Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Merlin Music Inc. VSM-MX Speakers by jhawk

Model:	VSM-MX
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$9995 +/- various BAMs
Description:	Newest of the VSM loudspeaker
Manufacturer URL:	Merlin Music Inc.
Manufacturer URL:	Merlin Music Inc.

Review by jhawk ( A ) on December 21, 2006 at 14:14:34
IP Address: 66.213.29.242

Add Your Review
for the VSM-MX

Alot of very insightful thoughts have already been written about the Merlin Music VSMs, all with more style and finess than I can muster, but I still thought it would be fun to try and share my thoughts on them with a review. For those unfamiliar, the VSM has been an evolving design over the past 10yrs or so, but fundamentally they are a floorstanding, front-ported, two way design. This is my review of the VSM-MX with Super BAM version.
As an added bonus, the VSMs are also absolutly gorgeous to look at. Mine are in Ruby Red, and you could shave in their mirror like finish. They look very Nice. With their slim profile and unimposing size they are not going to be a distraction anyways when you're listening to music, but the moment your stylus kisses groove it becomes a moot point. These spkrs simply dissappear.
Completely.
For instance, even when "sonic images" are panned hard right or left in the mix/soundstage they still originate from their own source and come Through the VSMs, not From the VSMs. Of course this is to be expected, but I've never experienced this to such an absoulute degree before. Poof-gone.
Completely.
Or, and I think of much more significance, how the VSMs just don't...sound. On every record, and most times from track to track, there is a different presentation dependant upon what the artist and engineer intended, not an overriding thumbprint resulting from the VSMs interpretation. I guess this has to do with how neutral and uncolored the VSMs are. i.e., even through my cars stereo a kick drum is gonna sound like a kickdrum, but throught the VSMs its easily apparent when there are pillows stuffed inside it or not. That may seem like a strange comparison to make, but its equally appropriate between different record's being played back through the VSMs.
I guess that kind of leads me into their soundstaging performance. Again, it just depends on the recording. My overall experience has been that my room has been taken out of the equation. Width, depth, and height can extend through the walls, and always beyond the rear wall. But what's most pleasantly new is how the recorded ambience can extend out into my room, sometimes even engulfing me at the listening chair. I think this is the result of the VSMs ability to completely resolve such fine details, like the decaying trails of reverb which helps to define the recorded acoustic space.
And likewise, within this cavernous 3-D soundstage, images have taken on an organically sublime presence, with a complex wholeness that seems to breath with life from within. At the same time, while the VSMs are allowing me to hear tons of more information, they don't seperate the details from the event. No cookie-cutter images, no shadow puppets thrown on the walls. The VSMs have allowed me to not only notice and appreciate more fully the timbre and tone color's of, say an acoustic quitar, but also to easier believe that it is an actual instrument, being played by an actual person, in an actual space. Everything, just sounds more...true, alive, real.
Now, I've spent alot of time tweaking the VSMs positioning in my room, much aided by the thorough set-up instructions supplied in the owner's manual, to achieve what I consider steller performance. There is even an alignment jig included to dial-in the proper toe-in angle. And of course I've also done my best to address the rooms acoustics with diy panels and diy bass traps. All very important and worthwile time spent towards, hopefully, getting the best integration and thus performance possible from our speakers and their interaction with our rooms. The more time I've spent, the greater the rewards from the VSMs.
Its also worth mentioning that the Super BAM can really kick things up a notch(hah-hah). Really though, depending on where the BAM is inserted and how its powered adds subtle but certain sonic refinements. Experimentation is of course the only advice I can offer on which way and how sounds best. Nonetheless, the Super BAM is an intregal part of the VSM-MX system. BAM stands for Bass Augmentation Module, which I guess leads me nicely into the bass performance of the VSMs.
I'm more than impressed, I'd say overwhelmed by the depths the VSMs plummit. That they can do so, convincingly so, with only a 7" driver is simply amazing to me. Right now I've got Medeski Martin and Wood's "Shak-man" spinning. Track 3 opened with bassist Chris Wood dropping an open low E, dropping is right! Through the VSMs its quite powerfull!Everything from the 'pop' of the string, to the textured color's radiating outwards pressurizing my room is all right there, right here. As I imagine it must have been in the studio. Track 6 also opens with Wood laying the foundation again, lighting up the acoustic's of the studio by exciting the "snairs" on the bottom of the snaredrum sharing the same room. I know this has nothing to do with how the VSMs communicate musically, and neither does trying to dissect their frequency response behavior, indeed.
Its little moments like this, thanks to the transparency/resolution(or whatever it is) of the VSMs, that really offers me a heightened sense of engagement and thus a higher level of enjoyment from my music. Makes it all too easy for the brain to shut down allowing me to become fully immersed within the music.
I think that's an important point to make, because its becoming very obvious to me, and probably moreso you, that I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm headed with this review. Sorry, I've never tried to write one before. I'm realizing that its just plain silly for me to try and take apart a speaker as coherent and balanced as this. Why? Because the VSM is of such a continuous whole that the sheer joy which has become my experience of listening to music through them is all that's apparant to me. And that's a great realization! Sure, with the VSMs there is so much completely more "There" there, but its only there in the same sense that real instruments are more "There" in real life, not in hi-fi land. I've listened to hyperdetailed speakers before that would let me count the number of cavities in a singer's mouth, and of course they didn't sound musical, they sounded disjointed and annoying. Not so with the VSMs.
The VSMs are world class speaker's in every regard, they have left me pining away for nothing. Your tastes/need may differ from mine, but if you're interested in a direct conduit into musical nirvana, look no further. These are keepers.

