Geeeeez guys, reeelax! Here's some perspective for everyone on both sides of this argument:
Brian Cheney has developed an affordable full range tower speaker knock-off that's sort of a cross between a dunlavy SC-IVa and a Genesis/Infinity ribbon tower that has many of the same dynamic, effortless and integrated sound qualities that these ultra expensive speakers are known for (with even better low end bass and power than the $8000+, now out of business SC-IVa). This is what the RM-40 is IMHO. He managed to pull this feat off by sourcing incredibly inexpensive ribbons from China that are 85% of the performance of the ultra expensive offerings (at less than 20% the cost per unit). His woofer tooling and economy of scale most likely allowed him to also source in his custom woofers at a very reasonable price too. With some decent first order crossovers these speakers came together to produce a wonderful sound that just doesn't sound cheap by any means and actually makes you wonder show the hell he did it with such inexpensive drivers. Driver technology just doesn't cost what it used to. More importantly, the differenced between excellent designed cheap drivers and ultra cost no object stat of the art drivers is closer than it has ever been in history. There is a difference, but it can be carefully masked by the talents of an excellent speaker designer like Brian. Could Brian's speaker be more detailed, more refined and better sounding with top of the drivers and rock solid cabinetry? Absolutely! The point is that it would cost something like $25k+ to do it that way and the differences would be pretty small for the 500% increase in cost. I congratulate Brian for bringing us some of the sonic qualities that you only could get for stupid money just a few years ago.
Bobby (of Merlin) went the entire other direction. He used top of the line, cost no object drivers in a cabinet that was also near the top in terms of construction. (This is why the VSM costs so much, yet it only has two drivers.) In all actuality, this speaker should sound good! It uses nothing but the best of the best parts, etc. IMHO, this type of speaker is much easier to get perfect (for it's limited response due to the two way design) because the parts are all world class. Based on what I know it seems that everything is tweaked in this speaker also. It's sort of a tour de-force design.
How does the Merlin compare to the VMPS? Well, that's a question that is not easy to answer. Each of these speakers is awesome it what they do right: the VMPS sounding like some of the huge ultra expensive speakers in terms of dynamics and sonic integration and the Merlin getting you into the details of the recording with ultra precision that very few speakers in the world can achieve, at the expense of massive dynamics, ultra low bass and a sense of hugeness (vertically) that only monster towers achieve. Which one would I take? That depends on what my priorities are in terms of music, my room size and my wife! IMHO there is no correct answer here because each speaker achieves greatness at what it does right and each speaker doesn't have flaws that are readily apparent if you take each speakers' positives into account as you are auditioning them. For example: As long as you are not looking for the absolute best sonic detail ever imagined from the VMPS, you will not be disappointed. As long as you are not looking for the best low bass and huge dynamics from the Merlins, you will not be disappointed. Each speaker is wonderful and achieves greatness in certain areas that the other speaker lacks and visa versa. End of story, end of argument, silly argument at that. That's my opinion in a nutshell.....now, let's fight... ;)
