Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems DSP5000 plinths

I thought they were a bargain too but it's nice to be reassured. Also glad to have a second opinion on the electronics.

Quick question: Can a controller actually improve the sound quality or is a direct connection from a PC / Squeezebox Touch as good as it can get? I know I should just enjoy them for now, but it's always good to have an upgrade plan for when that eBay deal pops up.

It can get better, but you won't get apodizing into a pair of 18-bit DSPs. You can feed anything up to 48kHz into them. In this case perhaps less is more.

I think it was VK who ran some custom filters on his SBT.

I have been running a set of 18 bit Dsp5k's for over 20 years as TV speakers , I love em and wont sell them.
For 500 quid a pair , I would buy as many of em on offer as I could.
Well done with the bargain buy , I wish you well to use and enjoy them.

You could use a 518 to clean up your digital sources and get the best from them.
Enjoy, Chris

I too just picked up a pair of 18-bit DSP5000's for a good price and still love the sound of the older Meridian DSP's. I am intrigued by your description of how some elbow grease corrected the veneer defects. Mine are also rosewood ( I assume)finish, a first for me after all black. There are several small (3-4mm) divots/nicks in the veneer. Local furniture repair folks, mainly in piano repair, want a hefty price that would make my good deal not so good anymore. So I will either do something myself or just leave them as is. Can you give me any details/advice on how to polish them up? By the way, I found a trick to repair the flimsy DSP5000 grill frames that often separate in my experience, or the cloth keeps pulling out. I glue the frames for what it's worth (not much IMO). The real strengthener comes from running a length of small poly rope around the frame back forced into the channel on the rear side of the frame where the cloth tucks in. It holds the cloth tightly in the channel without glue mess & gives a stabilizing continuity that makes the whole frame stiffer. And it's out of sight. So if your frames aren't holding together or your cloth is pulling out, you might give it a try. Thanks in advance for any veneer restoration tips.
Jon

You can buy a Wax type filler in different shades to match the wood you have. It comes in sticks, a bit like a flattened candle. Just squeeze that into the dents and level off, then polish.
Just a thought, Chris

Or you could customise em with real wood "cheeks" , like mine
(which also have a leather front cladding and SEAS excel tweeters)

Rodney, I wonder what those 5000's would sound like free standing in the room?
GIK Acoustics advised me to get my M60's into free space to get the best of them and it did improve things a lot.
I appreciate we can't always do these things as other priorities come into play.
Great look though, Chris

I have a dedicated music room , 11m x 7.5m , but this is a slipper lounge upstairs , where we watch TV - the speakers take a digital feed from our satellite box and act as L&R mains instead of TV speakers , so non critical application. I never listen to music with them , as I have a squeezebox Boom upstairs and I listen to the music with headphones...

I could pull them out , but they would be in the way
They put out nice bass in the position they are tho....

Jon H, I have not filled any deep scratches or divots, merely hidden them. I used Rustins Scratch Cover which really did the trick with the first application - scratches are invisible until you get up close and look at the correct angle. Used the same stuff on the tops that had faded and on the gouges on the back edge (they're still there but at least colour-matched now!). For polish I opted for wax polish; I wanted them shiny. Might have a go sanding (with 0000 steel wool) and re-polishing a few times to see if I can get it smoother. The scratch cover was the biggest improvement and was only a few quid and minutes to apply.

Will try your trick with the grills once the new cloth arrives. I'd used pieces of cardboard on the current cloths.

Will also give the wax filler a go and let you know how it turns out.

Hi Shiggins

I loved the 18 bit 5ks when I had them. A really superb upgrade is to do as Chris suggests... add a 518 'processor'. It offers a very organic and fluid sounding upgrade and is a must with 18 bit 5ks IMO.

Back in the day I had two 518s to cover L,R & C duties from a Meridian 561 AV processor. I ran Meridian 602 and 500 transports directly through them too; a cracking system.

If no one here has a 518 for grabs, there's one over on pfm at the moment. I should add that I have no connection with the seller.

Cheers

George

Sad news guys; I got the 518 and... combined with the DSP5000's sounds awesome. So why sad news? My work headphone setup just doesn't do it for me any more. I'm listening at home to songs I know well and hearing new things all the time. The intro to Envy by Breton has individual drum beats each with distinct start and ends, rather than a mush of beats all flowing into each other. For a brief moment I thought it being played back at high speed!

Thanks for the heads-up, Mr Meridian, I snagged that 518 from PFM. Very nice chap, btw. So far I'm preferring gain mode with shape C and definitely enjoying messing about with all the settings on this and the speakers. Tilt +1, axis 0...

If this is how the bargain basement DSP speakers sound I can only wonder what some of you guys are listening to.

Oh, new grill cloths installed and looking sharp.

Happy days.