Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Advice please for my first M system

My placement options were very limited. I put them either side of my existing projection screen and toed them in (a) for image and (b) to get the left 'speaker's left-firing woofers slightly away from the wall. I then used MRC.

The 6ks are a full scale speaker. Whilst I rarely feel overwhelmed by bass (Eminem loud being an exception, for instance(!)), the bass underpins everything and gives the sound a coherence from bottom to top. Couple that with the head units which deliver incredible detail and delicacy and you have a loudspeaker which is capable of very convincing reproduction.

The 7000's are ok, but never shone, unlike the 6000 and 7200's.

Think of the 7k's as re-boxed 5500, the new cabinet did improve SQ but Bob Stuart was never really happy with them hence the extra R&D effort and the birth of the 7200's.

Regards,
Carl

I have some 7ks as rears. Where they differ from the 5k5s is in having much tighter, less boomy, bass.

Silly question, perhaps, but what is your budget? Are you looking for new or 2nd hand? Have you got a local Meridian Premier Partner? 2nd hand prices, from memory-ish are around:

5Ks : �900 - �1500
5K2s : �2500 - �3500
6Ks : �4500 - �5500
7K2 : �9000+ ?

Those are for L/R pairs ... and you may well want a processor and a centre speaker for the seductive and inimitable Trifield (q.v.). I get my best 3D image (which you mentioned) that way.

Only the 5K2s and 7K2s are available new. I've left off the 7Ks as I can't remember their resale prices - worth searching the restaurant perhaps. There's also a size-chart somewhere so you can see the relative scale of the things too.

Welcome to the start of your journey, Grasshopper.

As others have said, you may want to audition (especially if you are unconstrained by price). Can you get to the Bristol Sound & Vision Show in 3 weeks time? Sevenoaks Bristol are hosting an M event at their shop. You could hear some of the very, very latest Special Edition kit there.

Duncan

Really helpful.

Budget - unsure, depends on bang for buck. Happy to spend �10k ish overall, and okay with s/h looked after units. Would probably take it slowly and buy a pair of speakers first, and then add a HC and processor later - having started to read about Trifield, probably need to hear it first to see if it gives me the 3d soundstage I'm after.

I presume for Trifield you need 3 matched speakers? Does that mean that buying 6000s won't get me to Trifield, or could a 5200HC work in between?

I'll have to look at who the nearest Meridian partner is, dunno off the top of my head.

I wonder whether it might also help to understand where you want to get to, as well as where you are coming from?

Is 10k your initial budget, or total for where you want to get.

How many records do you have? How many CDs?

Probably total budget - although not firm, and of course budgets expand over time

I have about 3000 CDs ripped to HDD. About 750 LPs at least. TT is a Gyrodec with a Shelter cartridge. Not wedded to my phono stage so could look at processor with phono cards.

I wouldn't get too hung up on Trifield just now. If you're sitting in the sweet spot (which you may be in a dedicated room) it may not give a huge difference in sound. You would need a processor, 5 speakers etc. Introducing a processor can take the edge off a signal (except maybe ID40/41). A pair of DSPs allows you to plug in a source and you're off!

So far (only one concerted effort), I've not been able to integrate my DSP5000C with my 6ks, but the 6ks are much better speakers so I'm not surprised.

Imaging from the 6ks alone is as good as you will ever want, but do note that I'm almost certainly listening in near-field (i.e. first reflection points are not that significant in my set-up).

Final point: I do listen in Trifield, with rears, but without a centre speaker (i.e. I've removed my centre from the Music layout in the configuration program).

I have done the Trifield multispeaker thing in my dedicated room , always came back to simple stereo using 2 speakers for music.
10k is a great budget , you can go to town on 2nd hand Meridian gear.

I use twin subs in my room , music only 2 chan , even if the 6000's are full range , the subs help a lot for scale etc..

I would definitely suggest some sort of sub 2-300hz bass correction..lots of devices and solutions if MRC is not working as you expected.

Sounds like the vinyl side of things is important. I would use a separate dedicated phono stage rather than using M's kit to do the job. This means you don't need to think about a processor yet.

You don't seem interested in 5.1, so I'm assuming that this is not of interest.

The good news if that's so is you can afford to buy some of M's better speakers. I'd look at 24/96 6ks minimum, but be aware that they are rare. The reason I don't suggest 5k2s is that it doesn't strike me that using them as rears is anything you're considering.

Don't worry about Speakerlink, Robert.W's excellent Reviver allows you to add SL processors to legacy speakers without needing to resell kit you enjoy just for an interface change.

I wonder with so many CDs whether you'd consider selling the Transporter (which is a great bit of kit) to go Sooloos? Upside of this is it will enable you to rediscover your music. Downside is, despite the large amount of cash you'll raise selling the Transporter, what you buy will depreciate a lot faster than the Transporter to get at least an equivalent sound.

If Sooloos is an option then an 861v4 (at a minimum) would give you one of the best processors and (with the right card) an unbelievably good Sooloos zone.

Using the advice I have been researching and reading reviews etc. A pair of 24/96 6000's appear to be a really attractive package and get me going straight away. As a number have pointed out, I would need to spend a lot more to hear a significant improvement.

@dpstjp - you're right, 5.1 doesn't interest me in the room I have right now, its too small to shoe horn in a pair of rears, so unless I move house and get a bigger listening room then its out of scope for the moment. The TP I have is one of the Modwright valve transporters and its blooming terrific - can't see me replacing this unless there is something absolutely out of this world to improve upon it.