solid state amp for merlin tsm's ?

Hi, Samski....
I own the current TSM-MXr speakers. I run them with....yup, Tubes via the Manley Stingray. But I've also had them powered by an Odyssey SS amp, Emotiva XPA-2 and a few others. I've also had the Totem The One speakers, which are certainly a very good small monitor. I'm also familiar with much of the Totem line. Some of my other system speakers have been Magnepan 1.6 and I just recently had the Revel M20's to play with.
I think that ALL of these speakers sound their best with tubes, at least when it comes to the mid and high frequencies. In fact I've become a huge tube convert even finding the a mid-fi pair of Def tech speakers sound amazing when connected to the Stingray amp.
With that said I know 1st hand that the new version of the TSM's are not anymore handicapped by SS gear than the Totems or Revels. In my experience they ALL benefit from tubes. I also found the Merlins in another higher class than all of my previous speakers, even besting my Magnepans for imaging. And it didn't matter if it was SS or tubes. It's true that not being able to hear the speakers is a worry. All I can say is that the feedback on the Merlins is as high as it is for a reason.

Best of luck with your system,

Rob

I heard a pair of the TSMs (not very latest version, but just one previous) at AXPONA driven by ?? (sorry, I forget) nothing fancy and they sounded awesome! DCCA cable company had the room. Contact DCCA and speak with the designer/engineer/builder of the cables. Very nice man. The TSMs with ss and DCCA cables WILL be my next speaker, when I move into a smaller room. They were spooky real, and very good. Don't give up on SS for TSMs. (And I have SETs for my current system.)

I am using a Marantz PM-15 (the original 1994 model) with my TSM mmi speakers. The results are extraordinary. It certainly helps to have a very good amp behind the Merlins but it is the synergy of the whole system that tells the sonic story -- not only the CDP and power conditioner but also the cables and plugs (and tweaks), IMHO.

04-22-11: Samski
"after doing some research, it looks like the merlins are not for me,"

I would not come to that conclusion based on the fact folks recommend tubes - they sound fantastic with SS as well, but not all speakers sound great with tubes due to impedance curves yadda yadda, the thing is when a speaker also happens to be tube friendly, like the Merlins, they tend to sound better with tubes because tubes tend to sound better than SS IMHO. Don't miss out on one of the truly great speakers for fear of the tube buzz, try'em with a high quality SS amp, you won't regret it.

Well said, Pubul. Naturally there's some bias for my Merlins, but I have a lot of love for other speakers as well. For a short while I had the Merlins powered by an Emotiva XPA-2 and the UMC-1 processor. You can't get more mismatched than that, at least according to Merlin. But I wanted to hear exactly how "crippled" the TSMs would be by such a combo. I'm not going to say anything crazy!. The TSM's lost some of their ghostly imaging and midrange finesse, but I seriously doubt anyone would have been less than thrilled with the sound. I have a friend who ran an older set of TSMs with a Creek SS amp and the sound was great.

Rob