good contribution to the audio world.

@mattnshilp  a shout out to him also for helping with the original design challenges of form and function. The outriggers were his idea and he also did the final design tweaks.
Regarding the Element 118s, Merrill incorporated a very novel means of controlling for vibration via a combination of a pair of stainless steel outriggers and Isoacoustics GAIA II footers. The way these amps are constructed, with these outriggers in place, it's impossible to apply aftermarket footers such as the Stillpoints Ultra 5s or HRS Vortex that I own and so it's hard to know if I would prefer something other than the stock footers but at the very least, Merrill definitely put thought into this. Furthermore, it's implemented very tastefully.

@guidocorona  provided the insight to use 20A connectors for better connections. I agree and believe everyone should uses this, especially if they are upgrading the power lines and power outlets.

As with all my equipment, many, many audiophiles are engaged for listening, feedback on form and function in the design phase. Many thanks to them all for their time and for use of their systems for listening to ensure broad working function. 
The best compliment is when some say it is a bit arm and others say it is a bit cold. The middle is reached!

Back to  @viber7 , thank you again for the honest reporting.

cheers

Merrill


viber6
2,450 posts
 
Viber7,
Thanks for your well expressed clarification, particularly how the 118 by itself keeps the guitar and related transient rich instruments sharp and clear, in contrast to the Christine which has a softening effect.  I also like your methodology of recording your own piano playing in your room as a reference point.  Actually, I have never been happy about the sound of any piano in a room.  Even a 6 foot grand piano needs a room at least the size of a small recital hall to sound its best, free of the stifling affect of nearby walls and low ceiling.  In a typical home, the piano is bass heavy in a similar way to how large speakers sound in a tiny room, but much worse.  So by doing the recording in your room, you brilliantly correct for this effect.  Even with my own listening to a piano in the home, I can still tell that the percussive effect at all freq is tight like a mallet striking an anvil, which is not at all like the woolly mush coming from many tube amps and some euphonic SS amps.  

Although I agree that terms like "cool" mean different things to different people, let me propose a simple way to describe what I mean.  Compare the sound of a flute, oboe, clarinet playing the same note A 440 Hz at the same volume level.  The flute has a "cooler" or "whiter" sound than the oboe or clarinet, possibly due to the fact that its overtone structure is skewed toward higher freq.  The 3 instruments all have most of their energy at the fundamental A 440 Hz, but the differences in complete tone are related to different proportions and phases of the higher overtones.  The oboe and clarinet sound more similar to each other than to the flute, with the oboe possibly sounding brighter due to the nasal piercing quality of its harmonics.  In my vocabulary, cool is like bright with more HF proportion, and warm is like dark with less HF proportion and more bass.  
ricevs
1,543 posts
 

Another amp in this price range to A/B with the Merrill is the new Totaldac AMP-1....($20K for single rca input amp and $40K for XLR mono blocks).  Naturally the XLR mono blocks would be the ONLY way to go.  I am pretty sure the zero feedback tube/solid state output Totaldac would be more rich sounding but as detailed?  He developed the amp using the Magico M6 and high sensitivity horns.  Nothing but raves, so far.

http://www.totaldac.com/amp-1-en.htm

Some have said the Audionet Heisenberg amps (over $100K) are the best solid state amps they have heard.  Of course, the monster DAgostino amps are killer....back and wallet killers for sure!.  Then you have the big latest mono Sim Audio, Classe, FM Acoustics, VAC tube amps, Hegel Reference, etc, etc.

If an amp has a fuse or many fuses then they must all be upgraded to super fuses or the results will be not right.  Also, if you have a solid state amp that has heatsinks and you do not dampen the heatsinks (easy to do)....then you are hearing the ringing of the heatsinks.  If you run your fingernail along the heatsinks and it "zings".....then you are adding that sound to the output......very important to get rid of that ringing.  From pics I can see the Soulution and the CH precision both have ringing heatsinks (bad for sound).  They would sound much more natural with heatsinks damped....  Totaldac amp has lots of ringing heatsinks.

viber6
2,450 posts
 
What is happening with the 6moons review of the 114?  Srajan seems to be bored.  "To be continued" has been there for a month or so.
merrillaudio OP
63 posts
 
Hot off the Press from Dr. David Robinson, and his final impressions on the ELEMENT 118. Along with a good sampling of his albums and pictures. I am most impressed with his Stowkowski, although no the original pressing.
https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/impressions-final-thoughts-on-the-merrill-audio-element-118/

If anyone would like to do a bake off, bring your amps to the VPI house in Matawan, NJ Sept 28th and 29th. Or arrange with any of the dealers in NJ who have the ELEMENT 116 and ELEMENT 118 each.

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