Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems How good are the DSP8000 (.1, .2 and SE) vs. other Hi-End systems

I have always loved the design and the system design and theory of the DSP8000, but I would like to have my fellow Meridian buddy to share with us, HOW GOOD?

Is the Meridian DSP8000 (non-SE) version compare to most of the other HI-END speaker in the price range, e.g. JBL DD67000, YG Acoustics, Wilson Audio, Magico etc., (I have heard all of these speakers, but I really want to know from the rest of the forum what everyone else thinks).

The fact is the design of the DSP8000 is nothing but amazing, but then again the fact that the DAC only goes up to 96KHz is another limitation e.g., we won't be able to play HD tracks, DSD files, etc., how do we over come that? any ideas?

And also what are the major difference between the 8000 and the SE upgrade (which is $20k the last quote I got) is it worth the upgrade?

Thank you everyone for sharing! but lets express your feeling towards the legendary DSP8000 on the forum.

Cheers!
Jacko

Jacko,

Welcome to the forum.

How good? I'm afraid only you can decide that, by listening. There are lots of folks here who have done comparisons but they may not be listening for the same things as you.

As far as HiRez is concerned this is not a problem. Meridian streaming kit (MDMS aka Sooloos) and other programmes (Roon is the new black in this respect) can easily downsample on the fly to get the most of the speakers.

The best thing about the DSP8000 is that you get the quality of sound at the premium level without the added complications of the interactions of other components and other tweaks. In short it just performs. Add in the SE update with enhanced bass alignment, the beryllium tweeter, wideband electronics, and the ability to do the final unfold of MQA, they can be quite a revelation.

Jacko

Welcome to the forum.

As you know DSP speaker do most of the jobs including DAC, but in my opinion, it really needs a good digital source to feed it. Just to make it more fair, when you do the comparion with other systems.

I listen to a lot of speakers in studios and the 8ks are up there with the best.

Even apart from MQA, the SE's are a big step up from the 8000.2's, especially with the latest software package (3.08), which brings everything into greater focus.

To come close to their ability to recreate performance spaces, you'd need two normal full-range speakers augmented by two subwoofers, plus amplifiers and cables to make it all work, plus a high-quality digital front end.

To match or exceed the 8000SE's, you'd need a system consisting of, say, a dCS Rossini or Vivaldi (with outboard clock), a SOTA amp like the D'Agostino Momentum Stereo amp, Wilson speakers (Sasha or Yvette) with matching Watchdog subs, and high-quality cabling throughout -- all of which will take up a lot of real estate and cost significantly more money.

Great advice so far. I can only add that when I bought my DSP8000s and they are the version 1 I believe back in 2002, I was always looking for the latest upgrade - that's 15 years now!

While I've upgraded my 861 to v6, my 8000s are still going strong and I have not had the urge to upgrade. Does this mean they sound better than the others? Hard to know - that's subjective. But it does mean they sound so good to me that I never felt the desire to look anywhere else. And what I really love about these speakers is they sound good with just about any kind of source.

To be fair, you might say the same thing about any other high end speaker that is well made. But this is simply my experience. I can only say well done to Meridian!