Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Dipping a toe into Meridian waters : speaker quandary....

First post as a result of deciding to invest in some Meridian kit, so please be gentle !

For the last 10 years or so I've had an almost exclusively TAG-McLaren Audio + B&W system, but as a result of the (potentially permanent) failure of my AV32R-DP I've gone a bit crazy & invested in a 861v6 with 2 analogue-out boards + HD621 (e.t.a end September).
Earlier this week during another fit of madness I demo'd a pair of DSP7200's & am not sure whether to go down this route as well !
Oh yes, and I've read literally's 000's of posts over the last few weeks in all the fora I could find - maybe I'm suffering from information overload....

Current system is :-
TMA AV32R-DP with room-correction (temporarily replaced by an on-loan Rotel ????)
TMA DVD-32R+PSM192 for CD & DVD playback
TMA T32R+DAB for infrequent radio playback
TMA 2*250x3R for bi-amping L+C+R
TMA 100x5R:10 for sides / rears (7.1 system)
Oppo BDP83SE for Blu-ray
Squeezebox Touch & Duet for (Apple lossless) network audio
SKY HD (Thomson) satellite & PVR box
Sony PS3 (purchased solely for Blu-ray, now redundant !)
Lumagen Radiance XE
Sim2 HT380 projector
Sony 28" CRT (soon to be replaced with a Panny 50" plasma)

B&W 802D L+R
B&W HTM2D C
B&W ASW825 sub
B&W 4*SCMS surrounds

All this kit is in a relatively small 3.5m*5m (I think !) room with the L&R parked securely in the corners (I know, I know !) because that's the only place for them to go - but until now the TMA room EQ has done a reasonable job of taming my horrible 36Hz mode & the rest of the "problems". More info about the room on request....
I would say I listen to 60% music (indie / rock / electronic), 25% TV and 15% movies at reasonable levels.

The speaker upgrade path is a little more complicated than at first sight because my mains & centres are about to be replaced by the new B&W 800 Series Diamond versions, but my dealer is happy to cancel the order if I change my mind - because I'd be spending more money !
Therefore, after having demo'd the initially impressive DSP7200's, which I'd also consider together with a 1600SW & a DSP5500HC (rears can stay as they are for the time being) I'm still stuck in deciding whether to go further down the Meridian route (and not be able to eat for several months !) or to just accept the new B&W's and stay "passive".

The Meridian's did sound very good & immediately unveiled more detail on familiar recordings that I was previously aware of, but I double-checked when I got home & the info was actually there too - I think I'd missed it previously because of the different room acoustics and the background external (city) noise that I have at home. I think I understand the advantages that Active bring (and as an Engineer I've a good technical understanding), but am literally on a decision knife-edge as I'm not entirely sure if the DSP7200's are significantly better - I thought that they were only slightly better (bass control, bass-mid crossover fluidity) - and interestingly the detail level between the 802D's demo'd @ the dealer & the DSP's wasn't really noticeable at all and I'm therefore now sceptical of the effects of apodising + upsampling. It's even made me potentially reconsider the benefits of the 861v6 + HD621....
Info : the DSP's were demo'd with a G-series CD player connected directly, the same CD player was used with a (300W ?) MBL power amp for the 802D's at the dealer - I spent many many hours A-B-A'ing !

Any thoughts / comments / experiences would be highly appreciated !

Welcome.


The Meridian processor will be a lot more refined and smoother than the Tag processor, I had an AV192r for a few days after being really impressed with a demo against a Meridian 568.2 (which I owned at the time), the Tag was faster, livelier and more exciting.
However after 3 days I took it out, realised that it was not offering anything above the Meridian, the Meridian actually had more detail, more refined, more natural and smoother, a lot more grown up.


