1 cup of Klipsch La Scala + 1 cup of Merlin VSM =

A very taste-specific speaker. I haven't heard the Klipsh in probably 15 years but remember it being a tad artificial and hollow. Fast transients but not very good timbre. The Merlin is a much better speaker but is also taste-specific. Needs good musical/full sounding tube amplification. Can, with the wrong amp & wires, sound a little clinical and uninvolving.

Klipsch has the dynamic capability in spades, can be brutal on the ears if set up wrong and only thrives on triode amps (in my opinion).

The Merlin has it's magic but it's like maggies, a little thin and weak sounding, and your right if you could blend them, you'd be in the serious dollar range. The new horn speakers are a bit better than the klipsch at all things except bass. But then they start over 10K.

Good luck, and seek out the old JSE infinite slopes the biguns, it's not quite the virutes of either but a nice compramise between the two. The dynamics of the old JSE are something to behold, drum snaps, snap! They are not bad at depth or image just not quite up there with the Merlins and then never sound lean.

good luck,

loon

tom,
the vsm, depending on the version, can sound clinical if you use them in a manner they were not designed to be used in or with the wrong gear/wires. a product like this can not be everything to everyone. you, are correct but we have been improving the tonality of the speaker for many years. the e versions which are lead free sound considerably more room filling with ss or tubes then ever before. but any speaker that has uniform amplitude, a continuous a sound from top to bottom and offers high levels or resolution can resolve smooth fullness or bright thinness. it is not the fault of the speaker but the one using it or setting it up. if the speaker is used in the volume it was designed to work in, set up correctly and with relaxed grear/wires there should be no issues. many thousands of them in the field with only a handful of negative situations and those folks probably never talked to me personally and got help. and if they did, this was just not for them.
seadweller, i think you'd have to hear both and decide which way to go for yourself. these two do not sound anything alike and are not intended to. from what you have written in the past, you seem to long for something that one design can't do but assume that another can do enough of something else. if you listen to both and hear for yourself, who knows where you'll end up. maybe something like a big horn system or the vsm with a sub. but again, this really depends on taste and room volume.
make no assumptions and trust yourself only.
regards,
bobby at merlin

Blue Sky Big Blue with dual big blue subwoofers, get the blue Sky BMC to tie it all together and you don't need to buy amplifiers with this system.

You can get a more sophisticated crossover to encapsulate room correction and more felxible options for the bass. like the XTA/ Dolby Lake Contour...lots of options

Now you have a full range system that can play fullrange @ 116+ dB all day with ease,

Sorry they are not available in burled walnut but something has to give at your price point for what you demand.