The Merlin speakers have a tremendous past history of development effort and fine tuning. I've not heard all the SF models, but the ones I have heard (the last being the Grand Piano) sound nowhere near as "real" to me as the various Merlin models I've owned. Could be luck, or could be all the hard work and time devoted to making the speaker. Merlins aren't for everyone, but I prefer them over anything I've heard since my serious listening sessions started about 35 years ago. The only speakers I've enjoyed nearly as much were my Acoustats.
