Hmmm... I personally think that my old B&W 605 S2 loudspeakers were great... for what they cost, and also the bass. The bass i would go as far to say was better (IMO) than the recent dsp5500's i had. I think, to me, they were "better" as they went deeper or seemed to to my perception and recall. It was the best bass i have ever heard barr the dsp8000's in respect of deepness or feeling of a fuller sound. Of course, the tops and mids were, again IMO, far better on teh dsp5500's. The mids did have a different presentation also.
Now, im not saying that to beat the bass on the B&W's one would need the dsp8000's. Im saying with the smalll amount of demo's i have heard with the dsp5200, 7k's, 5500's and 8k's, that i felt the bass was superior in 8k's in that line up. Now this is not a scientific thing whatsoever, i did not do a side by side comparison of all the models, and therefore, consequently, also not a blind test either so my recall of the b&w's may be somewhat rosier than it was.
It was an aspect that i did raise with Rhonda at the Hitchhikers day (1st). I asked why, seemingly, they did not "invest" as much time, money, research, materials as B&W did ie driver research and consequent use of Rohacell coating on their kevlar bass drivers leading to a stiffer, stronger but still light cones, resulting in better linearity, control and so forth. Rhonda advised, that Meridian did indeed spend intially a lot of time with researching drivers, found the best ones, and that they use DSP trickery to get the absolute best out of the speakers that could not be achieved in the analog or active designs, and as a result, they felt there was nothing to be gained to research new drivers. As far as they were concerned the research had produced, for them, a great set of drivers and ones they would continue to use. Now, she did not say that they were close minded in new research, just thatthey had invested initially a lot and no need fo rthem to restart that process again. Im sure they would if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Andreas. I understand what you are saying but, if i was to raise the issue, i would do it in a different way.
Its great to ask questions, query or interrogate such things as we wish. But, to ask such questions and then add a controversey within it, is not quite asking the same as trying to be curious and rasing a discussion.
The problem, IMO, lies with the bit that says you 1) have not heard the dsp8000's, 2) taking statistics/specifications as the qualitive measuring quotient.
I agree that if Meridian teamed up with say another hifi company, B&W and they could have even better loudspeakers system, imagine rohacell kevlar coated bass units, maybe this esostar tweeter one keeps hearing about, maybe, we could have even better sounding loudspeakers. But who knows.
But, to then say that Meridian use speakers from another company and do not make and research their own, in effect, makes their loudspeakers systems not x, y, z good is quite nonsensical. Their DSP's are really good. Compare the B&W 802d's say, approx 10k (cant be asked checking to make sure), now compare to the dsp5500's. Difference is you have not only the speakers but either side has a digital crossover, DAC, controller pre amp, quad amps, associated wiring, and a remote control. Now id B&W were to do that for you, you would be looking at considerably more monies, lets say that getting the dsp5500's would just be a fraction of teh cost. So this is to an extent, apples to apples comparison with ref to whole system approcach.
So i would urge you to listen to the dsp8000's. Its no point saying you guys are going to flame me, if you're going to not even bother listening to the dsp8000's and then, saying that you have heard these other high end systems, (wether they be for studio use or not) and comparing to something you have not heard.
George explained it in a nutsheell:
"Have you actually ever heard DSP8000's speakers? Throw the stupid spec books out the window and go have a listen. I'm not saying they are the most accurate or the best speaker on the planet. But man they sure are amazing speakers."
What point is there in specs if the sound is truly astonishing to a person who "believes" in the realism or "lifelike" presentation to them of say, their favourite singer, composer. Basically statistic/specifications become a moot point when an individual is engrossed in their passion of music. Its music that we get these instruments for, what use is it for us to become pseudo scientists and/or quality assurance officers. It a means to an end.
Its seems you ignited the fire and created a self-fulling prophecy.

mrmarbach - Im sure it is that simple. Please dont blame me if it all falls to pieces afterward but, do take my advice, be sure to use plenty of blu tak instead of glue. It will be the best dampening material ever. Trust me, i read the specifications and it will sound great.

Last edited by MazsterUk; 2010-02-06 19:35.
DSP6000