Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Meridian is known for signal processing. But how about speaker technology?

I seem to remember reading that the distortion caused by loudpeaker drivers is much greater than that caused by amplifiers. Unfortuately I can't remember where I read it! But if that is true, it would suggest that M could benefit from better* drivers, as I can't imagine that DSP can cancel out all distortion.

* It may well be that the drivers M use are no worse than any others, but in theory better drivers could be developed.

Mark S

No, actually the ultimate "in house" is when you find a very small "Pro Studio manufacturer" in the east of Germany that even wounds their own driver coils and presses their won driver membranes and loads their own driver magnets. However, this still does not tell, if the drivers are any better than from off the rack or if the complete speaker is of any use.

Apparently... and this is just a guess... Ferrari don't make there own tyres

Why would Meridian spend a fortune 're inventing a square wheel'?
How much would it cost to develop a drive unit range and would it be any better than what can be had through OEMs?

Basic corporate strategy, only do what you have competence in.

Steve.

But very very strict about tolerances.

If the original intent is to say Meridian is not a speaker company because they don't design their own drivers, then I disagree wholeheartedly with the point. Roger and the rest of the "most outsource parts" group are right. Ultimately, its the integration that we are purchasing. Though in the case of Meridian they really are building their own crossovers (digitally of course) and the other processing is all them.

VK, I've often wondered the same thing: if M is using good but not the absolute best drive units (I don't know, but this is a common charge) and the results are terrific now, what would the results be if they went to the very best? And I think the answer is it wouldn't be much better. I am making an assumption that they are using drivers that are not terrible, that they are better than good enough but perhaps are not quite at the highest level. I think passive or regular active speakers would benefit more because of the lack of the kind of processing M does and thus the difference in the drivers becomes more apparant. I think the digital crossovers that M uses as well as the other processing really does let them have their cake and eat it too so long as the drivers are of sufficient quality. And no matter which set of speakers you look at, all of Meridian's speakers are investments and I don't believe they would be short changing us.

Steve, thats right. Ferrari doesn't make tires, but they do work with the tire manufacturers to refine tires to their specs. They are not the only car company to do that btw. Many do. I am sure if Meridian requires drivers to a certain spec they could have them made.

OMG Jerry, we've mentioned cars again. The only thing is ... they are quite a good analogy to high end audio.

For example, Ferrari buy ECU computers and do their own software; Meridian buy in DSP chips and ....

Well you see.

Surely Meridian drivers aren't just of the self units? I recall reading here somewhere that they are designed to there specification by the large OEM companies. At any rate even if there using $2 drivers they sound fine to me.

I must be biased, hence my speakers.

This debate over self made speaker unit is like comparing apples and oranges. Who in the entire hifi business is designing the speaker units themselves and all the electronics in an active way?
To my knowledge there is only Cabasse who makes "special" active filtered and multi amped loudspeakers while making their own (and good) speaker units, not sure the amps are 100% cabasse though.
The flagship Cabasse "Sphere" loudspeakers are active with seperate amp and filters, but of course this fancy system cost 150 000� or more!?
Even then when you compare the DSP8k's and the Sphere, the M's are way more sleek and home friendly! according to the M30 brochure "At Meridian we believe that high quality sounds can best come from small loudspeakers. [...] The reasons are that a smaller loudspeaker, apart from being easier to install, radiates sound in a more 'familiar' way - more like a speaking person - and this results in an easily interpreted sound, producing solid stereo images and the illusion of being at the performance. A smaller loudspeaker also gives less colouration due to cabinet vibration."
Now I know why I love my DSP3100!

We are at page 4, I make a bet we hit page 6 easily.


Good you said "Hifi"....

Dynaudio comes at least close, they build their own amplifiers, at least they have and their own drivers are widely used by other brands. They just don't sell active reference speakers to consumers, and their pro modells probably use standard amps. Same is true for Focal btw.

Anyway, mostly only Meridian users have understood the benefits of active speakers, plus some smaller brands (like Backes and Müller, etc). otherwise we would see much more active speaker brands in the consumer industry. The others that have understood are left dry and secure in the professional world......

Dynaudio do and the engineering of the drive units is very impressive and a major factor in why I use them, even the little ones have massive voice coils.

On another point, are the drive units Meridian uses built to spec or off the shelf?
The 70s/80s Meridian actives used Kef Drive Units that were off the shelf, B110B, T52 etc.

Steve.

M have special customied chassis from a very expierenced chassis company.
Basically they take a standard product and let build (based on their own hearing/technical experiences)
special modified modells.
That means, M have then chassis that are optimised for their purpose.
The most important factor here is,that M with their DSP technology,
have not to comprimise for some characteristic that passive speaker manufacturer have to do.
Example her are the sensivity and the linearity. M can set here priorities on other characteristic like internal damping of the diaphragm.That better dampening itself gives a "heavier" diaphragm
So M can take their priorities different than other non DSP and passive Loudspeaker manufacturer.
So is no need to make very special chassis.With their possibilities to influence via electronic the chassis
M can use " high volume product" chassis with the advantage of a running production with very small tolerances.So M can have cheaper chassis that better perform in their DSP as "better" chassis,
that have to comprimise in some important charakteristic just to reach their goal for linear frequency response.
So for M its make less sense to make their own chassis,
they have to know what the need.
And a high volume production have to have a good quality control to survive in long term.
So with you own strict specification for the manufactur,the get that what the want and get also the experiences of a running volume production.
And speaking in distortions of speakers,which speakers have so small distortion tolerances over the whole frequency range as the 8k?

You have to see the whole DSP speaker as one unit,and then start thinking how old is that technology to physically places the chassis in different distances just to have all chassis in "phase" ?
Wjth that different moujtimg of the chassis the designer of that speaker generate himself proplems
with the near reflections of every "shifted" chassis.
Hopefully my explaination is good enough here to catch the sense.

And finally, what is a "better" chassis?
A chassis that have a "better" linearity,or a chassis that have less linearity but less distortions on the diaphragm?

But that all is a long story, you will get some ideas if you read the white paper from M about DSP speakers.

And studio monitors have to have differnt chassis, as the requirements for the studio is differnent as for a livingroom.It shouldnt be,but thats the reality.