Ok, the album I've been spinning "shak-man" has just ended, and I've had a chance to re-read what I've written. I thought I was more or less done after some fixed typos, but realize its pretty lacklust as far as "proper reviews" go. I didn't mention the incredible amounts of air, palpable midrange presence, or the fact that images have such realistic proportions regardless of the volume. There.
I reckon that's because I was trying to write this review in relation to the experience I was having while listening to the music. If you're not familiar with MMW, become. Seriously. Right now. They are a three piece consisting of a drummer, bassist and organist. We're talking about the very definition of pretty damn grooving. Perhaps that's very telling of the VSM's....powers? When I tried to get into describing the particular sonic attributes, I'd just get derailed into commenting on how the VSMs completely involve me with the music. Pretty telling. All that time I was sitting in the sweetspot typing away at my laptop, basically taking in the music, somewhat what, subconsciously? Yeah, these speakers are special.
And also probably editors too, not the VSMs, my lack-there-of for this review. So, hopefully I havn't led you too far into bedlam with boredom, assuming anyone's still reading this. Regardless, this has been a pretty cool excercise that's allowed me to further appreciate, understand, and hopefully convey to you what the VSMs have brought to my stereo; the desire to just listen to more music. So sorry again that this didn't turn out to be the typical review, but then again the VSMs are not the typical speaker.

By the way, and certainly as another added bonus to owning Merlin speakers is the support offered by designer/owner Bobby Palkovic. There is already a wealth of first hand knowledge, and personal experience that he's been enthusiastically willing to share on forums like this. Heck, Merlin is so accessible and looking to help us get the most out of their speakers, that recently when I emailed Merlin with a couple of basic questions about the BAM unit, Bobby unexpectantly phoned me back later that day. I don't know what you call that kind of customer support, but its priceless. And it only adds to the already incredibly powerful experience of that which cannot be denied via the VSMs....pure, undistilled music.

Product Weakness: not enough free time to listen to more music
Product Strengths: makes me wanna listen to more music

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	belles 150a hotrod/spectral dma-180II
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	audible illusions m3a/spectral dmc-20MKII
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	cary 303/200,/vpi tnt hr mk V w/ helikon/spectral sdr-2000/sdr-3000
Speakers:	vsm-mx w/ superbam
Cables/Interconnects:	cardas gr, audience au24, mit 350 evos
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	all
Room Size (LxWxH):	19 x 14 x 9
Room Comments/Treatments:	diy panels, diy bass traps
Time Period/Length of Audition:	3 months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	psaudio p500, vpi sds
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	not enough free time to listen to more music
Product Strengths:	makes me wanna listen to more music