In Memoriam: Bobby Palkovich of Merlin Music

I am shocked to hear this news.  I just got my VSMs upgraded by Bobby to the Black Magic edition this year.  He was so passionate about his speakers and the improvement of the upgrade, and so generous with his time.  I can't remember how many times he talked my ear off about the upgrade and what it would do to the sound, and how his speakers had evolved over the years.  I had hoped to meet him in person at RMAF some year, and am very sad that will never happen.  I will play my magical Merlins tonight while sipping my very best scotch in his honor.

Does anyone know how/if any of the outstanding orders were resolved? I have interest in purchasing a pair of Merlins on the secondary market but I am always spooked about owning a unique design when a manufacturer goes out of business. Having been down that road with other speakers in the past, good luck getting things fixed at a reasonable cost (if at all) if the manufacturer isn't around.

@ihmeyers Rich Brkich at Signature Sound (http://wp.sigsound.com/product-lines/merlin-music-systems/) is now handling distribution and service for Merlin products.  Rich and Bobby go way back and Rich has an outstanding reputation in the industry.  I don't think you have anything to worry about.  Dick

Thanks very much for the response. I felt kind of bad even asking but these things (high-end companies going under not Bobby’s tragic circumstances) are a fact of life. I can list probably a dozen companies that went under while I have owned a piece of their equipment. Some of them I sold before they ever needed repair, some unfortunately not. Latest is an AV123 sub that is kind of a PITA to fix. Company long gone (fraud).

As far as handling distribution, I recently read on the web that there aren’t any more Merlins to be had. Even Rich’s website post is date March 2012. From a classified for Merlin VSM MME on Audiogon

"These are the last of the new Merlin speakers. These speakers were purchased by my customer BRAND NEW SEALED from Signature Sound 6 weeks ago. "

That comment jibes with what I heard. Maybe that’s not true though. I am 54 years old and worry that the generation behind us, Gen X will be the last to embrace high-end home audio. The Millennials and Gen Z have much less interest in room-sized audio than we do. My son is 18 and if he can’t carry it with him he’s not interested in using it to play music. All of his friends are the same. When I was 18 I was already on my 3rd receiver and 4th pair of speakers...

Again, very sad circumstances about Bobby. May he rest in peace.