Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Automotive Meridian vs...

And then people Gold plate them....... Here . What's the point lol..

Surely they could do something more worthwhile with their money. A 14 year old would do this.
I do understand having good audio though, an avenue of pleasure denied me in my Hyundai i10 lol

OT thoughts, Chris

Interesting. I was imagining that more of you would find excellent car audio desirable. I guess I'm much less interested in the pleasure of driving and more so with the comfort by which I get from place to place.

You might like to consider this point. There is a current campaign to increase the penalty for using a mobile phone while driving to a 12 month ban like drink driving. The logic is that any distraction from driving is a BAD THING.

If you critically listen in the car, are you being distracted? Are you driving or listening?

I don't need a high end car audio system as I only listen to, for example, Radio 4 in the background. This is not a distraction. It's the difference between having the radio on at home while you do the ironing and sitting down to listen in front of your main system. You need to decide which is your primary activity.

On a secondary point, listening in the car at high volume which drowns all noises from the outside and mechanical sound from the car is the equivalent of a cyclist with an iPod - a danger to others.

I find touch screens in a car pretty distracting. By the time I've stabbed a screen a few times my eyes have been off the road for longer than I consider to be safe.

By the time I have found my glasses etc,etc I am with Malcolm, radio on as company.

Russ

It might appear that I'm attempting critical listening but I think my opening post was more a reaction to just how bad my car's stock system is. Literally I cannot listen to anything on it above a very quiet volume as certain upper mid frequencies are just so much louder than others. It really is unlistenable. I've had three cars in a row where the stereo was so bad it hurt my ears even at quiet volumes. So I guess I'm on a quest to see if my ears are hypersensitive, if the car environment is terrible for all manufacturers or if high fidelity is possible in the car world. So far it does appear that fidelity is possible.

I've been driving for years with music on and it never has taken away my focus from the primary objective which is safely driving the car. Indeed I'm known for being unable to have a conversation with on the road at times such is my level of concentration.

I'd argue that my current stereo is much more of a distraction than one that didn't shout down my ears.

Wonderful for passengers if they trust the jockey, I am more interested in feedback from the important bits, without having to take my eyes off the road.

A couple of additional comments.
I have a Porsche 911, which I bought second hand, which had been delivered when new in 2008 with an "expensive" Bose sound system. I find it pretty un- impressive and at times really harsh.
Our other car is Kia Sportage 4x4, top of the range which comes with it's standard no cost option sound system coupled to comms and sat-nav etc. it's infinitely better than the Porsche. Of course it might also be related to the volume of the listening cabin.

My neighbour has just taken delivery of a Jaguar F type hard top fitted as standard with a Meridian system. Sound pretty nice, at least standing still. He is not an audio person, has not he slightest interest in hifi.

This same neighbour has a fairly new Discovery which is fitted with a Harman Kardon system,also sounds pretty nice... Again I wonder if that's also due the significant higher volume cabin. Later models I believe have Meridian as standard.
Just some observations
regards
Huw

911's make their own beautiful sound. I agree their stereo system is terrible. Speaker placement is challenging and they don't seem to use the best quality components. I will note that the Cayenne is a very different story. The speakers/stereo in that was just excellent, must be the center channel...

Clearly everybody on this forum loves good music that's been well reproduced by a great system. However, it has it's time & place; for me that's at home.

I love driving & like to think that I have good car control but frankly I don't care what I drive. We had a lovely BMW 325i before we sold it for a Rav4 (the 200m drive to our house isn't much more than a dirt track & has some serious elevation changes). There was a time 'between cars' when we used Mum's 12yr old Vectra which had no power, poor brakes & no grip, particularly in the wet, but I loved driving that too! We're just starting to think about replacing the Rav but are very unlikely to pay any extra for a premium system.

I use my iPhone for music but haven't bothered to upgrade the free 'phones as I don't need the last few % at all times.

We all know how the sound of our systems are affected by our rooms; just think about the tiny cabins in a car!

Marcus

You need to think outside the box link.

Russ

Problem solved!