Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems A must-have for all Meridian users?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4070087a18335.html

"In other words, it boosts MP3s to CD quality, and CDs to studio quality."

Wow I'm suprised Bob hasn't consider this technology before

I must get one urgently. bye bye Meridian 518.

Didn't Mark Levinson come out with something like that for multi-thousands of dollars?

Tried it through G91 & DSP7000s. Sounds very unnatural (pseudo-surround off). Strictly for computer speakers, IMO.

the Mark Levinson thing is in fact designed by Richard Burwen a genious in signal processing way before everybody else, he designed the Cello Audio Palette for those of you who know it.
He tried to apply if I understand correctly some of the same concepts among other things.

http://www.stereophile.com/news/050205red/

I tend to agree, its the sort of thing that would work well with lesser audio kit.

Personly I would want somthing very special to make me part with my 518.
Perhaps its output would benefit from being passed through a 518. Does it add gain like the 518 can?
Any real world experiance out there?

You can make anything sound impressive in a brochure with good use of language, but will it deliver that Meridian quality sound? I am tempted to think not.

Good things ain't cheap and Cheap things, usually ain't good!! We will see.

Cheers Chris

They Levinson piece, or the piece he designed was with Bob/Richard Burwen, it was called the Burwen Bobcat, and is quite a nice concept. It is nothing like the link being spoken about here, but the Bobcat is actally quite a nice DAC for MP3's alike.

The Cello Audio Palette does the same for analog signals, but is the best unit one can buy, despite being older, a fabulous eq/preamp!

There is no way to recover lost info from badly ripped mp3s etc. There is no point in adding empty bits unless you are doing DSP to the incoming data stream. I am guessing here , but its probably a digital type of loudness control.
I used to use s 518 , but found it robbed music of some life , I use a Z-sys RDP-1 digital pre/parametric to tune my system to taste. It still can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear tho.
http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/rdp1e.html

It might be a spacialiser like 'Sound Enhance' in Tunes.
Used in moderation this is a good restorative device
especially through a M518.
Usefull on suspect and crushed dynamic older cds and
classical tracks with poor ambiance.

What it is? A crude equalizer. Remember bass and treble controls in the old days? Turn both at full throttle, and you get the Creative thing... Fun with ultra-cheap gear after consumption of serious amounts of alcohol, I guess...

porschecab,

Completely agree with you on all counts! it took me 10+ years to be able to get hold of one, and it is not going anywhere unless I move house!
The ideal scenario is:
Digital room processing a la M to help fix the room + the Audio Palette to fix any badly remastered CDS, SACDs, DVD-As,... -
that way you can fix everything.... allegedly

this link is the only test that I'm aware of:
http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/692cello/index.html

But it is not the Cello Audio Palette + Audio Suite Combo but a smaller much cheaper option (still very good, today around $3000 second hand)

They were tested in France in the late 80's and beginning of 90's by la Nouvelle Revue du Son.

extreme high end brand don't tend to get reviewed that much because they can't produce that much anyway and most of it is built on order, have you read many tests on Boulder 2000 series? or Esoteric P1/D01 in a multi-Channel setup? usually the answer is no...

This feature is integral to my new AV Network receiver. Here's the demonstration (be patient, the 'compressed music enhancer' feature is demonstrate halfway through) -

http://www.cinenow.com/uk/play-video-502.html