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

I would say that, outside of Meridian, the Farad gets my vote.

I bought one for my Chord TT2 and it was a great improvement. I've read others since say that they believe the Farad is on a par with the Paul Hynes PSU's, so if you have something that could use a better power supply, Farad is certainly worth considering. I'd be inclined to agree that I would be nervous modifying anything to do this, though, and would likely stick to the standard connectors.

Thanks TartanB for the info...very helpful! That is a reasonable price indeed. Also interesting that you noticed no discernible difference - certainly appears contrary to the general view - but the only ears and opinion that count are your own!

Farad don't appear to do a connector that is compatible with the 218, so I'm not sure it is possible to upgrade the PSU without swapping out the connector (unless I have that wrong?). To be able to test/audition the Farad before tweaking the connector would obviously be the ideal scenario...

Boru80

When you buy the Farad, the basic price is inclusive of a cable with a normal barrel 12V connector. Had I chosen that standard package, if the Farad failed a couple of years down the line I could just have purchased and used a cheap as chips 12V transformer to get up and running again. Rightly or wrongly I opted to pay the 59 euros for the GX16 connector, which I will admit gives a better physical connection to the 218 than one of the normal wishy washy 12v barrel connectors. So that’s a plus. But, as I stated, if the Farad were to fail then you’re left with no easy way forward - that’s the minus.

By the way I wasn’t doubting members here who upgraded their 218 and commented “ a much nicer soundstage”, “brighter and tighter sound”, “ the Meridian SQ is just enhanced, no character is changed but increasing the transparency, resolution and power”, “The distorsion/ripple is just amazingly low.”.

I just felt that they (probably?) had a single 218, upgraded it and genuinely believed that it improved the sound quality etc, going purely by memory of what their un-modified 218 originally sounded like? Alternately (and very likely), my ears aren’t what they used to be, a huge difference in sound quality was indeed present, but I didn’t realise.

My side by side test, particularly with the A/B switch box taking the SL feeds from the two different 218 unis and directing the selected one to my master speaker, was (I believe) a more objective test. IMHO the more likely improvement comes from the fact that the Farad Super 3 is without doubt a top class physical unit and over time may well outlast the integrated (relatively low cost?) transformer used by Meridian

If you do live relatively near to Pangbourne, you’d be welcome to come and borrow my modified 218 and PSU to take it away and evaluate it for a day. Just PM me.

Understood re: the barrel connector now! And yes, I wouldn't wish to doubt members opinions here either, but I can see that your A/B test is certainly preferable to comparing to memory.

Many thanks also for your generous evaluation offer - I used to live in Ascot, but now live in West London - so whilst Pangbourne isn't a million miles away I certainly wouldn't want to put you out! But thanks very much anyway...!

Hi TartanB,

I enjoyed reading your fresh opinion and I am generally suspicious as well when it comes to upgrades. I have often tried things that I could not hear (powercords for instance). To be honest, I really struggle to hear the impact of the axis setting of my DSP as well, but lets not stray off topic. Sometimes you are surprised and things do make a difference. Somehow I feel a bit responsible for indirectly convincing you to upgrade the PSU for the 218. So to check whether the improved perceived sound quality I wrote about could be repeated, I did the same test again. I listened to a song on my system trough my 218 and Farad and then the same songs on the same system but the 218 then powered by a SMPS. Note I can't bring back the original SMPS, so I used the original PSU of the MS200. I have also asked my wife which sound was preferred. She has no idea about which box does what so she can only judge what she hears without bias.

I may have exaggerated a bit, "huge improvements" should be interpreted in the context of small gain in audio at this level. That being said, I come to the same conclusion; the Farad improves the performance of my 218 substantially. The sound become more 3D and more real. Maybe take out the direct switch and evaluate the 218 song by song? I hope you find a difference and otherwise you have saved yourself some money. I think a Farad is easy to sell. Maybe a 818v3 is what you need😊.

Thanks for the honest feedback, I appreciate it.

Regards,
D

Hey guys, I opened up my 218 in preparation for converting to a linear power supply this weekend, and had a few questions. Seems like it should be a simple task, but my soldering skills aren't the best and I couldn't even get the old power supply removed. I think I'll be taking it to a professional to have it done.

First just an observation, it looks like my switched power supply looks different from the original posting, looks like my board is a v6 and the original post had a v5:


Second pic I have a question on, it looks like there's a small square component on the bottom of the board that's connected to the voltage +/- pins, I believe it's a capacitor. If I do this upgrade myself, do I keep that component?


Thanks!
Chris

I didn't dare to do it myself either. But the professional who did made it look very easy and was done quick. It looks a bit different, but I think the black block named cosel is the SMPS. I think you need heat up the legs of the block protruding to the print just enough you can pull it off. Then connect a new wire in the holes to a new connector. If you search the spec of the Cosel you can look up what is plus and min. Be carefull not to brick it..

I should have clarified: I think mine was not soldered, but yours does look soldered. I think it is a TUHS5F12, see page 4 of this:
https://en.cosel.co.jp/tool/tag/pdf/SFE_TUHS.pdf

Yup, that's the one. On my 218 that piece is mounted onto a smaller circuit board which is then mounted onto the bottom board with some risers.

Just to Bump an Old thread but good thread. Just finished the LPS conversion on my 218... Sounds Much better with the 5200SE/DSW combo. Everything is a little more detailed, there was a high end harshness sometimes ~ that's all gone. This was a very worthwhile upgrade/mod; thanks Mimesis for your OG post, this was good fun with a great outcome!

Agreed! Out of curiosity, has anyone used a high quality LPS on an AC200 and noticed any difference?

Very nice to hear you have done the upgrade too. Now I see you have an 818v3 as well. We are all curious how an 218 with upgraded LPSU would fair against the majestic 818v3. If you ever have the time to compare, I am keen to hear the results. Of course just compare the performance over speakerlink into DSP speakers. The analogue outputs of the 818v3 will certainly be much better than the 218. Thanks!
Regards,
D