Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Turntable with G68, old ADC comp to new HW

It was enjoyable, which isn't damning with faint praise...

From what I've listened to, it was better than all the bundled turntables that came with friends 'midi' or stack systems, better than Technics 1200s, better than Rega planar 2 & 3, better than a Linn Axis, not as good as an Ariston RD80 with a Rega arm and AT-OC9 (although that was in a Meridian 101 + M1 system).

Overall I think it's a good deck, but probably no better than most similar sprung designs from the likes of Ariston, Heybrook, Thorens etc.

At the time, it was the Linn and Naim way only in the magazines and shops, if you went in a shop to try and compare turntables, all you got was a demonstration of the next Linn upgrade.

All the best,

Steve

When I moved over to Meridian (G08 + 5200 mk1) from an active Linn system (LP12, Ekos, Klyde, 3xLK280, Kabers, Kairn, Karik, Numerik and Lingo) I decided to go just digital so sold the LP12 along with the rest of the Linn gear. I found I couldn't sell the LPs as they were a part of my life so I decided to buy a cheap TT to play them on when needed. I bought a Michell Gyro SE (always wanted one for the looks) with Tecnoarm and AT33 cartridge then a Whest phono amp, all used, and surprisingly it sounded much better than the LP12!

My current digital system is so good (808v6 and 5200SE) that I did sell most of my LP collection as it sounded quite poor in comparison, but I kept some albums so that I had an excuse to keep the Gyro SE.

I'm not surprised, if I listened to vinyl more often, I'd sell the LP12, the Gyrodec would be top of the list.

The Gyrodec used to cost more than the LP12 and even though £2k isn't what I'd call a cheap turntable, compared to the cost of the top LP12 it's a bargain!

All the best,
Steve

Syles, no doubt Meridian did a good implementation back when, and I’m not debating that. But it may be worth considering that the ADC chip is 18 years old.

I think the view that vinyl as 11-bit resolution does not tell the entire story. Vinyl may be limited in dynamic range but may contain very quick passages which may be difficult to digitize. Many newer posts I see seem to argue that it is in the 14-18 bit range. I personally don’t think the theoretical “bits” is the main issue but rather the filters (analogue and digital) used and the noise floor.

I still have all my old vinyl’s (about 2000 of them) and no doubt the older ones cannot compete with the newer 180g (or higher) versions. The biggest reason that I listen to vinyl is that the mastering sounds better. They are less clinical and often sounds more musical to me. And yes, I do have a good CD player, access to Tidal and do buy high-res tracks in VAV format. All my CD’s are ripped to FLAC so it is easy to compare. Speakers are decent.

The turntable is nothing fancy, it is a dampened Thorens TD126 Studio with external power supply, an SME arm (Litz wires), an Ortofon pickup with their transformer and a Pro-Ject S2 Ultra Riaa. Not outlandish but works well. I bought the Thorens back in 1981 and it was modded a few years later. I’m glad I kept it over the years. There are many other bits that have passed over the years that I today would have liked to still own…..

The LP12 and the Gyro would be nice to compare with, they are probably really nice TT’s. If one pops up to the right price…… I always liked the no-frills design of the LP12. Another TT I like is the Transcriptor with its odd arm shape, if not else for its futuristic design and movie legacy.

I’ve had Technics 1200’s and they are very nice, but I would say that they may have a hard time to keep up with the Linn and Gyro. I have personally always liked Thorens. They are bulky and a bit crude, but the Swiss/German engineering is superb and spare parts are no problem even today.

I have lately used a Topping DX7s to play from the computer to the Meridian and that worked very well. I have found a sister company I China offering a cheap 24/96 ADC so I will get one to compare to analogue into the G68 and potentially feed SPDIF direct into my digital XO’s.

This is a wonderful hobby that never runs out of new possibilities.

Stay safe
//Rob

I have a furlough project to build a kit ADC I've had in the den for a while. This was because I was intrigued to know how good the ADC in the 218 was. I am sure that an 818v3 would be better but these are only now coming down to a price where I can even consider one. In the meantime this would be a bit of fun (see Uwe Beis ADC and DAC). I have the AES-3 output option which I can then use to feed via SpeakerLink.

At the same time I've got an auction site watch for a PS Audio NuWave combined phono pre-amp/ADC...

Worth mentioning the copious number of reports over the years stating how transparent the ADC appeared to be with decent material. I'm sure they don't suddenly become worthless just because the kit has aged. I'm sure most of the reports will have as much integrity now as they did then even if people have reassessed their views on how transparent is transparent by more listening experiences.

After selling the Aesthetix IO and Callisto tubed phono and line stage combo I had used with my Oracle turntable- and replacing it with an 861v4 along with an Audiomat phonostage- the end result was comparatively pretty underwhelming. The Oracle Delphi V/SME V/ Benz Ref didn't sound bad through my new Meridian surround controller and DSP6K/5K surround setup, but it certainly didn't sound awesome. And from past experience I knew my Oracle could do awesome. The experience has ultimately driven me back to a two channel front end run in parallel with the Meridian multi-channel and ATC analog active loudspeakers.

Well, just a little bit OT ...

The LP12 was entirely revolutionary, not because it was better than the competition in any kind of fundamental way, but because it changed the mind-set of the hifi community so comprehensively.

I was in the industry at the time and we certainly sold (and supported and maintained and upgraded and made a whole bunch of money from) the LP12 over the years. In my view it's a bit of an air-cooled Porsche 911 sort of a thing - you can keep on changing and upgrading and altering it to suit your taste and budget and degree of obsession, but the underlying engineering is nothing remarkable. Linn has taken some straightforward ideas and has developed and refined them enormously over the years, but it's still fundamentally the same box of tricks, with the same strengths and weaknesses as ever. Like the Porsche, the fan-base can get a bit one-eyed at times (looks over shoulder, checks own Meridian obsession ...)

What Linn (and to an extent Naim) did was propose a different way of thinking about hifi components. They comprehensively made the argument that the source matters; that the amplifier will only amplify whatever the turntable system sends it, and the speakers will only reproduce whatever is in the chain beforehand. Prior to the LP12, that kind of thinking wasn't really articulated, and plenty of hifi dealers (us included) used to tell customers that a "balanced system" was the nirvana ... without ever being clear what that actually comprised.

But after Linn got started, you could connect an LP12 to a NAD3120 and a good pair of bookshelf speakers, and it would demonstrably sound better than just about any other turntable, and most "balanced" systems at an equivalent price-point. Genuinely, having a better-quality source mattered for the first time. And while this may sound obvious now, it really wasn't the case in the late 70s and early 80s. Certainly, no other manufacturer made the case for a better turntable with the clarity and consistency that Linn did, and that was the thing that changed the industry and the way we thought about hifi.

Obviously the LP12 wasn't (and definitely isn't) the last word in turntable engineering - but without it, I'm not sure the relentless rush to more and more exotic and expensive vinyl front ends would ever have occurred. It's hard to imagine how we would have gone from selling a perfectly ordinary $500 turntable to selling some $100,000 engineering behemoth hand-carved out of solid unobtainium by near-sighted elves in one step - the market for the exotic stuff just didn't really exist before Linn came along. And there's no doubt that we're able to get some pretty spectacular results from humble old vinyl these days, even if it isn't everyone's cup of tea (mine included), so for a whole bunch of music enthusiasts it's been a very worthwhile journey.

So in my view we do owe Ivor and Linn and the LP12 their honourable place in hifi history, even if the world has largely moved on.