Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 25th Anniversary Special Edition Loudspeaker Upgrades

I don't see that. Early DSP5200 owners were never promised, nor likely expected, anything like this.

You could say the same for DSP5000/5500/6000 owners.

It's not like there aren't options.

Huh? They are in exactly the same position as me with my 96/24-upgraded D6000s a.k.a. DSP6000s.

i.e. They are still owners of a pair of fantastic speakers, albeit older ones.

Hi Crion,

Not really, there is always the option to trade them in for a new pair of 5200SE's.

However, let's assume you could upgrade them:
Let's say �2500 for pair of early 5200's would an owner really spend the best part of 5K to get them upgraded to SE spec, or would they just get new SE version for 10K less some dealer discount.

Personally, I don't see many 5200's being upgraded to SE spec, and of course it is not compulsory to upgrade; those older 5k2 still sound just as good as they did last month.

Regards,
Carl

When it comes to speakers, usually not at all. What companies offer speaker upgrades in the same sense as M? Barely anyone. Meridian's upgrading mentality is definitely better value for money in the long run than buying a brand new pair of speakers (or processor) every time there is an advance.

Sure they do. On the other hand, when one considers the upgrade path for 5200 owners, which is a trade in for 7200s which cost much much more, the SE upgrade makes some financial sense - particularly if the report that the 5200 benefitted more from the SE developments than the other DSPs is to be believed.

That's actually a good point Ludwig. What is the upgrade worth depends on what you hear surely.

To my ears the 5200SE got a significant increase in performance. I didn't hear anyone in Bristol or MWL say any different.

Hi,

Would early versions of DSP5200's (S/N 1, 2 or 3 non SL) support the new firmware, with EBA?

R�my - Meridian has a history of supplying updated firmware for legacy models where it is technically possible to them do so. However, this also tends to take quite a bit of time and, understandably, takes a back seat to current product development.

In this case, I really don't know if the processing power in the original DSP5200s is enough, or even if the processing power in the DSP5200SEs is considerably more (though others might be able to respond on that last point).

Taking two comparable high-end speaker manufacturers from either side of the pond: B&W made no attempt to offer upgrades between the Nautilus, Diamond and Diamond SE ranges, Wilson produce new models of the Watt/Puppy DNA strand which cannot be incrementally upgraded.

I lost less than 10% of my second-hand purchase price of B&W 802Ns over eight years because they retained their value - and still sounded great when they left, despite two generations of upgrade.

DSP5000s and DSP6000s both achieve healthy values second-hand; they too benefitted from hardware and software upgrades through their production lives and beyond. This is a good model from Meridian.

Why wouldn't someone want to upgrade for �5k rather than spend nearly 10k?

And why won't many 5k2s get upgraded?

Yes, I agree. I am pleased to be offered the choice. Issues of timing, pricing, relative costs etc. etc. will always be a matter for debate and personal assessment.

Take these two paths that are open to a 5200 owner:

Upgrade Existing DSP5200
Current 5200 + �5K Yields Upgraded 5200SE pair.

Sell Existing DSP5200
Sell the 5200's for say 3k and use money towards a new pair of SE's

New 5200SE's are 10K less say 10% discount = �9,000.
9K - 3K = 6K Yields New 5200SE pair.

So that's only around �1,000 difference, I accept that I can't speak for others but if it were me I'd spend the extra 1K or so to get a brand new pair of 5200SE complete with new clamp rings.

Regards,
Carl

I agree with Carl and it is essentially the same point I was trying to make earlier.

Had I a pair of 7200 or 8000 speakers then I think things would be different. When you compare the cost of the upgrade for a pair of 5200s relative to the list of the original speakers or a new set of SEs the upgrade is pretty much twice the cost of upgrading other speakers. Not a very good value proposition to me especially when you start to consider the larger discounts or deals you can negotiate on new speakers. In fact I doubt there will be much of a discount on the upgrade if any at all.

You perhaps could argue that relative cost is down to the 5200s being under-priced for what they are. However given the apparently sizable upgrade in performance compared to the other SE editions I wouldn't think it unfair to argue the opposite and that they are in fact under-performing for their price range.

As for the 7200.2 upgrade I can appreciate where owners are coming from but even factoring in the cost of both upgrades relative to the speaker prices it is still cheaper than the one off cost for owners of 5200s. I agree that had I been lucky enough to upgrade to .2 that the short timespan in between upgrades would irk me somewhat.

As it stands for me it is a new pair of speakers or stay with what I currently have. Given the relatively closed Meridian ecosystem and their arguably poor track record with Sooloos I doubt that for me the spend for new speakers is on the cards.

Cheers,

Tony.