Merrill Audio ELEMENT 118 on Tour
@ricevs Thank you for looking. The ELEMENT 114 has not been priced yet. It is expected to be between $9k and $12k. We are trying to bring it in as low as possible. The ELEMENT 114 will be a stereo unit which results in a little less stage. The ELEMENT 114 will also have less power. Both of these are difficult to hear unless you have a very resolving system and listen to the ELEMENT 116/ELEMENT 118 side by side. By itself the ELEMENT 114 sounds excellent with all the charateristics fo the ELEMENT 116/ELEMENT 118 - speed,detail, transparency,stage, control, musical and very easy to listen to. The ELEMENT 114 will be released towards the end of the year. All the prototyping has been done. We just have to take it to production and will do so once we clear the backlog of the ELEMENT 118, and the ELEMENT 116 - which has not been announced yet! Input impedance 100k, output 2mohms. As always, listening is the best gauge of the control and sound. |
Full disclosure: I am a dealer for Merrill Audio products. However, I have been a fan and supporter of Merrill’s products from my days as a reviewer, well before I began Distinctive Stereo. When I first heard the Veritas I was so impressed I put my money where my mouth is, and purchased 2 sets of monoblocks (so I could bi-amp my speakers). The Veritas became my reference amps, and I used them to power every speaker that came through my listening room. I recently was able to compare, in my own system, the Veritas to the Element 116’s. (I did this was a loaner pair; my own pair of Element 116’s are currently being built, and should arrive within the next few weeks.) I concur with all that Isaac so eloquently expressed. The Element 116’s have all the terrific properties that made the Veritas so special - speed, transparency, bass control, clarity, low noise floor, etc. - but take them to dramatic new levels. A good as the Veritas are, the Element 116’s provide a far greater sense of realism, palpability, and musical flow. While not inexpensive, they will (as do all Merrill Audio products) compete with products costing far more. The Element 116’s will work well with other high quality components; I use them with the Merrill audio Christine linestage preamp and Jens phonostage, the combination of which is nothing short of extraordinary. Last, but most assuredly not least, I have also heard the Element 118’s, though not in my own system. As great as the Element 116’s are, the Element 118’s bring things to an entirely new level. (If the 116’s are a Porsche, the 118’s are a Ferrari). It is my belief that the Element 118’s will set a new standard for audio reproduction.
Regards,
Larry Borden President, Distinctive Stereo LLC River Vale, NJ
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The ELEMENT 118 against the VERITAS Monoblocks and another set of Pipedream speakers. This time the Christine Reference Preamp and Jens Reference Phono stage was in place. Here is a link to the picture. bit.ly/MikePipeDreams |
An afterthought, per the other posts on VERITAS versus the new Merrill Audio proprietary designed ELEMENT 118 Power amplifiers, the new ELEMENT 118 is, IMHO, about an order of improvement over the VERITAS Monoblocks. The ELEMENT 118 has the delicacy and fineness that simply engages. Hopefully you can get listen to a location close to you and do the comparisons for yourself. |
