Merlin is here... initial impressions

[Daddy Dee]

Well, FedEx showed up at my house on Friday with a package from Juicy Music. Yippee. Merlin is here. Unpacking the little beast, I notice Merlin looks better than the picture and the solid case has a substantial heft. This little brick weighs in at ten pounds. As always, Mark has packed the unit snuggly in precisely cut out styro to fit the box and gear.

Merlin is about the size of the Dynaco PAT4 or so. It has nice lacquered walnut side panels and all black steel case. The walnut side panels extend a little beyond the rear of the case so as to provide some roll bar type protection for the RCA jacks and fuse on the rear. I notice that the face plate may be thicker and heavier than the rack mount kits on my old Hafler DH-200 and DH-220's. Nice. The black aluminum knobs are mounted on the chassis/case (which could stand alone) and pass nicely through the face plate which is attached to the case. The feel of the Alps volume is smooth as are the L&R level controls and selector switches. There's a red "push" to turn on switch and green LED pilot. The look and feel is compact, fit and muscular. Very nice.

Being a guy, I HAVE to take off the top to look under the hood before putting it in the system. Inside is a PCB populated with mostly black caps and assorted resistors. When I first saw a picture of the Merlin's insides, the absence of the big yellow caps of the BB and Peach (to which I am accustomed) is noticeable. However once looking live on the inside Merlin, nothing looks skimpy or lacking. High quality caps don't have to have yellow jackets. It just looks right in it's own right. Later my ears will confirm what I already suspect, the components are an ideal match for the circuit. The neatly laid out PCB has one NOS Brimar (made in England) 6x4 rectifier and one NOS JAN Philips 6922. Nice. The PCB is snugged in with no flex or give at all.

OK, in the Khorn system... The source is an AH! Njoe Tjoebs CD4000 w/ upsampler. Merlin drives a pair of Transcendent Sound SE OTLs bridged for monoblock service. I've been listening to a bunch of jazz standards, Diana Krall and Buddy Guy. This thing sounds clean, detailed, effortless, just outright live. It sounds, well, like a Peach. I've been listening to a Peach for a year and am quite familiar with the sound. It would be too much like work to try to listen more closely changing gear to see if I could characterize if I'm getting, say 99% of the Peach, or whatever. But after several hours of listening, if I'm missing anything relative to the Peach, I'm blissfully unaware. Merlin is the cat's a$$. I'm listening while typing and every now and then I have to stop and say, man that sounds good.

I'm impressed, but not surprised. I'd auditioned a BB for a couple of weeks before purchasing the Peach a year ago, so I was expecting alot. Juicy Music does not disappoint and Merlin is a member of the same club as BB and Peach. Aside from the sound and looks, what is so impressive about this is the price. For six large, go and try to find a better preamp. If you do, more power to you. I keep thinking, wow this thing is tube rectified, too, and sounds like it ought to be a heck of alot more expensive than it is.

Recommendations... If you listen to vinyl or want the full features of the BB or Peach you'll want to go with one of them. The additional inputs, Super LoZ and HT mode on Peach can make for real convenience. However, if you want a simple line stage system and can live with two Aux inputs and a tape loop, you won't be settling on sound with Merlin. Merlin holds in there with the big boys and doesn't break a sweat. Also if you can live with the price, OK, but that won't be too hard.

Mark Deneen, thanks. You have hit another one out of the park. This is one sweet little brick of a preamp. Many attaboys!

[jbsl]

Thanks for the review!! I wanted to get a peach but can't do it money wise so I might be able to get a Merlin.

Xman

[jbsl]

Thanks for the review!! I wanted to get a peach but can't do it money wise so I might be able to get a Merlin.

Xman

[jbsl]

Thanks for the review!! I wanted to get a peach but can't do it money wise so I might be able to get a Merlin.

Xman

[edwinr]

A great review. Thanks for that. At $1 short of $600, the Merlin has to be a bargain.

[Colin]

thanks Dee

[Speedball]

Thanks Dee...I always like to hear what the customer has to say about a product and it sounds like this one is a winner.

[garymd]

That's about what I expected to hear. Very nice review Dee and once again, great work Mark!

[Daddy Dee]

That's an excellent offer on the NOS JAN Philips 6922's. I have to say that is an impressive sounding tube. Also kind of a relief to get a decent one. There is so much crap floating around Ebay. Tubes that were counterfeit knockoffs years ago sold to TV shops, nobody knew. These things are old enough that the boxes are shopworn and you'd think they are o.k. Very hard, IMO and in my experience, to discern what is good and what's crap.