Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Speaker Upgrade (Maybe)

Hi All,

I've recently joined the ranks of the Meridian faithful and I have to say I'm hooked!

I have, so far:

506 CDP
563 DAC (Arriving Next Week)
502 Pre Amp
Pair 605s

I currently use fairly standard mid-range interconnects, Chord Carnival Silver Screen speaker cable and Royd Abbot speakers.

The Royds are very good indeed for the money but I can't help thinking I should look for a level of upgrade to at least get near to the Meridian kit, subject to budget of course.

So, the decision is, do I upgrade the speakers or upgrade my interconnects and speaker cable - I have a fund of around �500 for either new interconnects etc. or second hand speakers ( a pair of Rega RS5s looked appealing).

I would very much appreciate the forums advice and opinions on which would be the best choice?

Many Thanks

Neil

Hi Neil

Glad to see your collection growing.

Maybe not what you want to hear but have you considered Meridian M60's? Not only are they in your price bracket, I think they sound great, would compliment your existing equipment and as a bonus, provide balanced inputs to match your balanced outputs from your 502.

I have my pair connected to my 565 and 598. I live in Sussex, not a million miles from you if you would like to have a listen. Just to be clear, I am not selling.

Best of luck

Jon

Again probably not what you want to hear either, but have you considered DSP speakers??

You can get a pair of 18bit ones for around �750-1000.

You could then go...

506->DSP5000 and have another input available.

I know you just bought the DAC, but that would be far cheaper.

You could add a 568 pre for around �500 if you need more inputs including analogue or a 518 if you are all digital, you could then sell the 502 Pre Amp and the Pair 605s along with the Royds, and it would sound divine.

+1 on the DSP route, if you can stretch a little more get 96/24 pair of 5000s.

Then you won't worry about interconnects ever again

Regards,
Carl

Haha, exactly, �500 on a cable just seems madness to me these days.


Mind you I remember when selling hifi we had an open evening one night and we had the guys from Audiquest there. They did a demo of various cables there was 4 in total for this. 3 were the WhatHiFi cable winners, Cable Talk 3, Cable Talk 4 and some Van Den Hul multistrand silver coated thing, and then the 4th one, that every single person said they could here a real difference when inserted, far more than the differences between the others, turns out it was some 13amp solid cor main cable. �12 for 100m.

Once they had shown the benefits of solid core they started to show what you got with an �8mtr solid cable, then the �65mtr and then the �400mtr cable.
Everyone agreed the biggest just was just going solid core, far smoother and more grown up.

It was a good demo.

Many thanks for all the replies and advice; I'll leave the cable upgrades for now though some solid core speaker cable seems like a good choice.

The 518 and/or 568 looks very interesting, some great reviews and opinions on both bits of kit!

Active speakers; something in me is not convinced about this route, maybe it's just my totally illogical love of black boxes in a rack, however, I'll take the advice on board and keep an eye out if something is available within my budget and make a decision then!

Thanks again for all the advice, it is much appreciated.

Neil

I remember paying a visit to the Classic FM studio in London to do an interview in the 1990s. I was very surprised (at the time) to see ordinary two core (and earth) mains cable wiring up the studio monitors. (NB. the earth was left folded out of use). I guess they knew something better than the guys who need to make a living selling cables!

Bear in mind the Royds are old. I still have my original receipt for them from May 1993. They were �666 (oo-er, spooky)

I've just replaced my old Royd Abbots with DSP5200s. Slightly more pricey but the difference is startling.

Not helped by the poor design of the Abbot's speaker grilles and the numerous little fingers which seem to delight in sticking themselves in tweeter and bass cones.

Think of it more like this...

Source -> 506 DAC -> 6 x 507 amps -> Speakers.

If you could take all that out of the speaker cabinet and put it in your rack would it make you feel better???

The DSP speaker is basically the above, but so much more as well, as it is DSP you get the same sound at pretty much all volumes, play it quietly at night and there is still bass, play it at reference and the bass is still tight and controlled and puts no strain on your speaker.
Digital crossovers give you something you just can't get with an analogue crossover.

You basically have all the above in a pair of boxes and when they are all put together they really do sing.

I went from a Cinepro 3k6 amp, that was bridged into 3 x Dunlavey fronts with 600w each, this amp had serious control.
I know people who have gone from BAT monos, Levinson Monos over to the Cinepro as they have more control.
I bought the DSP5000s purely as a way to tidy the room up, I 'knew' they would be a serious downgrade compared to the Cinepro/Dunlavy set up.

Oh how wrong I was!!

It was the best upgrade I ever made.

Seriously, try them, you just might like them.

Hi, if you sre sticking with passive speakers then I highly recommend chord odyssey or epic twin.
I demo'd many cables and after buying chord xlr's and epic super twin speaker cables, I am very happy.
The biggest upgrade was the speaker cables.
The most expensive was the xlr's.
I nearly bought some dsp5200's and might do in the future when I've finished playing
Whatever you decide-good luck.

I've got some Epic Twin available at a reasonable price which I'm not using. TBH, I didn't like it - I thought it restricted the treble and Kimber 8TC (which I used before finally going DSP) was much better in all regards. But YMMV.

PM me if interested.

Hope it's OK to mention this outside the Restaurant.

Duncan