Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Surround DSP choices

I just moved to a new house and I am currently running a 7.1 set up in my home theater in a room which is 13 x 20‘. My front speakers are a pair of 5200SE and a 7200HCSE with a DSW subwoofer. My side speakers are an old pair of 5000 96k and a pair of 3200s in the rear. The processor is a 861v8.

So I’m thinking of making some changes to either:
1) consider in walls for the sides and rear to clean up the room from all the speakers
2) stay with in-room speakers but match the side and rear speakers

Considering all this I am wondering what DSPs people have found to be good match with my front speakers from a timbre perspective. Which ones do a good job on the sides and rears and in particular I’m curious how the in-walls would match up with my front speakers.

My budget is somewhat modest for any changes but could consider an aspirational roadmap as well. Lastly, for now I am staying with the 861 but sometime in the future would consider an Atmos set up.

Any thoughts would be welcome.
Paul

I’ve been using DSP420’s for sides and rear … given that that are mostly used for effects they fit the bill. SpeakerLink are available.

All will work. But considering that many of the inwall DSP speakers use a wide range driver, timbre match is not perfect with your bed level speakers. Another thing to consider is the max SPL output of each speaker as these can vary quite a bit. If you expect reference level volume some of the inwall product can lag behind your mains, especially the center.

I love that you have the best horizontal center. Awesome foundation for the theater where 80% of the sound is coming from.

Now I will give you the aspirational advice. I’m sitting closest to the rears. For me I really enjoyed upgrading my rears to SE.

In your setup. How about moving the 5200SE rear and purchasing 7200SE fronts?

For most people there are bigger upgrades than ”atmos”. Getting the 7 BED right might be the best course. Especially if you’re sitting with SE’s and a 861.

Bruce, thanks for the input.

Regarding max SPL, doing some digging I found the max SPL for the various speakers. Other than a few at the bottom most are good enough. Even the lowest ones could work in my small room but good point and worth considering. Movies can have sudden bursty peaks.

DSP5K 108 db SPL max
DSP5KC 108 db SPL max
DSP8K 120 db SPL max
DSP7.2K 118 db SPL max
DSP5.2K 116 db SPL max
DSP 3200 114 db SPL max
DSP 3300 114 db SPL max
DSP750 120 db SPL max
DSP730 115 db SPL max
DSP640.2 117 db SPL max
DSP520.2 114 db SPL max
DSP320.2 106 db SPL max
DSP33 108 db SPL max
DSP420 104 db SPL max

Also, your comment about some of the driver shapes/radiation patterns is a good point. Meridian claims that even their in wall speakers work well with the in room speakers in terms of timbre but that is a relative statement. It may be more true for the 520,640 vs the 320 but i hae no idea as I have never heard them.

I guess that is where I was hoping for some real world expiereince from members on the forums on what has matched well for them in their systems.

Paul

Crion,

I love my 7200HCSE thanks to Bruce's recommendation way back.

Some background. My prior house had a dedicated large room in the basement and I had my 8KSEs as L and R along with the 7200HC. Sound was amazing. I also had a pair of 5200SE in the living room for music. The new home las a big living room and a much smaller theater room so the situation is reversed. I now have my 8KSE's in the large living room with the 818V3 sounding better than they ever have. The 5200SEs are now in the theater room.

Lol, yes, 7.2Ks would sound amazing. I guess you are implying that I would move the current 5200SE to the rear or sides in which case I would need another pair as well. I am sure it would sound upgraded but I might make the room very crowded and since I am listening along the long wall I don't' have much distance between the rear wall and the listening couch.

A more friendly option visually would another pair of 3200s or move to in-walls for the sides and rears.

Home theaters are big exercises in compromise no matter what, but, even now the sound is really really good and I have excellent surround effects so there is probably not too many bad choices.

Ironically, in my prior home with the big room the layout only allowed for 5.1 and in this new smaller room I can do 7.1 and the difference is welcome.

Paul

Kind of a side quest - but are any of Meridian's published specs accurate? I believe it is well known that the watts on the amp boards are not correct (and, relative to my own speakers, there is even a document that says that 6k's only have two bass drivers. See the earlier dated datasheet). This makes me question their SPL numbers as well.

Not wanting to hijack this thread I have a similar question.
Im about to replace my 5500s as fronts for a 7.0.4 set up either with 7200s or 8000s.
I presume it would be best to move the 5500s to become the sides and keep the 5000s as rears?
Another potential option is getting some 5200s and retiring the 5000s, would the 5200s be best used as sides or rears?

TIA

I should have such problems! Get the 8's put the 5.2 at the rear and use the 5.5 as sides. You could also just try experimenting. But definitely get 8's, SE at least for the 750w power.

Have you considered DSP6000 for fronts.
Not the prettiest, remind me of Darth Vader for some reason, but sound good, in America they can be found for $1000-1500.
Stick them in a false wall, behind large grills similar to Meridians panel speakers, no-one would ever know what they look like.
Good sound for peanuts, unless they break down of course due to age.

Could even keep the DSP5200s at the front and have both, with the DSP6000s behind the false wall / panels and the 5200 on show, sounds really good having 2 x LRs, just too much for the eyes with both on show.

I don't even use rears or sides, don't feel Meridian needs it, or that Meridian processes surround too well, (my old Yamaha AV amp for surround was better)
So use two subs behind the sofa instead with the 861.

Surely the 5500’s for sides would drown out the 5000 rears (bass)?

Probably not for movie soundtracks. Even when running speakers full range, there is often surprisingly little low bass going to the base layer channels if a LFE channel is utilized. In my system with a Trinnov and running 8000XE, 7200.2 with no filters, the system sounds quite anemic with the subwoofer turned off. It would be nice if you could direct some of the LFE channel bass to the speakers that could handle it.