Merlin VSM-M or VSM-MX vs. Kharma CRM3.2 series

Bobby brings up some intresting points in his reply. As a former musician (drummer) as well as an audiophile, I've looked to build a system with components that do more "right" than "wrong" in my search for the absolute sound. It is this fine line that the VSM M speaker walks so well IMO.

This balance between what a musician "hears" and what an audiophile "craves" for is the designer product we know as the VSM speaker. It has been and continues to be an evolution and refinement of design by Bobby. 10+ years of development that has evolved argueably into one of the finest speakers in our hobby.

The VSM has gotten me a lot closer to this thrill than many other speakers. That's why I get a bit peeved when I hear a dealer say "Most of us who have heard the Kharma's and the Merlin's would say the opposite". What BS! Opinions are opinions. We all got'em. They ain't the facts, they are just opinions formulated on multiple factors; our experiences, preferences, compromises, likes and dislikes.

I trust my ears and my experience both as a former musician and a 35+ year audiophile to make my own judjements as to what brings me closer to the absolute sound. I don't need a panel of self-appointed expert(s) to reach that or any other conclusion.

Panorama,I wouldn't sell my Kharma C1.0 if i like it.
As i said that they are fatiguing for MY EARS,not yours or others. If you like them,i'm happy for you.

I haven't heard the Rockport TT.
The price tag for $73,500 and A+ review could be 99.99% great sound,but not 100%.

I never get upset when someone didn't like their components which were coincidently I own or love. I respect their taste.

No hard felling please !!

I cannot comment on the Kharma as i do not own them, but I can comment on the merlin vsm m and bobby so I will. He is a musician and I have had the opportunity to have many interactions with equipment and musicians like Bobby. (Ihave worked in professional music studios and also a few retail hifi stores.) The merlins are not perfect-what is outside of my wife-but they are close for the money. They are accurate and fair, and I only wish that some of the other speaker companies I have dealt with have guy like Bobby in charge.

There are many good products out there-the kharmas are one to be sure-but there are not many guys like Bobby out there;, honest, intelligent and dedicated to the music. We would all be more fortunate if we could have more of him, not less.

I thought we were comparing the Kharma 3.2 focal or diamond which in my opinion is levels above Ceramique 1.0. Do you think the 3.2 is on par with the 1.0? Your statement says Kharma's are fatiguing. You cannot say by hearing one model they all are the same. Think about it.

Bobby, that's a very interesting response.A while back I heard a very well respected horn manufacturer's speaker that was playing a demo of a drum set. At first listen, I was struck by how amazingly like a real drum set they sounded..Then the manufacturer played various other pieces; to everyone's dismay the speakers just totally fell apart and in fact their sound was enough to drive myself and several others out of the room.
While I am not a musician by profession, I do play several instruments and have the opportunity to play live and then listen to the reproduced. One thing that I am fairly certain you will agree with is that when one hears a live instrument it is instantly recognizable as such. The reproduced sound seems to me to be also just as recognizable;and IMHO they are light years apart. The example of the sax player is interesting, maybe it is impossible to reproduce a sax so that one knows immediately that one is hearing a 'live'sax and at the same time have any chance of reproducing say a violin or piano so that again the same would hold true.
You are right, I truly love music and I am hoping that one day my system will be a little more towards what I perceive as sounding more like a real live 'unamplified'
sound.
Perhaps one of my problems is that I have a very high expectation of what I would like to hear from a true 'high-end' system.