Budget of $30K. Help me build a system

I agree with your approach of starting with the speakers and the amp/speaker interface is very important. I think you are on the right track with Merlin and ARS as from my experience they work well together.

I would re-evaluate the funds set aside for everything else. I know Bobby recommends Cardas with his speakers but I do not think you have to go with Clear. A friend of mine had Merlin's and used Golden Reference which are a bit less expensive. There are lots of other less expensive cable options as well that I think would work nicely too.

In addition, I would hold off on both the power conditioner and room treatments until you had everything set up in your room and listened for some time. I used both extensively for a while and learned I could live without a power conditioner and live with minimal room treatments (basically bass traps in the corners behind the speakers). If you are going to be listening near field, and in your size room that is most likely going to be the case, you may not need room treatments at all.

In any case my point is to shave off some dollars on the accessories and put more money into your source or just get the Bryston combo and set the rest aside until you have had some time to evaluate. It's possible you won't need to spend the full $30k.

Thanks all, you advice has been helpful in seeing other point of views.

Clio09, what you suggest is basically where my mindset has gone. Hold out on room treatments and power conditioner for now. A good point regarding cables. I think I might consider the Cardas Presence and take the money saved and invest in a better DAC.

Not that there is anything wrong with the Bryston BDA but a few things I have been reading lead me to believe I can improve at this 'link in the chain'. Calyx Femto, Lampinator, Aurelic to name a few.

hello blueshirt, i own a pair of the vsm's, they will work fin in a smaller room. i'm sure that bobby p. would agree with me on that one. i have a small to medium sized room 17' x 10' and the vsm's sound wonderful. i have them paired up with an older ars filly. the pair just lets the music through. check out the ayre cx7 for a digital front end. its stand alone, but it does a fantastic job on redbook cds. great choice for cables, should be a killer system, ron

Blueshirt:

Looks like you assembled a great souding sysyem and all of your ducks are in a row. I'd still give Bobby a call @factory for final tweaking.

Budget for the Cardas Clear wire geoemtry upgrade to your Master BAM. Less than $400.00 upgrade and it is truly the icing on the cake for the VSM Master.

Jim

I have Merlin Master VSM's with Master BAM and ARS-Sonum Filarmonia and Cardas cabling.

All I can say is that, set up properly, you will have a world class system that will bring you many, many hours of enjoyment. I am currently waiting on the very latest upgrade to the BAM (a re-wire using Cardas Clear wire), and I've been told by other customers that it's the icing on the cake.

The difference between VSM-mme's and the Master VSM's is very significant, btw. So I suspect that the leap from the VSM-M's to the MXM's will blow you away.

It's always preferable to be able to audition in your home exactly the system you will have. But I know that's not always possible. Since you're familiar with Merlin, and the speakers are voiced using the Filarmonia, I don't see how you can go wrong.

Bonne chance!