Verity Fidelio, Alon Lotus Elite & Merlin VSM-M?


I've been procrastinating upgrading my old speakers (Vandersteen 2ci) and I've sort of narrowed it down to Fidelios, Elite and the VSM-M. I've heard the Alons and the Merlins at the last Home Entertainment show and was quite impressed. Unfortunately at that time I wasn't looking for new speakers because I had a pair of Virgo IIIs which ended up not working out in my living room (I can only bring the speakers out about 2ft. from the wall). I'm curious as to what others think about the speakers listed above. I've read all reviews I can find, but haven't found any dealers in my area. My listening tastes are classical (including early music), jazz and lots of acoustical guitar and piano.

Thanks!
dpe
Lotus Elite Signatures are some of the finest sound I have ever heard. I agree with the other info provided on your other two choices.

Happy Listening.
I used the Vandy 2Ci's for 6 years before upgrading to some Alon 1's. I loved both the Vandersteen and Alon house sound. But I just got the Merlin VSM's w/battery BAMs and all the latest tweaks about 6 months ago. All I can say is this is such a transparent sounding speaker that it'll take on the quality of whatever you feed it. It won't transform a system with a sound characteristic of it's own, it'll get out of the way and let you hear your components...for better or worse.

That's why I don't necessarily agree with some of the above comments because they're just showing you what your components are sounding like. If someone finds the Merlins too bright or dry....look upstream. They aren't going to tonally change what's being fed to them. This makes it imperative to carefully system match your components to them. If your existing components are complementary, then the Merlins can sound world class. Ask Bobby, he'll let you know if your current stuff will match well or be a problematic.
I own a pair of Merlin vsm & I have to say after a weekends
demo of the Lotus Elite sig they are quite superb
if you like hifi and lightweight bass........merlins VSM
if you like music.. Alons win hands down,no question....
Tmoran nailed it. The Merlins are going to give you a tremendous view of your upstream components. It's hard to fault them as lightweight on bass, let alone being hifi. The MX version has better bass, and with the right components, they are as natural sounding as anything under $20,000.
Although I've also owned Alons, and liked them, I can't see a system built around them providing the world class performance that the Merlins can provide. If your current components aren't a good match for Merlins, and you want to keep them, then the Alons will probably be more forgiving (i.e. colored).
Yaboo, sure would like to know more about your system. The details might help DPE.
Cheers,
Spencer
Yes, and what version of the VSM you have would be helpful along with the ancillary gear???
Bobby@merlin