I ran my Meridian processor with amps and passive speakers for many years, around 6 in total, using Classe and Cinepro amplification and Dunlavey speakers and loved it.
However, I went DSP last year, I actually did it as a lifestyle choice, and was prepared to take a hit in quality for a nice form factor and wife pleasing design, however I have been blown away with them.
They have exceeded anything passive I have ever owned and they are only the 24/96 DSP5000s (used with a Rel Studio sub).

No demo ever revealed to me just how good the DSP speakers are, like you I always thought they sounded like passives of around the same price. It is when you get home and use them and set them up properly that they start to show you what they are about.
The fact they are DSP and sound the same played at -40db and -0db is worth it alone for me, as I listen to around 4 hours of music every night after 10pm when you have to consider the family and neighbours.


SW1600 with 7200's is a waste, the 7200s will do it all.

I would get 3 x 7200s.

I would also seriously weigh up if you need an 861v6 and HD621 at the moment, when you consider you can get a non speakerlink G68 or G61r for �2000 it does make the 861 a bit of a jump.


If it were my money I would get 3 x 7200 + 2 x 5200 and a G61/8 + HD621.
Then get the 861v6 when funds permit, and loose the sub completely.

Depends if you listen in stereo, or Trifield or watch alot of films.
The Meridian surround experience is like nothing else I have heard, I went from Meridian 5.1 to Lexicon 7.1 and back again, and then from Meridian 7.1 (matrixed rears) with passives to 5.1 DSP and the 5.1 DSP beat the lot.

So far all the best systems I have heard have been 5.1, not saying 7.1 is bad, all things equal I would always have 7.1 if the room takes it, but I would not move from Meridian to get 7.1.
The reason I mention this is the main advantage of the 861 for me is 7.1 rather than 5.1 with matrixed rears.
I see you are 5.1 but may be important at some point?

Hi glzzE, thanks....

Something I've also tried to research is the Meridian "sound" - to me the goal of HiFi is that it shouldn't have any "sound" by definition - and I always believed that the combination of TMA kit + B&W was pretty uncoloured (which I now know / believe to be only a very slight misconception) but I'm not sure that I understand your comment about TMA being "fast / lively / exciting" ? In that case how would you describe Meridian ?

For more info, the 861v6 + HD621 is a "done deal" and I'm not going to change that now despite my concerns with apodising / upsampling - the HD621 was part of the package I was offered & is of course the (Meridian) solution to the "HDMI problem" that most pre-pro's literally don't have !

Also, I already have 7.1, although of course I'm not truly using it, so whatever I do I'll hang on to my 4 surround speakers & the accompanying TMA amp until I ever decide to make them active too - or not....
Oh, surround music's not really something I'm really excited about either - although you wouldn't believe it if you saw what's on my CD / DVD racks ! Therefore, as mentioned, I'd only be looking at some wall-mount DSP's later rather than 5500's or whatever.

Understand your comment about the SW1600 - I was originally considering 2 for music but only backed-off because of the additional cost ! The DSP7200's definitely go down low - gave them a real work-out during my demo....

I can't have a vertical centre because of my room arrangements : my projector screen drops-down & a DSP7200HC would be ridiculous overkill (IMHO) & too expensive, therefore the potential choice of DSP5500HC.

And as you mention, the quality of sound at different volume levels is a consideration as I'm in a city-centre apartment, although I'm very lucky in that I only annoy 1 of my neighbours (!) because I'm in the top flat & have no shared walls.

Thanks for the comments !

If you're considering the 7200s and are going to stick them in the corners, I would make sure that you spend time with setting up the room correction (MRC) as described in the wiki here. Considering the size of your room, you probably have bass problems other than the 36 Hz region. After you get the MRC adjustments right, you may find that the addition of a subwoofer is necessary to address nulls that the MRC can't correct. But, I agree that you should not need a subwoofer simply for bass output. The 7200s will take of that on their own.

Bill,
Thanks - good points.
I'm already aware that the corner / boundary settings are there to be played with in the 7200's and that there's MRC in the 861v6 on top as well, although hopefully my dealer would be experienced in knowing which combination was best from the outset, in case one's more effective than the other.

