Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Renamed: Changing DSP Speaker tweeters

Me too. There are too many variables responsible for changes in percieved sound quality as it is without starting subjective experiments with drivers. Let Meridian specify and leave it at that...

Mark

Meridian do a lot of DSP to smooth out the drivers they use. I imagine one of the main reasons they have used the same tweeter for some time is that they know its charateristics perfectly and can correct for any blips in the frequency response.

Put in a new tweeter and there's no knowing what will happen...

"Put in a new tweeter and there's no knowing what will happen..."

You're right. Who knows? Provided the world doesn't come to an end, he might just like it better!

But then he might wonder whether another tweeter is even better, or perhaps a new mid range driver - or maybe even another speaker. This is the slippery road to a town called Upgraditis - best avoided IMO.

Mark

I chickened out and ordered the original tweeter.

Thanks Barataria for the generous offer.

I don't think Meridian tunes the electronics that much for the given tweeter. However I'm sure they chose an appropriate crossover.

My guess is that these tweeters were one of the best available when they first started using them and they want as many speakers in their line to have a similar sound so they stick with them. But SEAS has made progress on tweeters as well and they have a similar metal dome as the silk dome in the Millenium line.

It's interesting SEAS removes the steel mess grill when doing tests.

Anyone know what the 7000, 8000 use?

IMHO and in my experience , te OEM tweeter is fragile. I have blown many. Once you replace one , you can never get the tweeter torqued down or seemingly to fit as well as the original did in its rebate and the horn of the tweeter resonates at some freqs. This happened on my 5000's and 5500's.
As to the tweeter swap , well its totally reversible so worth a try. My DSPs cost 14k or so , I bought a full set of "alternative" drivers , 2 mag bass drivers , 2 paper bass drivers , and a midrange , all the Excel line for a small percent of what i paid for the speakers. furthermore I have custom side cheecks for them.
The real nice thing is you can play and go back to ground zero after.
The metal domed tweeters are more "airy" then the Milleniums and you might find the milleniums too warm , you can use the inbuilt controls in the speaker to adjust treble balance , there is also an internal tweeter level adjustment you can fiddle with if you want more zing.
In terms of tweeter fall off in my room , I measured using the alan Parsons sound check CD and a calirated DB meter (noit a ratshack)
I used this quite often so measured a few OEM tweeters as I also use a Z-Sys RDP-1 digital parametric for various putrposes and often measured freq response at listening position.
Swapping out the midrange in my 5500's was a disaster. Swapping out the bass drivers wasnt and funnily enough a combo of one paper and one magnesioum bass driver seemes the best in terms of slam and taughtness. The bass is significantly improved over OEM , probably less accurate perhaps?
In my room , I have always found the 5500's bass to be overwhelming and somewhat flabier than either the 5000's or 6000's and the driver swap cures this.

Im pretty happy with the results so far and the sound pleases me and I thought the driver upgrades worthwhile for their cost and ease of doing.
As I say , I can always go back to the original config if I wish.

Rodney,

Do you run MRC? You should add your equipment to your profile or signature.

I find MRC mandatory on 5500's now.

You should realize that many of us love seeing folks brave enough to do these sort of changes. And in no way do I doubt your results. But like you I'd have to do a lot of testing to prove it to myself that I didn't go off track. I have to balance that with other little projects I want to do and how much the wife can take and how much time I have.

I may purchase one just to experiment with. Maybe next winter if I get the itch to upgrade on budget.

George,

I can heartily recommend some B&W 801 Nautilus tweeters, if any of you DSP users fancy an upgrade?

Sorry couldn't resist.

:-)

B&W's are to bright for me and they need AMPs I can't lift to really drive them. Midrange is nice though. I also find I needed to play them loud to really make them sing. I'm sure moving up the line and over time B&W's get better than what I had, but so do Meridian's. Comparing similar vintage and size B&W (say Matrix 803's) to similar vintage and size 18-bit 5500s, the 5500's sound like an 803 triamped with 1500 watts behind them (in terms of energy delivered, i.e. bass). Note: 5500's are Quadamped (after the digital crossovers) so they don't need the same watts, Passive burn that power up in heat in the analog cross over. To be fair you'd have to compare 801's (with perhaps $10k worth of amp (say 4 krell mono amps)) to 8000's. And all that space to put those amps and all those massive cables(yuck). And I think I know which I would prefer .

I have changed tweeters and mids in my D6K's and would change the 8 bass drivers if my budget allowed.
(The Volt drivers are �135 each)
My friends design speakers and they advised on drivers.
The metal Peerless tweeters had resonances that annoyed, Vifa silk domes were better.
The mid range with phase plug was replaced with a very fast Vifa driver with good dispersion.
They mated very well with the cabs and needed no
tweaks( which are available in the menu).

Interesting things are happening in the speaker world.
The best drivers were designed and built in Scandinavia, now they are increasing built in Asia
some of the best coming from Indonesia !

Actually George,

I've just found a Meridian Dealer here in New Zealand (Wellington), there appears to be only a single dealer in the entire country. It's not like the UK here!

However, I've arranged a demo of a pair of 55000 and a matching centre as I'm keen to here a pair after all the Hikers comments over the years.

1138,

Curious of what you think. But don't be taken back by the 5500's being a little less bright than B&W's. Bright can be good sometimes (very airy sounding) when your A/B-ing. But in the long haul it can be tiring. 5500's also need a dose of MRC properly done.

I have not ruled out getting even warmer tweeters some day as discussed here.