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

Thankfully I was able to find someone competent locally to fix the fault with these, and I'm back up and running

I have found (as I've read many others have) that providing a balanced supply to the M2s works (and sounds) much better; my Musical Fidelity preamp only offered single-ended RCA so I have added a Canford "Pro interface" as a stop-gap while I look for another preamp. It's not ideal but works surprisingly well. To anyone reading this in the future I'd urge you to use the balanced inputs with a proper balanced supply to get the best out of these speakers.

I'm thinking a Meridian 502 would be the ideal preamp choice, giving me options to go balanced throughout the signal chain in future, so I'm on the hunt

Glad you’re up and running - M2s are great, enjoy.

I was going to suggest a 502 - great choice! Maybe put a WTB (want to buy) post up n the Restarant and see if anyone has one they are willing to move on.

Good idea but I don't seem to be able to at the moment. Is that a post count thing or do I need to ask for approval?

I never found the Musical fidelity preamps to be a good match for the M2, seemed to lack drive and bite, I much preferred the linn lk1 and kairn preamps. I did try a 101 non balanced but that was very dull.

Rgds
Stuart

Thanks Stuart - I have never considered Linn pre's but maybe I should.
I think my problem in this case is possibly more to do with the fact that my M2s only have XLR inputs, so I was using adapters to plug into the XLRs from my preamp's RCA outs.
However since I started using the Canford in-between, to provide a proper balanced signal, the situation is much improved.

The 502 is excellent and I don’t think it could be described as dull, so I think you’ll be good with one of those.

You probably just need to post a few more to be able to access the Restaurant - go ahead and ask a few more questions about features of the 502, or how it compares to a G02

What are your sources, by the way?

I have an original Xerxes TT, with a RB300 arm and Ortofon 510mk2. This is going through a Musical Fidelity X-LP phono stage.
For digital I have a Squeezebox endpoint, the Polyvection DAC32 (kind of a 'headless' squeezebox that I control via the software's app).
The above are currently running through my Musical Fidelity X-PRE and then through the Canford balancing interface.
I have also been considering getting a CD player to resurrect a large CD collection that I've sidelined for several years.

Nice vinyl source.

502 has a nice feature which lets you adjust sensitivity per-source to account for different gain, etc.

If you do add a CD source, you could consider a Meridian 500 series (506, 508, 588, etc.) which were class leading in their day and still sound fantastic.

You might consider something like a 568 also, which acts as a sort of digital preamp - although it’s a surround controller, it can be used to great effect in a 2-channel system (I’ve done this). It takes multiple digital inputs and processes them with Meridian proprietary tech which improve sound quality - de-jittering, upsampling, apodising (if you have the right version). You could even run your turntable through this, as the preamp is built in, and they have balanced outputs for the front three channels.

It would also allow you to explore Trifield, if you ever found another M2.

Food for thought…

Thank for the ideas I'll definitely keep an eye out for a 500 series CD player, and the 568 might start to make sense if I have multiple digital sources to deal with. I've put a Wanted thread up now in the Restaurant for a 502... fingers crossed!

No worries.

Yeah, the idea of the 568 is exactly that - since especially if you were to get a CD player you would have multiple digital sources. The reason to flag it up now is that it would also replace your preamp, since it has that built in already (a very high quality one at that).

It would digitise your vinyl source, though, so that might be a dealbreaker, depending on how you feel about that. Many of us have tried this and find it takes nothing away from vinyl enjoyment, but I understand there’s a feeling that analogue should be kept analogue, if you’re an analogue purist…

Thanks for mentioning re. the 568 digitising all inputs; it would put me off, although I've never done a comparison to back up my opinion - nor have I had reason to digitise the vinyl input either. I can see how it wouldn't matter so much if your speakers were also digital, as so many Meridians are.