Decided to keep my Merlins and upgrade power. Presently using a Billie amp, and a Parasound as a preamp. Would like to stick with tubes (integrated or not), but I'm not sure what power would be best to drive the Merlins. Thoughts?
Joule-Electra is amazing with Merlin’s. I only heard the combo once but it was memorable. Unfortunately they are no longer manufactured and very difficult to come by should you be interested in trying one out. Rich Brkich of Signature Sound (info1@sigsound.com) in Liverpool NY is the self proclaimed Joule as well as Merlin expert. He is great to speak with regarding all things Joule or Merlin. Get in touch with Rich. He can give you good recommendations too. There is also a Merlin Facebook group that Rich sponsors. Another good place to get recommendations. Joule were OTL amps so Atma-Sphere that I mention above is a very good alternative if you’re interested in pursuing OTL. Rich also represents Atma-Sphere. IMO it’s tough to do better than Merlin speakers with an OTL amp. Again, it’s the best combo I’ve tried in 20+ years of owning Merlin’s.
They were in a second system at the time. I ended up selling the system when I regained some sanity.
The main system was Avalon Radian and audio research reference stuff. This was almost 20 years ago though. All different now. But for a stand mount speaker I was really impressed with the Merlins.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
