Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Meridian DSP vs Analogue

I currently have the following:

861 v4
DSP 8000 L/R
DSP 5500 C
DSP 5500 Rear
DSP 33 Sides

WHilst going for an 861 v6 I decided to audition some analog speakers/amps, B&W 800D, 802D rears and centre and DB1 Sub. The processor was a Classe SSP800.

The main difference I noticed with the B&W is how open and airy the mid/treble is with far more detail that the digital theatre whereas the digital theatre has more impact. Can anyone with an 861 v6 give a view as to how much the v6 opens up the top end and detail or is the limitaton the DSP's?? I am toying with upgrading the centre to a 7200HC or going for the B&W with the 861.

About 80% movies and 20% music if that helps. Any opinions greatly appreciated.

Have you applied the +3dB tweak?

Yes indeed, that's why I was surprised how much more detail there was with the B&W's.

Hoping that the v6 revealed the same level or may have go move to analog?

How good was the results of room correction on your system??

You sure your speakers are not a little overwhelming in the mid bass in your room??

Many demo rooms are a lot livelier than your home and this can lead to the systems sounding more open.

Soundstage size is pretty much identical between the v4 and v6, but the v6 is a much (much, much much ) more accurate processor. Instruments, voices and other sounds are more defined, withing the soundstage. There are details that simply were not there on the v4. Now that I have the v6, I can say there's no way I could live with a v4 anymore.

Also you shouldn't compare a DSP setup from Meridian to a analogue setup with a Class�. If you're interested in analogue speakers, use them on a 861 with analogue output cards.

If you prefer analogue speakers over DSPs is up to you. There are some excellent analogue speakers out there, both passive and active. In my opinion, the Class� isn't anywhere close to a v6 with analogue output cards, but if you're interested in one do a side by side demo and see or rather hear for yourself.

Hi Adam
As a previous owner of the B&W Nautilus speakers and having again listened to them several times over the past few years, I can attest that they are indeed very revealing speakers. Very open at the top end, with their bespoke tweeter materials

I'd have zero hesitation in recommending them to anyone

However, I do find the B&W's to be slightly biased towards the top and top-mid ranges (almost in a show-off fashion) compared to the the more balanced and laid back presentation of the D8k's. I found that in listening to familiar material that the same detail was there as with the B&W's but in a more balanced manner across all the frequencies

As a result, I find the DSP's (particularly the D8k's) to be less "fatiguing" with most types of music than the typical B&W top end forward presentation. Subtle differences no doubt, but...........

I think you will find that the 861v6 will elevate things a decent notch above what your 861v4 is producing. Apodizing is a worthwhile, but still subtle advance, which brings CD 16/44 material closer in presentation to high res 24/96 material

My suggestion would be as follows

a) Try your 861v6 when it arrives and allow your ears to get used to its slightly different presentation.

b) Ask your Dealer for a home demo loan of a single VERTICAL D7200 speaker. He likely has demo pairs of D7200's. See what you think. Even if the centre D7200vc gets in the way of your screen, don't let that bias your music listening opinions for a moment

c) Then take some favourite and familiar music back to your Dealer, and listen again to the B&W system. But this time spend a good two hours listening to your music choices. See what you think during a prolonged listening session, which more likely be representative of what you do at home

All of my comments above apply to Music replay

Given your 80% Movies preferences, I would say that I personally found a greater difference (in favour of DSP's) for Movies. This would be even more so with the advent of 24/48 Lossless Soundtracks with more information going to the surround channels than ever before

The B&W's would make an excellent choice, but you're not too bad where you are right now either

I agree with comments that B&W demo good but for extended hours of music they can be a bit fatigueing. But movies are not as fatiquing so I'm not sure how much an issue that is.

I agree with the suggestion of the 7200vc and if you had 7200 for sides and/or rears that would be a step up too. The 5500 isn't exactly the airy treble king.

Hello Adamaski,

I dit have a similar setup
1) 8k/L/R-5.5kVerticalC-and 5kC rears
2) 8k/L/R-5.5kVerticalC-8Krears before I switched to

3)All 8k over and now have

4)front 8k rears 5.5k and would go finally

5)front 8k 2(2)5.5k rears and 5kCsides.

The most important factor to get a better matched soundstage and get ore detail more precise was going from 5.5VerticalC to 8k center.
My decission first going to an upright 5.5kC was the difference horizontal top vertical.
So I believe when you just swap your horizontal center to a single 8kC that would be a big move.
Talking about the 8k sound presentation, their ability to deliver bass " without" limits,
its a little dangerous as the user (I only can make starting from myself here) is trying to "have" that bass everytime. Bass is very important and very positive for the music,but too much bass "close" the details as just the mid/heights are more silent.

You should try following:

Take music without electronics and voices and with some and many instruments(many instruments playing at the same time) and listen to your equipment JUST in direct(not stereo).

Then try to compare that sound what you heared with B&W.

