Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems A Meeting for Hikers in Huntingdon: Interest Check

I hope you're right, The Integrated Home blog states that the new unit will be "Based on the austere 200 series casework with $3,000 selling price".

I think if M replace the blue sticker(?) with a glass would make the 218 looks a lot better?

Bee,

RAAT is not compatible with Sooloos. I asked John whether it was possible to create a unit where you could choose which protocol an M product used, but he told me that as a non technical person he wasn’t in a position to answer that question.

Doesn’t John manage the technical people that would know?

3ditOr : Aesthetics

Don’t get me wrong, I fully realise aesthetics are absolutely vital. For some modern day users this might well be the sole reason why they purchase M equipment in the first place – e.g. the 5200, 7200 and 8000 speaker series look fantastic imho. If these users want to impress the neighbours, these speakers alone will do exactly that.

Years ago Hi-Fi was often all about the number of boxes you had. It mattered not a jot that every box had a different shape and size. They did have to look good and they had to have loads of buttons.

To-days world demands more minimalist solutions. For new users considering purchasing a 218, the chances are they are doing so because they want full blown MQA. They will either already have SE speakers, or are about to purchase them afresh. The speakers alone will be sufficient to make the design statement they crave. Many such users won’t to see additional small box clutter. These users will be more than happy to hide the box away. The box design won’t be important.

My view is, spend money on the aesthetics where it is important but don’t waste money on peripheral products that are less important.

Btw I well remember John B’s comment that he felt the 218 ‘looked cool’. I was surprised, it felt like he was trying to talk up and defend the product design. I do think it is cool in what it does, but for me the word cool doesn’t sum up the box design, ‘appropriate’ or 'fit for purpose' would be the terminology I personally would use.

Firstly dpstjp sincere apologies for not making contact with you at the meeting, my prime consideration is "The Music". MQA (many thanks to Bob) has without doubt enabled my future enhanced enjoyment.

However the statement that JB as CEO of Meridian is non technical is disturbing and I find this hard to believe.

Forgive me if I am wrong but this sounds pre MQA to me.

Hector

+1

Hector,

It doesn't worry me in the slightest that John would describe himself as non technical.

As Ratbert points out he manages the technical people who would be able to answer this question but as CEO it's far more important for him to manage the company well and hire the right people to do the technical side of things than to know them inside out.

There are very few engineers I can think of who have made great businessmen. That's not a reflection on engineers, merely observing that doing both well is a very big challenge.

To be fair, John's background appears to be mostly commercial, rather than technical. So I'm neither surprised nor disappointed that he wasn't able to answer technical questions.
Indeed, I seem to recall that he'd flagged this point specifically to Nick ahead of the meeting.

Moreover, if Meridian are now in profit perhaps it's a good thing that a non-technical, and more commercially driven person is in the driving seat at this point in time.

At £750 I would expect Meridian to see profits of around £100-120 per unit, I would guess they sell into dealers for around £325-350+VAT, dealers would then sell them for £750, less the vat that would see them get £625, so around £275-300, roughly 35-40% margin.

Not great margins for this day an age with such huge rent/mortgages and quite frankly silly rates.
Most retail business say they need to hit roughly 42% margin to break even.

I do think a G18 at £1200 would probably sell though, not sure if they could retail it that price point though?

Agreed on most of this, however, I have a slightly different take on a couple of points.

Firstly, not all aesthetics are about impressing the neighbours (although I believe you have a good point, and in the luxury segment of the market M seem to be increasingly targeting, this factor should by no means be underestimated!).

I think, just as often, it's about making your own living space as appealing as possible. I have a passion for good design, as does my girlfriend, but I believe a majority of people would rather have something which looks good sitting in their lounge(?).

Also, bear in mind that sometimes it's not possible to hide away boxes which have to be directly connected to equipment. E.g. our listening room is small and doesn't have any available cupboards near the equipment, so it's very important anything there looks good. You might be able to tuck something the size of a 218 to the back of a speaker, but a UHD722? I can't hide that, and if I did, I'd have a mess of HDMI cables round the room, rather than them being mostly contained on/behind the equipment rack.

Secondly, I'm not sure minimalist is in right now. Isn't retro in? LP12s are big, older amps are being snapped up, and manufacturers are purposely making new equipment which looks old to cater for this. Brands like Luxman and McIntosh, which never changed their styling are looking up to date again. Buttons and meters are back, baby (tone controls, even)!

Joking aside, I believe M's own designs, some of which were award winning back in the day, peaked around the 200/500 series and I was quite surprised they didn't release anniversary editions of these with the vintage casework updated with the latest tech - perhaps a missed opportunity...?

+1

Not wanting to be a hostage to M, their fluctuating financial health and the likelihood of waves of upgrade-itis as speaker spec were changed because of electronics changes were reasons why I chose only a partial M solution. Not having an MQA solution for 861v8 is personally very frustrating. Guess I’ll turn to FB to post my frustrations.

Many thanks to the organiser and the feedback contributors from the meeting.