Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk

Seeing that some of the recent posters have had quite strong opinions on what is the most important way of building a system, I thought it would be interesting to know how different people would build the best audio systems that they could get with a �20K budget and why.


The first system can be for convenience

The second system should be absolute best sound quality


If you want to play the game the rules are:

1) You don't need to take the room size into consideration. Let's say its 90% perfect for music listening.

2) You must have at least one Meridian item in your set-up

3) All equipment can be second hand, but should be based on approximate market prices.

Cheers
Tom

Buongiorno carissimo!

"1) You don't need to take the room size into consideration. Let's say its 90% perfect for music listening."

I think you must ask due to the potential bass response and room loading. The first question I'd ask is about the room, the area, dimensions and the real estate available for positioning equipment ie do the speakers have to be within a foot of the front wall or can they be more than a metre away...

Fantastic question BTW - didn't realise you had a new American Express Platinum card...

Hmmmmm well, given this is a Meridian forum after all the front end could be

Meridian Sooloos Control 15 (user interface is unbeatable) ex-dem �3k
Meridian 808.3 with ID40 ex-dem �7.5k (I listen to the other HH's!)


Amp / speakers / power supply regenerator / cables dependant on room and musical taste but both digital and analogue options are open to you and are arguably the best available...

PS Is ex-dem cheating? It's like playing Fantasy Football with extra funds!

What media types must be supported?

I suppose an ex-demo pair of 7.2 or 8s, as the DSP speakers are what I'd consider to be M's strongest selling points. That should leave me with 5-10 grand to have a think about the rest.

Operating off my preferences, which would be the best MUSIC Setup for the Budget, then I would likely opt for

Pair of DSP8000's for about �12,000 to �15,000 (depending on Age and Colour)
Their Performance has been covered in copious posts, so I won't belabour again here

An MC200 for about �1,600
This will play both Ripped CD's and importantly, the expanding catalog of High Res 24/96 material that is becoming available

If the User already had an existing library of Ripped CD's, then it would be possible to achieve very similar results using a Squeezbox Touch for �250.......and then spend the budget elsewhere

On Average, after spending on the above two items, I would have achieved very good quality stereo and still have about �5,000 left over to play with

The next choice would be whether the User wanted Optimize that Stereo System even further.......or else start building a Multi-Channel system

Assuming the user wants to watch Bluray's, DVD's etc., then

a Trio of DSP5000's.......a Centre and a Pair of D5k's.......Total Cost of about �2,200 for the Three
Yes, the D5K2's are better, but I think most would struggle to hear the differences when they're on Surround duty

I'd also bear in mind that these are the likely items that will be upgraded first.......and there will be less monetary depreciation of the D5k's

The 861v4 for �2,000 that is currently for sale in the Restaurant
A GREAT Value Component for Trifield, DD/DTS Processing as well as Multi Channel Steering of 24/48 from Bluray

Having said the above, given the above Speaker Combination, I still think the best Sound Quality for MUSIC will be Direct to the Front L&R D8k's.......I would only use the D5k's for Movie Surround duty........that would change as the SUrround speakers are Upgraded sometime later on

Then I'd scrimp and scrape til I came up with

�500 for an Oppo Bluray Player.......either the new 9x models......or save a few hundred on the slightly older, but still very good, 83 model

�750 for an HD621 for Lossless Bluray Soundtracks

All told, I'm at about �21,000 for ALL the above items.........close enough in this "imaginary" world..........in the Real world, people usually expand their budgets by 25% anyway, when harvey comes to push

But, different strokes for different folks.......

Used:

DSP8Ks.

HD621.

AppleTV.

5200hc.

Hi,

I guess the above leaves about �1500 ish for a processor to drive the 5200HC.

Regards,
Carl

I would go for the following used equipment.

For Audio Only - Spinning CDs
DSP8Ks 15K
808.3 5K

Total 20K

The 8Ks well enough said.
808.3 M's flagship for ultimate CD quality.

For Audio Only - Server Based
DSP8Ks 15K
Ensemble (with 2TB drive) 2K
MS600 2K

Total 19K

The Ensemble supplies the Sooloos Core and Storage (good for 5000+ CDs)
The MS600 adds an extremly high quality zone to drive the 8Ks.
Then as funds allow, I would add a processor and a DSP5200HC

For Multi-Channel A/V
DSP8Ks 15K
DSP5Ks 1.5K
861v4 2K
Oppo �500

Total 19K

Then as funds allow I would add a DSP5500HC.

Regards,
Carl

Let's just say it can cope with a pair of 8Ks in ideal positions.

Funnily enough I'm named cardholder on my Dad's AMEX (which I've just signed having inspected it!)

Not listing your speakers and amps is cheating!!

Must play audio. It's up to you to choose the best sound.

PS. I don't have �20k to spend!!!

Cheers
Tom

How about ?

3 used 7200s �15K
1 used 861v4 �2K
1 MS600 �2K (or Sbox Touch and NAS)
1 laptop & software (to configure M kit and rip music) �1K

Would 3 7200s outperform a pair of 8Ks?

Cheers
Tom

Correct. Add the G68/G61r and done.

And 3*7200s nor 5*5200s would better a pair of 8Ks.