MY REVIEW: Merlin TSM MMM BME


The Good & The Great speakers!

Cont’d from my last initial thoughts of these new TSM MMM BME (black magic edition) monitors…..

The TSM have averaged close to 300 hours emerging truthfully and sonically superior. I’ve not heard a more honest speaker such as these. When I listen to the music coming out of these monitors, my only thoughts are of memories, times and places of my life. Its funny how certain moments in life are summed up by various music/songs. That’s what happens when you have a good pair of speakers – you no longer listen to the equipment but drawn by the music. The speakers are so uncolored and true that it allows me to emotionally connect with simply the music and the artist. The new TSM black magic are like a candle in the darkness, it leaves nothing unhidden.

I’ve put this monitor into ring fights against ‘the great’ Sonus Faber Auditor, Devore Fidelity 3XL and Joseph Audio Pulsar. The TSM MMM Black Magic KO’d them all. There are 2 truths at play here: One is that many people do not know what instruments sound like in real life – hence confirming their lack of knowledge to listening since they have been so used to artificial sweeteners (colored sounding speakers) in their daily life. Secondly, most audiophiles will simply abandon and blame the truthfulness of the TSM because it reveals too much of the users faulty upstream components.

Perhaps the TSM black magic edition may still not appease to everyone as their cup of tea…not everyone is a musician who can hear true tones, attacks, decays and pitches of music from live instruments. Otherwise all other speaker manufacturers would have folded years ago. But to those who accept nothing but the truth, I gladly applaud and announce the Merlin TSM MMM Black Magic. It is the good speaker. After so many hours with this pair of TSM, the search is over. Yes Captain Kirk and the crew of the enterprise can come home now and begin a new voyage. The time now is to search out new music, different genres and perhaps make new memories with music as opposed to jumping on Agon or Ebay to rotate audio equipment. Time to get off the merry-go-round folks! And the new TSM is the ticket off that merry-go-round. Time to wake up from the Matrix and realize…the truth.

Please note that in my review of these newly acquired speakers of mine, I don’t talk about what the lows, mids or highs are doing. Why? Because everything the speakers do are musically correct! Who has time to dissect and regurgitate what others have stated already? Not me. Just listen!

Good speakers will leave you hungry for more music because it has subconsciously touched you at an emotional level. That’s what the TSM do! Great speakers (those the TSM KO’d) will grab your attention for a few minutes and then kick you out of the room. Maybe subconsciously making you want to go do something else altogether. Great speakers will fuel that wicked cycle of going through dozens of pairs of speakers and equipment throughout your lifetime here on earth.

Where do I go from here? I’m not sure. I guess I’m done? Like the alcoholic audio trader who’s come out of Agon rehab (from constantly trading audio equipment for years), like the convict exiting the cells from a 20yrs sentence…what to do now??? The TSM MMM BME has been my ticket out from that wicked cycle of audio trading. For those that are willing to listen they are wise. Only the fool, will say otherwise and to them they re-enter that merry-go-round madness still constantly searching….fast asleep within the Matrix.

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Sophia Electric 126S, Merlin TSM MMM BME (Black Magic Edition), Grover Huffman ZX, Shunyata, Sound Anchors, Well Tempered Record Player, Nagaoka MP-50, Heed Audio Quasar, ASI resonators & sugar cubes
vangstr
Fritz LS 5/R or 7/R (both 3500.00). I have a prototype that uses ScanSpeak 9700 tweeters instead of Ring Radiators...with Quicksilver 90 watt Silver monos and Quicksilver pre, in 12x15 room. I doubt you would prefer the Merlins.
Vangstr, very well done sir, both OP and response seem to do an excellent job of displaying how truly pompous and arrogant you are. I'm sure that you need no further compliments, as it is very evident that you already think more highly of yourself than any of us mere mortals who are graced by your truly infinite wisdom on all things audio. We humbly bow before your almighty's infinite musical wisdom, and beg for you to spare us any more insults to just how truly ignorant we all are inside your superior mind. ;)
There is really only one truth at play here -- all speakers (and systems/rooms) are colored to some degree. Congrats that you found a pair of speakers that are colored to your liking, but just because you love them doesn't make them the most uncolored or superior for other listeners.

Here's an example. Both I and a bandmate of mine have very nice systems. We are both obviously musicians know what instuments sound like in real life, but we listen for and value different things in sound reproduction. He listens more like a musician and his system does a better job painting more complete pictures of individual instruments, but I listen more like an audiophile and my system does a better job clearly placing and displaying elements within a dimensional space. Is one of us wrong? Don't think so. There are just no absolutes in this ridiculous hobby (assuming a piece of gear isn't designed or built like crap of course) -- just too many variables for that.

Agree with others that this would've been a lot more useful had you added at least some cursory info on how the TSMs KO'd some of these other fine speakers -- that would not have taken up that much more space in the review. People are good at grasping relatives, but your absolutes don't really tell us much as your tastes and ears are yours and yours alone so there's no way we can interpret your assessments. Personally I'd be very interested in how the TSMs compared to the Pulsars, and did you hear them in direct comparison to the Merlins in your system? If you listened to some of these speakers in different systems and rooms or not in direct comparison to the TSMs it greatly affects the usefulness and validity of your comparisons.

All that said, obviously the TSMs are very good speakers and I'm glad you found what a lot of audiophiles never attain.
I own Merlins (VSM) and think very highly of them. In fact, I've owned them for almost 15 years now and liked them enough to spend on an upgrade several years ago. They still impress me every time I sit down to listen to them.

I can also be found with an acoustic guitar in my hands +/- 4 hours a day, (although I won't make any particular claims regarding special evaluative skills related thereto). I have recorded my own playing and listened back thru the Merlins to (primarily to evaluate my technique) and there's little doubt in my mind that they're excellent speakers.

All that said, this review is hilariously presumptuous.
I would say 75% of Audiophiles have little to no knowledge of
what acoustic instruments sound like, esp. bowed string ones.