Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Linear Power Supply Meridian 218

Hi Hector,
I have owned an MS600 and its performance is not near the 218+Farad to my ears. I would still like to own a 818v3, as it is likely to be even better than the 218+LPS. But this is an assumption nobody has been able to confirm yet.
The size of the 818v3 is actually a downside for me, the 218 + Farad are about the same size and can be nicely hidden in small furniture.

Hi Hector,

A long time since we last spoke! I already have a 218 hidden in a small cupboard behind my 7200SE. I wonder how much is a second hand 818v3 in case I decide to go that route rather than upgrading the P.S. of my 218.

Thanks,

Mat

In response to both Nimesis and Mat

I have 808v6 to 5200 SE in my study (play Auberge, MQA, Chris Rea) to get a sense of realism that can be achieved in a small or medium space.

I have MS600 to AC200 to SE5200 SEUG in my dining room a slightly larger room.

I love both presentations, very very slightly different but wonderful, maybe just room acoustics. Standard 218 was no real improvement for me.

We are into semantics here via tenuous links.

Hope this helps.

Hector

Dear ppl,

Thanks for information provided in this thread. I am considering upgrading my 218 too with the Farad Super3 power supply and was wondering what “options” ppl choose for their sample.

I am considering fitting the 218 with an GX16-4 connector and get a Level 2 cable, but I am wondering whether or not I should invest in a fuse upgrade and/or the AC inlet upgrade for the Farad Super3.

Did any of you order your Farad with a different fuse and/or AC inlet?

Edwin

Hi Edwin,

I have upgraded the fuse and I think I could hear a very small difference. Not sure I would pass a blind test. I bought the simple version first and later upgraded to the stage 2 cable and did the fuse. Worth it? Maybe. The PSU itself is the catch I think. Maar als het hek eenmaal van de dam is..

I was pretty surprised by the difference the Orange SR fuse made in my 818, so always spec these now (I had tried SR's previous fuses in the 818, but couldn't hear a difference). I ordered my Farad with the fuse and AC upgrades as I know how good the fuses are, but don't know what it would have sounded like without.

One downside of these fuses is that around 10% of the ones I've bought failed as soon as they were plugged in and ordering them at the same time should eliminate this issue (as well as having to dismantle the PSU to insert it).

I have Level 2 cable with GX16-4 connector. At the time I don't think that connector was available on the standard cable. I left the AC alone.

Mine's powering a 210. Very good indeed!

S

I am running two 218's on one Farad Super 3 with a level 1 Y-cable with GX16-4 connectors.

Pieter

Hi Jeremy,

I have placed SR-orange fuses in my DSP's and I did notice a small improvement. I do not understand how this is possible and it might be in my head. But I have tried swapping back and I did notice it. Of course we are talking subtle differences. Might be worth to check in your maximized system.
Regards

Agreed, I now have Orange fuses throughout my system (including all four in the Stax headphone amp!). The DSP's didn't respond as much as the 818, but they still made a difference. I didn't notice the difference with the Blue fuses.

Hey TartanB - I'm not too far from Berkshire - I was wondering what the quote you got was, and if you were happy with the work/upgrade? Which company did you use?

Thanks!

Boru80, upgrade to 218 was performed by ASAPCOMPUTERS in Pangbourne, they charged me a very reasonable £66 (I dropped it off and picked it up, so no postage was involved) - neat job.

General point on whether the upgrade is worthwhile, you may be interested in my thoughts.

Firstly as a general rule I’m always suspicious when people rave about the ‘noticeable’ benefits that they have seen when they’ve upgraded something, particularly with cables etc. This particular upgrade wasn’t a huge mount of money for the power supply, the positive comments on this forum made it a ‘no brainer’, so I thought I’d give it a go. With hindsight I perhaps chose to do the upgrade because new products from Meridian aren’t likely to be forthcoming in the future and my current M setup is pretty near the top of the tree anyway.

With the Farad upgrade performed on just one of my three 218’s, I was then in a position to perform a ‘real’ comparison between the upgraded 218 and the non upgraded 218 (playing through my 7200 SE’s) - but I couldn’t hear ANY improvement/difference at all.

So to make the comparison more meaningful, I introduced a simple Ethernet A/B switch into the equation.This allowed me to switch back and forward between the 2 218’s quickly, listening to the same (in sync) music source. The delay as I switched backwards and forwards was minimal, perhaps 20 milliseconds maximum. This made it VERY easy to decide which 218 was performing best - and sure enough, to my ears at any rate, I could hear NO difference whatsoever!

Bear in mind that if you purchase the Farad you will most likely have to pay import duty to the courier a week or so after delivery. Fedex charged me £101 for that duty, so all in all it cost me about £650.

If you do decide to go ahead with the upgrade, I’d question whether it made sense to purchase the GX16 connector option, as i myself did. Mattijs had persuaded me that this would deliver the best possible result, but given that I can hear no difference anyway, it’s got to be questionable whether that option was sensible. (especially as if the Farad were to fail in the future, I’d have a non usable 218, not the case if I had stuck with the standard power connector).