And you're right - I do have other nulls / peaks (can't remember the exact details offhand) - which may be best addressed by a sub.

More food for thought....!

I meant a 7200 Horizontal Centre.

The 5500HC is 1100w X 285h and the 7200HC is 1060w x 295h so nothing in it really.





The Meridian sound is 'liquidy'.
That is the only way I can describe it really, it is warm and cuddly and you can listen to it for hours at a time and it gets better and better.
However it is never at the expense of pace, soundstage and seems to retrieve more detail than just about anything else.



I don't have any DSP rears at the moment and so I am running 3.1, I would seriously ask to borrow a pair of 5200s as rears to compare 5 channel Meridian with your 7.1 Tag/B&W set up and see which you prefer.

We discuss this issue of A-B-ing all the time here. Meridian covered this in one of their talks a while back. Basically once the "better" system revealed something new to you, you will now hear it on the "lesser" system because your brain knows it's their now. So be careful.

It doesn't matter about apodizing/upsampling/mhr, what matters is, does it sound good to you and worth the money. Meridian makes great stuff.

...and this is really the crux of the matter.

Hi there,
You seem to be heading to a similar system that I have. I agree with the rest that the bass may present problems, but I found that the SW1600 was a blessing & did not get rid of it & have stuck with the 5500 HC than replace both with a 7200HC. Id only be rid of the SW if I upgraded to an 8k set! (no brainer there) The difference in the size of 5500HC & the 7200HC is not really that much. WWIW Personally Id still get the SW1600 & 5500HC rather than just 3 7200's. Only issue is at the present time you have a choice of getting the current technology ( speakerlink) as the SW1600 & 5500HC one has to use the dreaded AC12 converters with the 861 V6.

Thanks again - I thought the 7-series centre was huge in comparison but I guess not, although it is relatively huge in price !

And am still not convinced about the terminology you're using in reference to what I heard - I would say after this initial session that Meridian & TMA were pretty much identical in terms of "sound signature" : neutral. I've never understood for example what people mean about NAIM's "pace / timing" etc, but as I'm not going there, let's not get sidetracked !

Absolutely right & am aware of these psycho-acoustic effects - it's something very important worth remembering. The only difference in this case was that I heard the same "resolution" from the comparator system : with some CD's I performed B-A-B instead of A-B-A deliberately to eliminate this effect and I was horrified to hear the B&W's resolve things in the dealer's room that I hadn't previously heard at home ! I think that "home" needs some "work" as a result !
There's a further factor which is important (for me) to grasp in terms of the "value" differences : if I'm embarking on a change to DSP's then I'm not only buying speakers but I'm getting "amps & cabling" too - in a much more flexible & tweakable form - this is a psychological problem for me at the moment because I've already paid for a B&W upgrade & I'd have to pay out even more for the Meridian speakers. Of course, if I do do this then I'll be selling amps & cables (and making a loss !) as I won't need them anymore.
Another problem with the whole scenario is that I really need to try them at home to be sure if they're worth it sonically, but there are only so many demo pairs of DSP7200's in the country and the ones I tried have gone off to a magazine to be reviewed already....

With regards to the tech, I personally think it does matter, but it's (only a small) part & parcel of the journey to good sound : if I wasn't interested in what the tech can add then I wouldn't have started down the Meridian / Active route & I'd never have bothered with TMA + B&W either ! But please don't get me wrong - your point is not only valid but it's the reason we're here & having this discussion - because at the end of the day it's all about enjoying the music.

...which is where I'm "at" at the moment.... Yes, they sounded great in demo, but what will they be like at home - and is the step from passive to active the right one to make ? It's (becoming) a big investment & I'd like to see / hear some "more" (compared to what I have now) for my �'s !
Anyone else taken the same / similar steps ?