Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Full range rears?

I'm just about in a position to buy a set of DSP7200SE speakers and unfortunately my dealer can't demonstrate 7200s all round. I'm wondering though how much difference can 7200SEs at the rear can make vs 5200SEs. How many of you have listened to both setups in an ABX demo and could genuinely tell the difference?

I'm just about to get my G68J back from service with a Linear PSU upgrade so I'll be intending to add an AC11 to that rather than replacing it with a G65.

I'm currently using Audiolab 8000MX amplification, and a pair of KEF 104/2s at the front together with a 100c, and reference 2000ci in wall speakers at the rear. I could just put in a set of in wall Meridian speakers in to replace the current rears, but I'd loose some rlexibility in doing so. If for,example I received a windfall in the next couple of years I could easily move the 5200SEs into the bedroom and put 7200SE in the main room.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has been through this process in their head. I'd really like to buy from my existing dealer as my relationship goes back over 30 years, but they don't have the dem facilities.

Is Meridian West London a competing dealer or are they a Meridian owned regional office? If the latter then the answer should be fairly simple.

Tim

Meridian West London is an independent Meridian boutique, not part of Meridian.

Russ

Tim

7200SE's all round sounds perfect, but having them at the back seems overkill to me, I ran 8000's with 3200's as rears and it sounded fantastic, in Trifield for music where the rears come in to play a little I don't think you would notice any real difference, in surround movies it is more about effects than absolute sound quality so the SE's would be too good for the task in my opinion.

Just my thoughts

Russ

A bit like what Ratbert says above....save the money on the rears and sides and put 8k at the front. That makes all the difference IMHO.

Thanks all for your suggestions. I have KEF Refernce 2000 Cis in the rear at the moment with 3x 6.5" drivers in each. While this is isn't quite full range they handle a lot more bass than your average surround sound speaker. I'm pretty sure that the crossover is set to 75Hz in MConfig so anything below 75Hz is routed through to the sub. I know that with digital speakers bass handling is more sophisticated so, now I've thought about it for a few seconds your proposition makes perfect sense.

I thought that one of the disadvantages of the 8000 is that the 7200 sounds so good, I'm not sure whether I can create enough free space for the side firing Woofers.

I'm surprised that no one has suggested an 861. Apart from bragging rights would it offer anything?

Well if you go SE then an 861v9 (in less than a year) makes sense with the new DSP chips and higher SQ (presumably).

DSP8000SE is always worth it IMHO as fronts. DSP7200SE is great but big brother is something else.

Now, as surrounds/sides I've had DSP5000, DSP5200, DSP5200SE, DSP7200.2, DSP7200SE. And yes it's crazy with surround speakers as DSP7200SE, but when you have all at the SE level it's like something snaps into gear once more.

My closest speakers are my back speakers and therefore I did appreciate trying out the DSP5200SE and going for DSP7200SE instead. I have them firing at each other behind my back near wall. It actually works well.

The surroundmixes have equal quality of sound front and back so it helps the illusion to have the same sounds performed at very close to equal SQ as front and surround in back. Trifield benefits from better rears as well IMHO. But those DSP8000SE/DSP7200SEHC front speakers are the priority IMHO.

DSP7200SE works great, use the same if possible for sides and rears. More seamless sound experience.

PerS

My take (never having used 7200s or 8000s, or an 861 come to that) is that rear duties are relatively undemanding, certainly compared to the work the front 3 have to deal with.

As my signature will tell you, we have 3100s as rears and I'm more than happy with them. Would 5200 / 7200 / 8000s sound better? Sure thing, but given a fixed budget I'd choose to put the main money up-front every time.

Would an 861 sound better than your G68? No doubt, but specifically for surround duties, in a digital system, I'd expect any gains to be very slight. Throw in some analogue and some music listening & the gap would grow.

Finally, you refer to lack of 'free space' for the side-firing woofers of the 8000s; several people on here have 8000s (& the older 6000s) in really quite small rooms. You might be surprised at the space they can work in.

IMO, this is completely dependent on your own priorities.

If I was listening 80% of the time to well mixed action movies on Blu-Ray, or proper (i.e. multi-miked) classical multi-channel recordings, and I had the room for it, I would go for five (or seven) identical full range loudspeakers all round, eschewing a sub and letting the processor distribute any .1 bass appropriately. If I was that serious, I'd also go vertical centre with an acoustically transparent screen, but if that wasn't a possibility (e.g. large flat-screen), the latest DSP horizontal centres do have image height compensation (which is supposed to be very good).

But I'm not in the above category. I listen in a small room, mainly to TV, Sky Movies, and two-channel music; Blu-Ray and (dead) HD DVD too, but less so. In this scenario, a pair of DSP33s at the back are more than adequate for my needs, with 6ks and a 5500HC up front; and for music, I normally listen in Direct.

On average, and stating the obvious, there is far more energy delivered up front. That's not to say that full-range rears of commensurate quality to the fronts aren't important with the right material; but how much of that material actually exists? (that's a genuine question, not a rhetorical one)

I'll also note that height channels are regarded as psycho-acoustically far more important than surrounds. When the 861v9 arrives (next year now, I'm guessing), I would be surprised if height channel synthesis is not one of the new features. How long that would take to roll down to the G6x, I have no idea.

I'm one of them. The 6ks work surprisingly well; certainly as well as the 5ks I had in the same physical positions, if not better. A bit of room correction is needed, but the room is boxy...