Merlin Room at 2004 HE Show in NY

I heard both rooms. I enjoyed the clarity and power of the Merlins. The sweet spot was nice and wide too.

The Kharmas were truly transparent and disappeared, even when sitting quite close. The term 'tonal colour' comes to mind--the sound was truly rich and satisfying.

I suppose it's a bit unfair to compare the 2, since the systems in both Kharma rooms were quite a bit pricier than the Merlins room.

The Merlin room was much better than the Kharma 3.2 room.

I think the Kharma/Lamm/Walker room was superior. I could find no fault whatsoever with the sound. Of course, you are dealing with some serious money in that room. Everything is the best of the best, and it costs that way too. Lloyd's turntable is otherworldly, and even the Audio Aero Capitole in the Merlin room is nothing in terms of a match for it.

There was not perfect sound in the Merlin/Joule Electra room, but it was very, very good. There was a bit too much bass, which overpowered the room. Slipknot1 felt the room was overtreated, which I cannot disagree with. I felt the bass was plump and plummy. I wondered if the Merlins need a big room, despite their small size. I also wondered if removing the BAM from the equation might work better in that room, but I don't really have enough experience with the speaker to say for sure.

While the sound was superior to what many will ever achieve, I have heard the speakers sound a lot better than this. In fact, I have heard them sound so good, that I actually suspended belief in what I was hearing, and felt I was listening to live music. To be honest, I have never heard better sound, EVER.

Joe,
Excellent report. I'm quite jealous, and wish I'd been able to join you three. Hopefully next year.
Any more to share about Lloyd Walker's plans on a more affordable tt? Any idea of his target price and timing?
Also, sounds like # of 2 channel demos are holding up well vs. multichannel, true? Was crowd interest in 2 channel holding up, too? Same question on tubes & vinyl?
Just out of curiousity, but how small was the Merlin Joule room? The room at Mark Paul's house where the Philly Audio Group demoed the Merlin/Berning/Joule system wasn't a large room, IMHO. Assuming that's where you loved the sound, was the NYC room much smaller?
Also, FWIW, I've been experimenting with my VSM-MXs w/battery BAM, and no doubt that it's much, much better with BAM(The new MX BAM does have improvements over the older BAM).
See you soon. Cheers,
Spencer

Trelja,

Could you share with us the details of your experience with Merlins that you referred to as the "best ever" in your post? What were the associated electronics, cables, etc.? How was the room set up (demension, damping, etc.)? What kind of music were you listening to? Was it the VSM-MX model or the earlier VSM-Ms? Thanks in advance for sharing your insight.

Henry