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Speltz/Atma-sphere & Merlins

As most Merlin owners know, they have very smooth impedance curves and almost all at 8ohms or higher - they are if nothing else (besides being my favourite speakers)OTL friendly. At the same time, OTLs perform at the best with higher speaker impedance, the higher the better I think. The question is, does adding a Paul Spletz improve things with a speaker like the Merlin, or is it just messsing up a good thing and better left to OTL/speaker matchups that need the help.
pubul57
pubul57 OP
3,712 posts
 
Thank you for your responses. Sounds like it has its place, but not with my speakers.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,784 posts
 
If the ZERO is not loaded properly it will ring (adding harshness and obscuring detail) like any other inductive device. Ideally the speaker load should be 4,3 or 2 ohms, and if loaded that way the input will be 16 ohms. Other combinations are possible, but *in general* the ZERO is usually not be particularly helpful on a speaker that is already 6-8 ohms.

IMO you are far better off trying different speaker cables on the Merlins rather than ZEROs. If you had Magnaplanars it would be an entirely different story!
dmailer's avatar
dmailer
235 posts
 
Philjolet when you are referring to the sound of the speltz wire vs your own were you referring to using the nude transformers or when using the box. I thought using the box would more likely retain the sound of your wire as long as your wire was used between the amps/box/speakers.
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,306 posts
 
I had the nude transformer model instead of my normal wire sorry for any misinformation...
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