Merrill and Sadurni: A Most Musical Combo
May 26, 2019
2016 Axpona show report, Part 2 Audio Expo North America, 2016
May 26, 2019Though paired with the gargantuan $40k four-way Sadurni Acoustics Staccato horn ?system? mentioned in Jonathan Valin?s show report, the Veritas monoblocks come in at a ?more affordable? $12k for a pair. Each monoblock features a great-sounding amalgamation of Stillpoints Ulramini riser footers, Synergistic Research tunnel fuse, Cardas billet copper speaker posts, a custom power cord by Triode Wire, and are fully balanced differential Class D amps capable of 400W into 8 ohms and up to 1,200W into 2 ohms. This system, fronted by a Meitner MA-1 DAC ($7500) and Miracle Audio Divinitive XR preamp ($5100)?which, I will admit, I?ve never seen or heard of until this show?had the deepest soundstage at AXPONA, extremely low noise floor, and incredible dynamics. If only they could have had a much larger room to stretch out, the 110dB Sadurni Staccatos could have really let loose. I didn?t have a chance to listen to the vintage Sony APR 5002 reel-to-reel deck, but I?d love to pair this system with something from United Home Audio. Speaker cables and interconnects were proprietary from Merrill Audio, and ran $1150 each.