Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Meridian M2 questions

Hi all,

I've recently bought some M2s, which I'm thoroughly enjoying owning so far. I'd appreciate any thoughts from M2 owners past or present on the following:

Port straws: Mine don't have any. Is it worth reinstating them? If so how far back should they go in length?

Power lights: Both lights work, but one is much less visible than the other when the grilles are in place. Having looked more closely it seems that I am missing the bulb 'surrounds' on both speakers so this may be the culprit. Does anyone know where I might find some, or an equivalent part? Are they just plastic/rubber tubing, or something more complicated?

Thanks for any advice you might have.

Peter

Hi
Welcome to the forum.

I had a pair of piano black gloss, I think they were refurbed by HQ Lacquer in Chessington, same company that supplied Meridian.

I had them on stands, driven by a 562 or 568 I think, playing a 598 CD/DVD.

I loved their sound and only really used them in my study.

After downsizing about 10 years ago, I moved them on after using them in my office at work. I upgraded to a pair of DSP5ks.

Can't comment on the porting but I do seem to remember that the brightness of the lights differed, didn't effect the sound.

Enjoy your system.

Kind regards

Jon

M2s are great speakers! Which inputs do you have on yours?

I had a lovely pair in a light coloured veneer, with silver grilles, which had been expertly and lovingly restored by Chris Coaster at Meridian Repair Shop. I drove them with an 808.2i. Superb speakers in their restored condition, and looked the business on their dedicated stands (which set the correct height from the floor and angle the speakers backwards the right amount).

I personally wouldn’t worry with port straws, mine sounded very balanced and natural without them.

I can’t answer the question about the lights, I’m afraid, as mine had been fully restored so both were working fine.

Enjoy!

Thanks both for your responses. On looking further at the light issue it seems that the grille itself is at fault (swapping the grilles over swaps the problem too), so I may not need to worry about the plastic tubes.


Mine are actually XLR; they have been refurbished at some point and this was one of the modifications made. I need to get this verified by an audio tech but I'd guess that the original balanced connection from the DIN has been re-wired into the XLR. This would also explain why when I demoed them they sounded even better through the seller's balanced (and admittedly quite expensive!) preamp than my unbalanced one. If I can confirm that it's a balanced input I might consider looking for another preamp with a balanced output.

Hi,

Depending on taste a Meridian Audio 101B Control unit would match well.

Regards I

A 502 is also a lovely balanced preamp option, again, according to taste.

P.S. as you are new to the site, have you discovered this?

Thanks folks,

I may look into those pre-s. The 502 may be more appropriate for me because I need two line ins but also a phono stage (but could always go external for that I suppose).

And thanks for reminding me about those reference pages, I have seen them and found them to be really useful when I was investigating the M2s before finding a pair.

Hi all,

More questions this morning than I expected to have!

I'm liaising with a tech to get more info on the modifications made to the speakers and removed the amps/disconnected the bulgin plugs to get photos.. It is now clear that the mods weren't of a professional standard and there is even a loose lead on one of the amps now, so I'm not going to plug in again until they've had a good look at it.

My question is regarding the schematic: would the one from the 105 service manual be relevant? Or is there something more specific that anyone knows of?

Thanks for your help.

Peter

I don’t know about the schematic, sorry.

Regarding the modifications, do you know what was modified? IIRC, XLR inputs are not necessarily a modification, some M2s had this as standard I think… one of the pics in the info site has one with XLRs here. There is also a note in the M2 manual about converting the DIN input to XLR, IIRC.

Would recommend contacting Mr Tech Guy, as they are ex-Meridian, if you are talking to any techs, as they will know. (Link at the top of the page, as they sponsor the forum).

Thanks for the info.

I don't know exactly what work was done, the seller told me that they had been 'internally refurbished' by a previous owner.

I am no expert but it does look like they have been recapped, although the level or workmanship leaves much to be desired. I am pretty confident that the XLR change was made at the same time (or at least recently) because the connector looks newer than the rest of the speaker. Also the hole where RCA connector previously was is blanked off, and a power on/off rocker switch has been added at the other side of the IEC connector.

Re. Mr tech guy, I was looking at using someone more local to me because I feel like posting them is asking for trouble (and packaging to avoid damage); maybe others have had good experiences with that? But I'm sure they're the most knowledgeable people around when it comes to kit like this.

Oh dear, yeah, there is a lot of this kind of work done these days by owners. It might be OK if they are decent electronic engineers and have all the schematics, etc., but one has to be wary now of old Meridian kit that has been tinkered with by people who overestimate their skills or just “have a go at it”.

I think it depends whether you think the local repair tech is really good at what they do, or not. Have you had any work done by them previously, or know their reputation by others who have? Do you know if they have worked on these before, and if they use first grade parts? If bad work has previously been done, it often takes even more skill to undo and redo correctly.

Regarding couriering stuff, I understand your concerns. Perhaps speak to Mr Tech Guy and see if they have a trusted courier and packaging advice? Do you have original boxes? Is a trip down there yourself an option to drop them off and pick them up safely?