2. speakers
  3. 1271985605

Merlin vsm mme owners, Cardas cabling Question.

HI, just purchased an used pair of merlin vsm mme,replaced my Von swheikert VR3, my Question is, why cardas cables are so critical for this speakers, had cardas cables before, speakers and interconnect, and heated the sound of those cables, very muddy and slow, bass all over the place,coulnt'pull them out fas enough,
my preamp is joulet electra 150mk11, and I'm really scare to spend $3000,or more on used cardas GR,cables,now I'm using KCI silk worm with analysis solo cristal I/C, sounds good, but a little thin, great midrange, but not full body sound, that I'm acustom to, what will cardas bring to the table , in this situation.

your coments wil be apreciated;

thanks:

Cheers:
juancgenao

Showing 4 responses by martykl

martykl
3,578 posts
 
Juan,

I own VSMs. They sound very good with a wide variety of cables/amps/sources. However, ownership of this particular product puts you in a circle of folks who are so passionate that some embrace certain cult-like rituals, among them strict adherence to system matching commandments. Bobby P, the owner of the company is enthusiastic, vocal, and a frequent poster here. He has his preferences (naturally enough), but these seem to take on great philosophical weight and meaning among the coverted. My advice: experiment away. Some very unorthodox combos work very well, including (GASP!, oh no!) solid state amps. I am sure that Bobby's annointed components work well with VSMs, I'm also sure that they are not the only such components. Just don't limit yourself to the dogma.

Marty
martykl
3,578 posts
 
Juan,

By all means, follow away.
I, too, think highly of Bobby's advice.
I just don't always agree with him. Doesn't make me right, but it also doesn't make me wrong. I've lived with the speakers for about 10 years now and have earned the right to form my own opinion. I'd encourage you to experiment in order to do the same, but, hey.....whatever floats yer boat.

Marty
martykl
3,578 posts
 
Let me clarify:

No offense was intended by the "cult" reference. I was merely trying to explain how some people have concluded that the VSM won't work properly unless paired with "insert Bobby's choice here". If you search these threads, the product has been criticized for this, as in:
You know, if you buy VSMs, you'll have to ditch the rest of your system and replace it with "insert Bobby's choices here".

I've seen that one and I know that Bobby has, too.
I find it outright silly. I've used more than a dozen different amps with mine, ranging from 300B SETs to high powered SS monoblocks and the speaker sounded terrific (although a bit different) with each.
Sorry if I offended, but I was merely advising the OP that Cardas cables weren't his only choice for the VSM.
I intended nothing more and apologize to any who felt slighted by my choice of words.

Marty
martykl
3,578 posts
 
Bobby,

Don't misunderstand. I only said that you have your preferences (to be expected) and I have mine and sometimes they are the same and other times they are not. No foul there.

I was further pointing out that your recommendations become "gospel" to some folks and spread the idea that the speakers only work properly with the ancillaries you mention. I KNOW that you've seen that type of thing posted in these forums, because we've both contributed to at least one thread where that (silly IMO) point of view was mentioned more than once. I was only trying to dispel the idea. The VSM works well with many, many partners - whether amps, cables (I use mostly Hovland), or sources.

Marty
More to discover