Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems EVENT: Bristol Weekend (21st - 23rd February 2014)

Hi Russ,

Yes, they are both side by side at the moment, it only takes a few seconds to swap.

Regards,

Richard.

Hi Guys

I had the pleasure of a very quick drop in today!

Chris was on hand and was fantastic! very informative and a pleasure to chat with.

Thanks very much!

Kind regards
David

Spent a good couple of hours there on Friday (thanks Paul, Chris and Richard) and came away very impressed. I did a quick A/B on the 7200s and there was a clear improvement, with the highs sounding much cleaner. It was a bit noisy around so I didn't have a proper listen but I know I really liked the 7200.2 last year and the SEs were definitely better so in a proper environment they must really sing. Spent the most time with the 5200 SE which are now transformed. I didn't compare to the old but having listened to them in the past, they didn't really do anything for me. I could happily live with the SE version though. They also look fantastic in metallic blue/turquoise finish. Didn't get to listen to the 8000s but I expect I shall pop back in today for the full works.

I spent nearly an hour with the 8kSEs. I also took my own music. It is important to listen to something you know really well. There was a clear improvement over the standard 8ks. I would highlight improved clarity and detail, greater presence, improved differentiation in both the highs and lows. However, some recordings sounded better than others.

Thanks to Paul and all at Sevenoaks for a good demonstration and especially to Paul for being so generous with his time.

+1

The 5200SE stood out as fantastic value for money to me as well. Never heard the 7200SE but the 8000SE take voices to another level.

Kind regards
David

Does anyone ever take Iron Maiden to these sessions? I want to hear Powerslave through 8Ks.

Duncan

Any HD pictures from the event?

Popped in again today to hear the 8ks. Remarkable imaging and the difference between the EBA on and off was night and day. Any doubts I had about the 8ks before have now totally disappeared. Thanks to Chris for putting them through their paces and showing me some new electronica.

Had a good chat to Richard and John and passed on my views on improving the entry point into the Meridian world. Everyone was really friendly and accommodating. A great event.

Fingers crossed for the lotto tonight!

Hi all,

I visited with Martin53 yesterday and also went back this afternoon after visiting the main HiFi show.

SE impressions were all very positive across the whole range. For me 5200's are a 'new' speaker entirely, they failed to impress sufficiently before. Now they are quite remarkable for their size. Going up the range the 7200's also get lifted to a new level, lovely sound, my ideal speaker. Of course the 'flagship' 8000's are very very good in their new SE guise. Never any doubt that the improvements have moved on a speaker that was already something special to another level again. Not forgetting that EBA has a contribution too in all of this, compared to pre- SE models.

Very difficult to describe what you hear without resorting to the usual clich�s, that quite often leave someone not having heard what you did, a little cold and none the wiser.

Totally agree with what those have said earlier about the SE up-grades. If I was to summarise on the 8000's, I would confirm that musical image has a significant improvement in focus which also opens up to become more 3 dimensional, provide a sense of space around instruments and vocalists and better position them in front of you. Vocals also have lovely definition. Rhythms and low frequency notes are cleaner, snappier and better defined. From high frequency to low, clarity improves. I'm sure the new tweeter is playing a significant part in this generally. The music is better unravelled to present it in a more engaging manner. The sum of which generally has a positive effect on the whole musical experience and enjoyment.

Overall, there is a significant improvement across the speaker range, rather than minor. Much of the above comment on the 8000's percolates down the range, within the limitations of each speaker.

My thanks to Chris, Paul and the rest of the M staff. Chris was extremely generous with his time on 2 visits, as was Paul yesterday. All were very knowledgable. An excellent event.

Did anyone glean any technical information from talking to Richard?

I visited Saturday and would like to thank Chris for his patience on demonstrating the 8000SE's to me.They are so good to the point that I found I walked in and almost straight out of many demos at the Sound and Vision show.

I took my own Lee Ritenour Six String Theory Super Disc from Monster Music which sounded sublime. I'm no technofile but the the speakers ooze space from the bottom to the top and you just do not want to move from listening to them.

Just got to convince the wife to move to a bigger house, dream on. Quite impressed with the new headphone amp too.

Thanks again Sevenoaks and Meridian.

Sadly the event wasn't that well attended on Saturday afternoon, nowhere near as well as last year, which I also went to. But this did give me the chance to spend an inordinate amount of time with Richard - most of the afternoon in fact - for which I'm very grateful.

Richard is very, very knowledgeable and a fascinating guy to talk with. We discussed all manner of things about Meridian; the SE range of course but much more as well - power supplies, the impossibility of the perfect crossover, DSP algorithms, type approval issues, supply chain considerations and much more besides, some of which must remain confidential.

Is there any particular aspect you're interested in? If so I may be able to expand a little.

BTW, the improvement of the 7200SE over the 7200.2 is quite tangible, albeit a little more subtle than the 7200/861v6 to 7200.2/861v8 comparison demonstrated last year. To my ears the improvements are all about the timing and the space around and between the music - the SE definitely achieves greater precision.

Part of me went hoping the difference would be subtle enough for me to ignore - I don't think that's the case though so it looks like I'm going to have to prepare my wallet for another savage assault