If you are mean your are still "missing" detail,then just take the MSR and turn down the bass 5to 6 steps and the height on 2-3 steps(just to try not a final adjustment)." Suddenly" you will hear or
better say mean to hear more details-this is my experience here.
Of coarse its depend on your listening room,of your ability to hear higher frequencies and your personal sound test what kind of sound is finally in your ear and your brain-thats determinate how "good" is the sound for you.

This sound change experience is different to George +3dB trick where the whole frequencies of the music get clearly better(thanks again here George).

After trying that and listen (you also can make two presets just the bass/high are different)to that two different adjustments I think you will get idea what I want to try to explain above.

What I dont like since the last ten years or so, is that most off the manufacturer make a "forward" sound with much to much height and mids to be "transparent" and have "detail".This is for me an unnatural sound and I dont like it.Dit you ever heraed a live voice-instrumental presentation(without every electronic !!!) like that?
Shurly not because that is not a natural sound.

Getting more details is good when you really get without loosing something else .

Try this direct experiment, if you can try a 8kC and or before a v6 -but I never would go away from the 8k..

Robert

That kind of setup should be compared in the same room.
Let the dealer bring that kit to your room and try it out there.

For 40% or more proffit on this kind of gear they should do some work..

I remember when I was 20 and sold hifi, with a budget system (sub �500) we used to have the Rotel integrated, the nad integrated and the Marantz integrated amps as the 3 best sounding ones under �200 rrp.

Now, in the demo room the nad would sell 95% of the time with the Rotel selling the other 5%, even though the Marantz got stunning reviews in every magasine we never sold one. To put this into perspective we probably sold 1000 of these amps a year, and with demos not one Marantz was sold.
Everyone said it was too smooth, not airy enough and no bite at the top end.

However.......those that took the Marantz and Nad home for a home demo all bought the Marantz, well 95% of them did, the replies were "it is so much smoother, extra weight, and just as much detail, it sounds like an expensive amplifier compared with the other one."

And it did, but what you like at home while listening all night is very different to what you like in a demo, or when out, I don't go to a club or a gig and want the Merdidian sound, I go out and want the Naim sound, well OK, maybe not that <censored> harsh, but you get my point?



I would be interested to hear how much difference room correction made on your system, and how have you got the 5500 set up boundary wise etc. as that is a bass monster speaker out of the box.

DSP7200VC/DSP7200HC or a DSP8kC is a large leap forward in both "airy" and effortless sound compared to the DSP5500HC.

Now from what I gather from reading the 861V6 owners comments the processor has also become more transparent and revealing compared to the 861V4.

800D is a good speaker, but the DSP8000 has so much more meat imho, give them a good center partner and perhaps a shiny new 861V6 and I think you won't look back to the B&W/Classe combo with any regret..

If you listen primarily in Trifield the center channel is extremely important and will drag down the DSP8k fronts if it's not up to par. I went from the DSP5200HC to the DSP7200HC and the difference was shocking. Moving up to DSP8kC is ofcourse a dream but will need a transparent screen for it...

Hi Adamski,
I'm sure your dealer has already discussed the differences between the all analogue BW system and Digital theatre but i'll just throw in my views as well. Obviously i'm a BW800 dealer and 861 dealer.
I'm also assuming that your are referring to the 'new' 800 diamonds etc not the outgoing 800D's.

Basically the two systems will present things in a fundamentally different way with the BW's leaning toward a more detailed, transparent presentation than the DSP's. However as others have said on movies a good (8000 based) Digital theatre really does take some beating and offers a visceral experience.

The BW800 diamond is a quantum leap over it's 800D predecessor in terms of transparency and balance. It is however very amplifier transparent and therefore will soak up huge amounts of money in order to make it sing with the right amplifier.
If you were mainly listening to music (possibly just in stereo) with the odd movie, i think the BW800's would give you more insight and would almost certainly win the day over the DSP8k's.
This is not your particular scenario however and frankly for the amount of money you'd need to invest in 800 diamonds, 802 diamond rears, HTM centre + DB1 sub ...and all the (considerable) amplification.... you could add 7200 centre + 7200 rears and have a LOT of change.

The 861v6 WILL give you a noticeable incremental improvement over your v4, of this there is no doubt but you will not get the same 'effect' as you heard by switching over to 800 diamonds. It's just not apples for apples.
However a Digital theatre with 861v6 DSP8k's 7200c + 7200 rears is one hell of a system. It will certainly give you a BIG improvement over your existing (very creditable) set up.
If you fear it's not going to be enough for you then get a dealer to do a home demo of BW800 series for you.

One last thing, personally i wouldn't 'muddy ' the water with the SSP800, it's very very good but it's not better than a 861v6. Particularly when you bear in mind Meridian's way of dealing with Bluray HD audio through the HD621 ....that really is a better way of handling things rather that do ALL the decoding in the processor.

Happy to have a chat if you want call the store at any time ...no strings

Gerry