Well, I received the crossovers last Friday and hooked one speaker up... playing Mono from my RME ADI-2/4 Pro. The other VSM enclosure showed up yesterday and I quickly got it wired up. It's a science project right now, but I HAD to hear how the pair sounded, since just the one sounded so good... the tone was already there.
I am blown away with a few things - but not surprised, necessarily. Recently I'd picked up a pair of Odyssey Lorelei speakers. The price was "if I don't buy this I'm losing money"... so I bought them. But for a reason too... they are a floorstanding speaker with the 8545 woofer (same as the VSM), and a different Scan-Speak tweeter. Really good parts are in the crossover too - Sonicap, Goertz, etc. What shocked me (and the owner mentioned it) was the amount of bass from the Lorelei. It made me even more excited to hear what the VSM would sound like with more balance to the low end.
It has not disappointed. The bass in the VSM is now HUGE... visceral - but still balanced from top to bottom. The midrange is rich... so much so that you figure it must not have top end sparkle... but then it does and it makes you think "Wow." The other thing that is a revelation is "Parts". I should note, the parts I'm using in this crossover are definitely a step up from what I used in the Wilson Duette. The Duette crossovers have Sonicap on the tweeter network, JB cap for woofer, air coil copper inductors. Those are good parts! For the Merlin... these Duelund parts / copper foil inductors already sound SO musical. They already sound like what the Duette needed several hundred hours to get to. I spent well north of $1k on parts for the VSM crossovers... I'd have to total it up. I would spend the money again, for sure. In fact, when I play with more speakers, the Duelund CAST PP, the Duelund CAST resistors, and copper foil inductors are probably my new baseline for what I'd use... until I hear something else and like it better.
If you want to use Duelund or some other parts, you can just tell Danny and Hobbs what you plan to do. Or, do the build he has a receipe for. I am sure the Sonicap setup is great too, but there is a difference between Sonicap and Duelund. It's possible the Sonicap is more to your liking / pairs better with your gear. This is the 3rd pair of crossovers I've started the burn-in process for, since December. Twice on the Duette, and now the VSM. Parts Matter. I am absolutely thrilled with how this is turning out. I have a plan for how I'm going to finish off the crossovers, but it will be a struggle to disconnect them to do it!
This was not hard to do and doesn't require a permanent mod to the speaker. The removable rear panel makes this easy. If you need help, reach out to me. I'm glad to help with a few tips once you pull the rear panel / crossover.
It's really cool when you go thru a lot of effort and expense... and it works out even better than you could have hoped for. I'm having a lot of fun.
Thank you, Danny.
