Speakers Like Merlin VSM?

Bobbyapalkovic: bombay, if you heard an earlier version of the 270 you might have felt very differently about the amp. they were more relaxed and more music like. later ones were even more continuous but damped sounding. i know the system that you heard and the man who owns it. he invited you as a guest into his home and allowed you to have a listen. is this how you repay him? i also know that he was at your home to hear your system. he told me exactly what he thought of it. he is and was, (by comparison) very pleased with his system. each to his own i guess! but he has not not made any such comments on the web, anywhere. what does that tell you?

I think this post is a good example of why dealers, manufacturers, etc., should participate in such forums only if they are able to deal with honest opinions w/o getting personally offended. It is difficult to exchange opinions and expereinces if people take it personally and respond as such. Just my .02 of course.

Bobbyapalkovic:

You are rationalizing, but no cigar. Statements like "I know the guy you visited", "By not liking my product you are being unfair to the host" and "I know what he thinks of *your* gear" do not constitute the kind of "information" we want or require from manufacturers.

It changes the atmosphere of a discussion group when a manufacturer is always around sounding offended and responding that way, worse yet if he is too involved to notice it and thinks he is being normal.

You are only human and I don't want or expect you to admit anything, but I do hope you will think about it and modify your behavior. However, the more you defend those statements the more immature you would appear. Let it go,

Wellfed:

Information is welcome and can be provided without personal taunts in response to opinions. Comments like "I know the guy you visited", "By not liking my product you are being unfair to the host" and "I know what he thinks of *your* gear" hardly constitute the kind of "information" I desire or require from manufacturers.

A'gon provides hot link to manufacturers' websites, emails, phone numbers, etc. I have nothing against manufacturers posting an informational post (clarifying data, parameters, etc) without stifling the exchange of opinions. However, most simply do not have the maturity and temperament to play this role and their attempts don't work out. Recently one manufacturer (not Bobby) started a new thread and began by telling the readers he feels like saying "screw you all"; A'gon wisely deleted the entire thread. I have great respect for people like Salk, Tyler, etc who use various channels to provide any information you wish thoroughly and promptly but stay away from these discussions.

Every person who selects a speaker does so because he prefers it to ten others. We can hardly expect a healthy discussion group if it included owners or paid employees from those ten companies ready to pounce on any expression of this preference.

Bobbyapalkovic: You seem to think that because i am a manufacturer i should have different rules governing my behavior or somehow act accordingly.

We may have an honest difference of perspective, but precisely, in fact I actually do think so. Apparenty so do most manufacturers you and I might respect, because they provide information but do not participate in these exchanges.

I am afraid that this is a free country and if you say something offensive (imho) and i take exception to it, i will respond, manufacturer or not.

Freedom does not force maturity or wisdom. Those are still optional. From saints to sinners and everyone in between, they all have the same freedoms, but use them differently.

i have met david berning only once and he was one of the quietest, softest and kindest gentleman that i have ever met. he is also absolutely brilliant as all of his designs indicate and someone to be respected. he is so soft spoken that he would never stick up for himself on this forum..

Have you considered the possibility that besides being soft and kind, he is simply a wiser and more mature person, who knows when to talk and when to stay quiet? That he lets his product speak for itself and gives everyone trying them their personal space to think and go back and forth without interference? That you could learn something from people like him?

Bobbyapalkovic: ...nothing of any substance is to be taken from black and white comments that have no substance. and if you can't see that, you are just a buffoon trying to provoke this further. if you don't like it...don't read it.

Who is going to decide what is black, white, has substance or lacks it, if not everyone for themselves? OTOH you seem to know just what is what and whoever sees it differently is a baffoon? (To those who have rushed to talk about your graciousness, I can only suggest that a little explanation is called for.)

Now the second part: "If others don't like it, they don't have to read." Communities don't work that way. I can't walk into a church or concert or a museum, behave disuptively, use foul language, and claim that whoever doesn't like it can just ignore me.

A'gon is a community for many and whoever disrupts the atmosphere deserves to be called on that. Your conduct in this thread has gone beyond just expressing your own opinions. You have sought to impose your opinions and judgements on others, and tried to bully them with personal taunts and foul language. That is quite simply not acceptable.

Fiddler; If 99 people out of 100 love something and I am the only one who doesn't, then that leaves me with two choices. I can continue to be a moron and say that I am right and everyone else is wrong or I can step back and ask myself if I could be wrong.

Considering that most people love mass-market junk, I would suggest a little more confidence in your own taste. :) Mercifully, there is no audio product on which 99% people agree, and you probably don't face this dilemma very often.

Wellfed: I feel deeply for every manufacturer that has had their livelyhood affected by erroneous conclusions...

You obviously have a good heart and I appreciate that. However, if you are buying one pair of speakers, no matter who you choose or how, there are hundred others who didn't get chosen and they all need to make a living. Similarly, once we declare something to be "erroneous" it sounds undesirable but who decides what is erroneous? Let people make their own decisions and these things tend to work out on the average.