Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Market / Personal Confidence in Meridian

I spoke to a dealer that just decided to stop working with M after 20+ years. He was hesitant to say why.

Can you provide some specifics as to why you lost confidence and why you are now gaining it back?

I'm no expert but from personal experience, there is a world of difference between Meridian UK experience and that in the US.

I think with any retailers, your decision not to support a vendor comes down to a couple issues. The most important, it just isn't selling. After that, it likely comes down to vendor support and cost benefit to supporting the vendor. Based on several of the comments I have seen on this site, my understanding is that it's a very expensive venture for dealers to become PP's for Meridian, as I believe there are minimum display commitments, that require considerable capital investment. So if you make this capital investment and then you don't see much in the way of higher sales volumes, then you likely need to make some hard decisions.

Here is the USA, Meridian is a very expensive proposition that requires considerable commitment to the brand. I also believe that US consumers like change more than European consumers. You see it in our car purchases and and our home renovation market. So as a result, Meridian doesn't sit as well with US consumers, given that the 8000 speaker is over a decade old. Just my $0.02.

I will add that I have yet to find a US Meridian dealer I can deal with. Not sure what drives this, but I know I am not alone. I wouldn't own a single piece of Meridian gear, if I relied on US dealer support.

Beyond that, I am sure all the has transpired with the customer support that is all very well documented, doesn't help.

My original Meridian experience was as an owner of a full dealer-supplied 500 series system in 2001. It cost me a lot of money. However, it was wonderful and the company appeared to be staffed and run by enthusiasts happy to directly support owners. It always required a certain amount of effort to find ways of getting the best out of a system as they were never good at user-guides :-) I went on to ownership of a G series system too, though I'm not sure how much real progress that was.

However it came about, it then seemed that the business model changed, reliability faltered, support for older products started to wane, help was hard to come by and dealers were decimated. It seemed to me that the outlay required for their products was not worth the risk, whatever the sound quality. However, through all that, I still always had a Meridian processor at the heart of my main system, even though in some ways the multi channel market had left it behind. As I considered streaming, Sooloos seemed too complicated, too expensive and too buggy based on what I was reading here. Therefore, I went the Naim route, who still offered direct support, parts for virtually everything they ever made, great quality, lots of dealers, reliability and a control app that was good enough. I know even they had a few issues when they tried to enter the multi channel arena and it did damage them a little.

A while ago, I detected from some quarters a feeling that there was some appreciation at M that not everything they had done was for the best of the Company and it's customers. From the streaming point of view, the availability of the MC200 followed by subsequent releases gave me pause for thought. I continued to follow the threads on here relating to it and recently came to the conclusion that price, support, development, stability and potential integration with non-M systems had finally reached a point where it was worthy of consideration. That happened to coincide with a need for a further streaming unit, so I've taken the chance. I hope that things at M continue in the right direction.

Thank you for your considered, open, personal response it is much appreciated.
Thank goodness that this forum is not restricted in the way that the Name (Naim) forum is. I hope recent forum changes here are not going in the direction of loss of independence.
Hector

At this point, I feel like if you aren't interested in Sooloos and it's user interface's ability to navigate your own library, then you might as well purchase a computer with a SSD and run Jriver, Audirvana, PureMusic, etc.

For me, Sooloos's added benefits make it worth the price of admission. I spent a ton on the rest of my gear, I might as well invest in something to access it properly.

... ordering Sooloos tomorrow, keeping fingers crossed on bugs! Hah!

SomeGuy! It will change your life, in a good way... Happy ripping. Chris

While I haven't heard DSD, I think there is a growing number of consumers interested in DSD and Meridian, so far, isn't supporting it.

The unfortunate thing is that whether it's better or not, people want to have a system that will play the highest resolution files. For PCM, theres 24/192, 24/384, and even higher res DACs that can go even further (whether one can hear a difference or can even find files to even play), and DSD and Meridian is stuck in 24/96 for their systems and 24/192 for the Director.

I'm not sure Meridian a way to survive without supporting these higher resolution standards, even if there is no noticeable audible difference. That concerns me as a consumer.

I'd prefer that they continue to refine what they've got (eg 7200.2, roll out EBA etc.) rather than spending money chasing rainbows. I think some top end audio companies make good money out of novelty. I guess time will tell.

How about Linn with their "new" concept of amps and DACs in speakers, that'll never catch on...

I think there are plenty of people who just want great audio and just can't take an interest to this or that format, I am one.
Most people would even consider me a nerd that way just because I have some understanding.
I can't see many people who can afford Meridian and come for advice and guidance to a PP being unhappy with good old CD sound ( where the catalogue is).

DSD is nich IMHO, and like so many things, a marketing gimmic that low cost manufactures could be tempted to jump on along with very high sampling rates etc (ducking down now)

Bigger numbers mean better sound in marketing and plenty will pay to get it, but I consider some advice I read in a BBC Music magazine once. To paraphrase, If you get a great sound from any format, you have to stop blaming the format because it is possible. You have to look elsewhere, be it recording, mastering, pressing, equipment, the list goes on.
I have heard extraordinary sound from some CD's and rest my case.
More effort should go into the recording and mastering first before we worry about much else.
Just rambling thoughts, hard hat on, sure I am gonna learn something lol Chris

Maybe some people do - but as has been said many times in the past, the majority of the public don't care. MP3, iTunes, Spotify etc. are still winning...

But I don't want Meridian chasing features which don't make any audible difference - that's also a way down the slippery slope.

I think Meridian are trying to forge a path as a high-end lifestyle audio provider. They don't want to produce bleeding edge products to appeal to a small number of fanatics. They want to sell high quality (luxury) equipment to as much of the population as they can.

It's a difficult path to tread but I think Meridian are doing it OK at the moment.

just my 2 cents...

Chris

Meridian has always been a company that has made engineering advances, invented things, and held strong positions about what it believes is the truth about sound reproduction. It is therefore the last company likely to bow to market pressure when it sees solid engineering reasons not to.

You have to see this in realistic context: individuals with the financial wherewithal to buy Meridian products generally already have collections of music, in some cases large ones. Those collections will mostly be CD.

If you believe the hifi press, the whole world only listens to 384kHz and DSD. Like most things in the press, it is a position held to sell new technology. Because without a new format there is no need for everyone to replace all their equipment.

Personally I see EBA, for example, as a very interesting development. It is an engineering and audio advance, only possible in DSP speakers (good thing the Scottish company just invented them), and something which could conceivably be rolled out to other DSP speakers. It's also something which improves the gear we've already got, the exact opposite of the demand to buy a new system to play 384kKz or DSD files. This is the kind of engineering work we hope for from Meridian.