solid state amp for merlin tsm's ?

Assuming an integrated, Bel Canto s300i or Unison Research Unico would be my top picks.

Daz,

Speaking as a ref1000m owner using them to max out some fairly large and challenging speakers, you are probably at a very good place in regards to getting the max out of your speakers with that amp.

I consider the ref1000m amps to be absolutely rock solid in every area of performance compared to most anything else I have heard, including some very nice and pricey tube amps.

The overall flavor might be somewhat towards the "vanilla" side of things compared to some amps, but it is very smooth, rich and tasty indeed! They are capable of bringing out the best in most any speaker and recording I suspect.

With a tube amp, the specific choice of amp will likely result in different flavors of sound. WHat is preferred is largely a matter of personal preference at this point I suspect, as opposed to addressing any clear technical limitation.

So you might get a sweeter more "french vanilla" sound or some other more unique flavor that is your favorite out of any particular tube amp. But you know, vanilla is still the most popular flavor of ice cream overall last time I checked. There are lots of ways to dress up (tweak) vanilla ice cream to make for a even more tasty treat, especially compared to most other popular flavors.

My understanding is that RC network adds impedance to make speakers an easier load to drive.

My guess is that typically it adds more in the case where a tube amp is used. Tube amps tend to not like lower impedances especially in the lower octaves where commonly found with many modern smaller speakers that also have good bass extension, like Merlin and many others. High power higher current SS amps, like BC Class D or many others, will be less challenged, so I would expect less benefit with those, but I suppose its always best to compare with and without when possible and be the judge.

Dazz,

Your findings do not surprise me. I would expect the BC amps to have no problem handling the natural impedance curve of the Merlins. No additional tweaking of the impedance matching between amp and speakers should be needed.

Your findings correlate to what I have found using BC ref1000m amps with various speakers of similar design. The BCs lean towards the leaner side of things when presented a fairly benign impedance curve but bring out the best in speakers that are more of a challenge by design, which is the case with many popular smaller designs that also have good low end extension capabilities these days, like Merlin. You just have to throw the kitchen sink at them power and current-wise to enable them to do their thing to the max.

The efficiency of Class D in general allows that to happen these days in a much more compact and hopefully affordable package than is possible otherwise.

My mistake. I was reading 100 hz, not 100khz. 100khz does
not
come up very often in most home audio discussions.

Not sure exactly how to determine for sure when a zobel
network is
or
is not used in an amp. Do specs indicate this somehow?
I've read in at least one place that all SS amplifiers use a
zZobel network of some sort to keep things stable.

Sounds like two zobels are not necessarily better than one.
:-)