Merrill and Sadurni: A Most Musical Combo

Aren't they just beautiful? What's more, they sounded just as good as they look. Absolutely gorgeous tonality on Jonathan Horwich's International Phonograph recording of Jeremy Kahn's "The Shadow of Your Smile" distinguished this pairing of Merrill Audio's made-in-New-Jersey Veritas class-D monoblock amplifiers ($12,000/pair) and made-in-Mexico Sadurni horn loudspeakers, which are sold with their hard-to-see companion subwoofers ($40,000/pair for all three).

The amplifiers output 700W into 4 ohms. Abetted by Anap X1 copper speaker cable ($499 up to 3m) and Anap X1 interconnects ($499 up to 3m), the system threw a remarkably transparent, wonderfully deep soundstage distinguished by seductively lovely warmth and lots of color. Although it was hard to smile through Hugh Masekela's "Coal Train," with its indictment of racial and economic oppression, the warmth of the system carried me through. I'd be tempted to write something like "tube warmth in the best and most musical sense of the term," except that the amps were solid-state class-D.

This was the first room I visited at the show, and its beautiful, non-fatiguing sound stayed with me throughout the day. Here's hoping I have time to return for a second listen on the last day of the show.

COMMENTS
ua100k's picture

Speakers: Staccato Horn System by Sadurni Acoustics. Premier Showing.$40,000/Pair

Amplifiers: VERITAS Monoblocks by Merrill Audio Advanced Technology Labs, LLC $12,000/Pair

Music Sources: Reel to Reel Master Tape copies by International Phonograph, Inc
Master Tape digitized copies by High Definition Tape Transfers.

Pre-amplifier: Divinitive XR by Miracle Audio $5,100

Tape Deck: Sony APR 5002 Reel to Reel

DAC: Meitner MA-1 $7,500

Speaker Cable: ANAP Speaker Cables
by Merrill Audio Advanced Technology Labs, LLC $1,149

Interconnects: ANAP Interconnect Cables
by Merrill Audio Advanced Technology Labs, LLC $1,149

Power Cords: HE MkIII by Waveform Fidelity $529

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