2. amps-preamps
  3. 1212193770

Speltz/Atma-sphere & Merlins

As most Merlin owners know, they have very smooth impedance curves and almost all at 8ohms or higher - they are if nothing else (besides being my favourite speakers)OTL friendly. At the same time, OTLs perform at the best with higher speaker impedance, the higher the better I think. The question is, does adding a Paul Spletz improve things with a speaker like the Merlin, or is it just messsing up a good thing and better left to OTL/speaker matchups that need the help.
pubul57

Showing 1 response by atmasphere

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,117 posts
 
If the ZERO is not loaded properly it will ring (adding harshness and obscuring detail) like any other inductive device. Ideally the speaker load should be 4,3 or 2 ohms, and if loaded that way the input will be 16 ohms. Other combinations are possible, but *in general* the ZERO is usually not be particularly helpful on a speaker that is already 6-8 ohms.

IMO you are far better off trying different speaker cables on the Merlins rather than ZEROs. If you had Magnaplanars it would be an entirely different story!
More to discover