Denvelle, I've often heard that the Merlins work very well with Belles, did you ever compare them with a tube amp, or did you go straight to Belles when you got the speakers? Just curious, I would like to have an SS amp on hand that we makes magic with Merlins. |
I'm not sure what "compatability" issues the Merlins might have, they had no issues with my CAT, Atma-sphere, Quicksilver, Music Reference, or Pass XA.5 amps - and the Ars Sonum integrated. It does seem that most, not all, Merlin users gravitate towards tube amps (low NFB, not much damping), and as those who have tried OTLs (yes, Joule, Atma-sphere)will attest, it is very difficult to beat a Class A, Triode, Transformless tube amp IF your speaker can be driven by them, the Merlins are driven wonderfully by OTLs, which to me permits a great speaker to be driven by IMHO by the very best type of tube amplifiers available - OTLs. That being said, the CAT JL2, Music Reference RM9SE, and Pass XA30.5 were not OTLs and the Merlins sounded fantastic with them. What they all have in common is they are all excellent amps and the Merlins do nothing to keep you from hearing that. I know nothing of the JM Labs, but a few show auditions, and they may or may not be world-class, and you may or may not prefer them to the Merlins, what I do know is that there are very few Merlin owners that do not love them, and that form the bedrock of further system upgrades. They are incredibly resolving, fast, and very well sorted adfter so many years of continuous improvements and refinement. They may not be the right speaker for everyone, and it is a "small" speaker, but there are those that love them. I can buy most any speaker (within reason), but it was the Merlins that stopped my search for speakers, they just sound right to me. |
Arj, that sounds like a wonderful combo. |
One of the two has more flesh on the bone, I'll let you guess which one. If I had to own one with the Merlins it would be the Ars; obviously the Pass will sound great with wider range of speakers, but as great as it is, it is still not tubes if that is the type of sound you want - I do. |
One of the reasons I think the Aleph J should in theory be a good match for the Merlins is that in many ways it performs like tubes in that it seems to not increase current (watts) with lower impedance, that is it performs more like tube amps in that regard. It also has a 260kohm input impedance which makes it very tube preamp friendly, which I think is best suited for the BAM, and with 30 watts of Class A power it should be enough to drive the Merlins about as loud as I could stand. This ofcourse is all theory, and does not mean it will work better than the BEL, Belles, or ARC 100.2 |
That is very strong recommendation for the Belles (for use with Merlins at least). I've been looking for an SS amp to have on hand (and for the summer months) when the 16 output tubes of the Atma-sphere and 8 of the Music Reference put out just a bit too much heat:) I tried several of the Pass/First Watt amps, which are wonderful amps, but I just never felt that I could ever "love" them the way I do the tube amps - perhaps it can't happen as I think the Pass SS is about as good as SS gets (I too think the Ayre is up in that category). I will give the Belles some more thought, I know Bobby has recommended it for years. I also suspect the BEL 1001/2002 would have been a good SS choice as well. Thanks for you sharing your experience. |
I don't think there is anymore production of Richard Brown's amps, which many say is the best SS amp they have heard. It would be nice if such a great design could be continued by another company, but I guess that just isn't going to happen.
I have been giving the Master BAM some thought, but something about paying so much for a capacitor "upgrade" just is a hard nut to crack. Now if I heard the Deulands and were able to compare them and it was a really noticeable improvement, well then, yeah, I'd have to do it. |
Thank you Bobby. I do suspect you're right:) |
I was afraid you would say that:) |
Maybe if the MasterBAM weighed 180lbs:). Now where did I put Bobby's number.... |
Well, the check is in the mail. We'll see what the next refinement of the VSM brings to the table. So far, every upgrade Bobby has made to the speaker has made a great speaker just that much better, so I look forward to listening to the MasterBAM and RCs. |
That BEL amp is one amp I wish I had the chance to have tried, Bobby speaks very highly of the BEL. I too had the Ars Sonum, and it is a wonderful integrated, but ulitmately I prefered the Atma-sphere gear which has bested a lot of other stuff I had tried, but would love to have an SS amp that is a killer with the Merlins and I suspect the BEL would be the one for me to try. It will be interesting to know what you think of the BEL versus the McCormack. |
Hi Rleff. I just don't know. And don't get me wrong, the Pass XA30.5 and Aleph J sounded extremely good with the Merlins, but I still preferred the Atma-sphere and Music Reference amps. It just maybe that I am too much of a tubeaholic to ever really be totally satisified with an SS amp - but I won't stop trying; though I think Nelson Pass is about as good as it gets in SS. My friend loves his Rowland Concentra, maybe I can get him to.... |
Love Bent-TAP, but not with Atma-sphere, the amp is not sensitive enough for a passive IMHO. What does work really well is a passive with the Music Reference RM10MKII ($1950 new, to $1,000 used). I had CAT JL2, Ars Sonum, Quicksilver, Music Reference RM9 & 10, and Pass XA30.5 and Aleph J with the MXe. To my ears, nothing beats the Atma-sphere M60s with the Atma-pre, but for a lot less money the RM10MKII is one hell of a great amp and it drives the Merlins beautifully with its 35 watts. If cash is no problem, Atma-sphere M60s with the MP3 is a world class combo with the Merlins (some prefer the Joule, but I think that is a matter of preference, and quite a bit more expensive than the Atma-sphere combo - though I do use a Joule LA150MKI Signature with my MR RM9s. |
I'm still waiting for them. I'm thinking 6-8 weeks more. |
I think the balanced connection is of very minimal, if any benefit, and I don't think you can get an AVC that is balanced - though it can be built at much greater expense. So far, my test have told me that AVC is better than TVC, that is I think the Bent with Slagle is better than my experience with S&B MK1 tranformers.
The Ars is warmer than the RM10MKII, more meat on the bone as they say, and it is a beautiful looking unit. Ultimately, I preferred the transparency and speed of the RM10MKII - can't say which is better, it is a matter of taste. What I like about the RM10, besides sound is that it is small, uses almost no power in idle, the tubes are cheap, and the run for 10,000 hours according to Roger - you also get to play with different preamps. The darn thing works awfully well with a passive pre - Roger sells a Pot-in-the-Box with some old Noble potentiometers for $135!!!, but it would certainly work great with the Bent. I was out of the passive scene for a while, but tried the Goldpoint again and realized the passives with the right amp are incredible, I've decided to play with some more upscale passives including the Lightspeed and I suspect Bent or an Slagle variant again - the Music Reference amps thrive on passives with there low sensitivity. For $1,300 (Passive with a used RM10, you would have one heck of a good sounding system. -Better than the Ars? that is a matter of taste, the Ars is certainly a very, very good integrated. |
The Bent/RM10/9 is anything but thin, that word does not cross my mind. The RM9 is a little warmer than the 10, but they are very much the work of the same designer, now 162 watts (on my RM9 SE) or (125 watts on the standard RM9 is still quite a bit more power than 35 watts and I imagine with certain kinds of music (orchestral?)you might notice that power difference - I don't notice it at all on jazz, which is mostly what I listen to. The best AVC? Bent Tap - nothing better in terms of ergonomics, volume control, remote convenience, but I would imagine it would be very similar sonically to some of the other Slagle-centric AVCs, one sold by Dave Slagle directly.... I think I am going to buy one again - the RM10 and a passive just work so well together. Just tried the Goldpoint Attenuator and remebered why I liked passives so much to begin with. Now I will try the Lightspeed Attenuator and a Bent Tap-X. Clio9 has tried both and finds them to be very close in sound, I think the Bent, based on his description sound like it might be a bit warmer, but he isn't using Merlins. |
