Merlin Master Bam Alert

Was listening to Gillian Welch tonight, and it dawned on me
how damn good these speakers are, then I noticed that the
VSMs were "removed" from the the Stereophile
Recommend List, probably not listened to recently or some
such idiocy or other nonsense. I really lost a lot of
respect and interest in the list, though I'm sure it is of
interest to novices. For one of the finest speakers in the
world not be on the list does a lot more damage to the
credibility and usefulness of the list than it can ever do
to the speaker. It is simply ridiculous to
"remove" a speaker that has been on there for so
long, that has only gotten better, unless they are reviewing
the new iteration to place it where it properly belongs next
to a whole bunch of other speakers that cannot hold a candle
to it. If this is the sort of activity that leads a
manufacturer to come out with version 3.1 to get reviewed or
"reconsidered" by the press, then it speaks badly of the
press that is suppose to be serving the interest of the
audiophile looking for the best gear.

paul, don't let it get you down. the vsm was in class a for 7 years. i think they leave a product on it for 3 years. the vsm m was placed in class a in 2004 and then in 2007, the vsm mx. they kindly extended the mxe version there for a while too. they have been more than fair. i spoke to john about reviewing the vsm mx-r with masters but never heard any more on the topic.
i think i would rather have the master vsm reviewed anyway.
have a great weekend.
bobby

It does not get me down one bit:) It simply questions the sanity and value of "the list". But if the Master VSM is coming soon! then all the better.

I recently received an email out of the blue from a dealer who wanted to disagree with my review of the Master VSM's. It's obviously not that he's even heard them, as I believe there are only two or three pair in the world. But he took issue with what he called the planned obsolescence of the design, which makes no sense to me whatsoever.

The notion that the evolution of the VSM's can be classified as "planned obsolescence" is absurd on the face of it. It implies that Bobby was aware in 1994 of the benefit of the non-developed BAM, but withheld that knowledge; that he knew that battery power to the BAM would further improve the sound quality; that he knew that lead-free solder improves the sound quality; that Duelund capacitors that didn't even exist at the time would improve sound quality; that wire that didn't exist at the time (I'm referring to Cardas Clear) would further improve the sound, etc. Nope. In spite of the emailer's rhetorical question, "Where's the R & D?" my guess is that it took substantial R & D to make each of these discoveries. Discoveries, I might add, that clearly and substantially improved the design insofar as SOUND QUALITY goes.

The fact that the remarkable potential of a simple design has been progressively revealed is a sign of patient mastery, as far as Im concerned. Hence, the Master VSM's have earned the title. Just confirms the adage: K.I.S.S.

Personally, I find Merlin's approach far more ethical than the practices of other companies that ride the waves of this year's latest and greatest audiophile trends to boost their bottom lines. The fact that most of the upgrades did NOT render the speakers obsolete, but rather allowed owners to upgrade their current speakers seems to be the opposite of planned obsolescence.

Vandersteen and Atma-sphere also take a very similar approach to product development, their products are sorted out and refined from an original good idea that stands the test of time. And for the most part, users can move with the changes by upgrading what they already have - no need to throw out the "old" to keep up with imrpovements. I think this is how a world class product comes to be and what it means to own such a product.