Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Revelation in Sound

I've been struggling to get the sound out of the MS600 (using its internal DAC) that everyone keeps talking about and I've finally got it!

My MS600 was sitting in the top of my solid maple media cabinet, directly above my big amp on the shelf below. I was always a bit disappointed with the sound of the MS600, finding it rolled off in the high frequencies and a little dead sounding, lacking air and a sense of the recording space. I kept switching off the up sampling to get more high frequency zip, but overall this wasn't an improvement.

I borrowed an HRS anti-resonance isolation platform from my dealer to sit my new MD600 on in the other room. Before bringing it back to the dealer (it didn't seem to make any difference to the sound under the MD600) I decided to try it under the MS600. All I can say is WOW!! All the missing high frequencies came back and the sense of air and space was incredible. This is now the best sound I've had from my system and I'm officially now an advocate for the Meridian sound, including its proprietary apodising up sampling filter.

Obviously there was an issue with my set up that was impacting the performance of the MS600 before that the resonance platform solved. Wondering if that was isolating it from vibration, the maple of the cabinet, the magnetic/EMI from the amp below or a combination of these? Any thoughts?

I'm not promoting the particular brand of isolation platform here. The point of this post is to hopefully help others who find the MS600 a little dead/dampened to play around a little with their set up to resolve the same issue that I was having. Great sound is indeed what you should be getting from this unit!

Cheers,

Kerry,

Thank you for sharing. I would not have expected improvement with the MD600, however your observations re. the MS600 are very interesting, I too am wondering what effect this would have on RFI and what you are hearing from the analogue output.

Regards,
Carl

I had a chat with Meridian and dealer regarding different cause but similar effect. From that conversation, I would suggest that any difference in noise would have to have come from blocking out rf or emf interference from outside (ie amp below) making for a cleaner analogue stage.

I know about this snake oil improvements. Glad to have more on the board!

Interesting Ian. I always wondered if it was too close to the amp (other than the maple shelf, there's really only a few inches between the two components). Meridian does warn you to keep the MS600 away from devices that create strong magnetic fields (like amplifiers) but it's never really been much of an issue with my other audio components - or I assumed it wasn't an issue.

It seems less likely that there would be a big sonic performance issue due to vibration. I've heard equipment sound a little better when moved to good audio stands, however the change in sound I experienced with my MS600 was much more pronouced.


I'm certain the impact on sound with the platform is not any kind of placebo effect. It wasn't like a tweak that made the sound a little better, rather it seemed that the platform really did solve some performance issue with the MS600, whatever the cause. It went from a sound I wasn't happy with (causing me to consistantly fuss with the filter setting on the MS600 and even start to shop around for new DACs) to a sound that made me want to listen to more and more music to see how good it sounds now.

Given my experience, if it really does have to do with interference from the amp, moving the MS600 away from the power amp would be an easy fix for others with the same issue. No snake oil purchase required! When I have time, I'll try just re-positioning my MS600 further away from the amp (without the platform) to see if I hear the same improvement. Problem is I can't move it too far away with my equipment set up...

Kerry, try out some solid distances (no dampening material) with the same height as your vibration killer. Then you will know its just the distance what improve the sound or maybe a combination of distance and vibration.Or simple take the MS600 on the floor-so you vibration there but (hopefully) less electrical /magnetical interference. After that you should know the source of your problem.
How thick is your shock absorber and from which manufacturer ?

Robert

Kerry, may I ask:

Have you reversed the change (i.e. removed the isolation platform) and if so did you experience a reverse of the significant change in performance?

When you made the change did you unplug network cables, intercomnects, mains leads, etc.?

The isolation platform is a Harmonic Resolutions Systems R-1 base.

Since I only have 1 m interconnects I can't really move the MS600 all that much further away from the amp but I will try moving it off the side.

When I did the switch, I didn't unplug anything or even turn off the MS600 - I just lifted it up and put the platform underneath. Same with the Stillpoints.

I did remove the platform to confirm what I heard and the sound went back to what it was before when the platform was removed.

I had to go back and check that the MS600 was just a box of electronics and not full of drives and stuff.

I find it quite inexplicable how an isolation platform can make such a difference. It's like saying that my computer calculates spreadsheets more accurately if I put it on one of these. You would have thought that the Meridian construction (which looks similar to the G Series) would have made these units pretty robust. The Harmonic Resolutions spec seems to indicate that they concentrate on mechanical isolation and not EM shielding etc.

I might understand a subtle change in sound but "Revelation"?

On a similar theme PerfectWave PowerBase. I've not tried one, but, I did read the blurb about microphonics of circuits. Who knows...

Thanks for the reply Kerry.

I have had one similar experience. My early Arcam Alpha 1 CD player (1992-ish) sounded substantially more present and tighter in the bass when stacked under an amplifier. Never could work out why but all I had to do was lift the amplifier up half an inch and there it was.

May I suggest another diagnostic step: try using the MS600 digital out to the DAC input on the SimAudio and comparing the sound with/without isolation platform. That would indicate (but obviously not confirm - it introduces other variables) whether the change you hear relates to the total (A&D) or digital circuitry of the MS600.

As ever, there are measurable, noticeable effects BUT if things are that bad that these devices make a marked difference, you have much bigger fish to fry.

Sometimes I wonder if people are just sitting at home wondering why Jimmy Hendrix has to kiss the guy, whilst Michael Stipe pees in the corner, in the spotlight...