Sonus Farber Guarneri vs Merlin VSM

I've heard them both. It depends a tiny bit on taste, but in my opinion the Guarnari's are the better speaker. They need a little more power than is recommended. At least 200 watts, 300 watts would be better.

Have not heard the Merlins, but own the Guarneri's. A fiend who has listened to my system and to another system buit around the Merlins sez the Guarneris go down further (~ 45 Hz in my room)and have a richer midrange. The Guarneri's tweeter is particulalrly good..almost electrostatic in its purity and speed. I certainly would not consider parting w/ mine. As for power, I gues it depends on what you use. I have used Bryston's 7BST monoblocks and Aronov 9100 monoblocks. The latter, though only 120 watts/ch using KT88 tubes, give up nothing to the Brystons in dynamics and bass control..and are a particularly good match w/ the SFGs. As you'd suspect, wire matters. The Guarneris like good cable!

No contest, go for the Guarneri's!

I would say we are talking about two very different speakers here with very different characters. IMHO, Sonus Faber products (even the Amti Homage which I have heard as well) have more of a sonic signature or character they impose on the music where the Merlin VSM Millenniums have a more even/honest repsonse which imposes much less of its own character. Yes, I own and sell Merlins and the VSM Millenniums are the speaker of choice for my music listening. In my room here (11.5' by 20') the VSM Milenium speakers (used with the BAM of course) I acheive bass response down to the low 30s that is very resolved with excellent weight and impact. Even without the BAM I can acheive bass repsonse to the high 30s... to the gentlemans friend above... differences in speaker placement/set-up could easily account for some of the difference hear, but what is more likey going on is the voicing of the Guarneris' VS. the Merlin is the bass. All Sonus Fabers I have ever hear have a rich mid-bass (slightly peaked and underdamped in repsonse) which gives the speaker the impression of sounding more meaty in the bass and in the case of a small two-way - its gives the speaker the feeling that it goes lower than it really does. This is why the Sonus Fabers need power (to help control the more underdamped character of the Sonus Fabers) - the reason why damped amplifer designs (like the Bryston which one of the gentleman above uses) are happy matches with the Guarneri's. The Merlin VSM Millennums on the other hand have a much more damped bass character, freindly impedance curve, and good sensitivty which make it a very happy match for amps like OTLs (many Merlin owners does use OTLs with thier speakers for good reason! :-)

Speaker choice is a very personal issue. Based on my experience with Joule Electra gear, if the Dredster plans on going with J-E OTLs the Merlin VSM Millenniums are a incredibly synnergistic match. To my personal preference, mating such great sounding amps with the Sonus Faber Guarneris would be taking away from the best that the genltemans system can be.

Happy Listening
Rich Brkich