Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems sub choice

Mark_H posted the above last May.

Mark - What did you end up with? Are you satisfied?

I also have 2 x D2500 and am considering alternatives; including the SW5500 or others. Any opinions, anybody?

Hi Arcade, lots of sub topics during this year. I'm a proud owner of a SW1600. 2xSW5500 might be a 'tad' much unless you have a real BIG room.

Arcade, I have an SW5500 I'm looking to sell. If interested, send me an email chris_at_neary_dot_com_dot_au. I have both 220v and 110v power for the sub.

Cheers,

Chris

Hi Crion,

After considering your input, I purchased DSP 5200 for L/R and 5200 vertical center channel because I think it is better than horizontal.
I have read your past experiment on the bass response for Trifield mode. I am experiencing less bass condition when switching from stereo to Trifield but the overall sound is fuller from midrange and up.
What is the final setting of your system and is adding SW1600 enough solution bass preservation?
The other Meridian user seems favor Velodyne than M subs any comments?

Thanks

Harry

Hello Dargo,
I will tell you what I *really* think of Velodyne DD subs regarding their musicality. And this is my own subjective biased opinion, end of disclaimer..

Me and a friend Auditioned the Velodyne DD 12 subwoofer. We spent several hours of tuning the room correction on it and integrating with Amphion Mains. We thought we had it down as good as we could in that setup. We had access to the finest cables and equipment the store had on offer. My friend who was shopping for a sub at that time was not overly impressed with the musicality but wanted a sub anyway. So he was ready to dish out the cash with the not stellar musical performance of it.

Then we went on to audition the Revel B15, it was not even setup when we arrived so we spent 5mins on connecting the cables. We auditioned it with the Revel M22 speakers. And some reciever. You could say that our jaws hit the floor, we didn't expect it just nail the bass and musicality straight out of the box. We laughed because the quality difference was so great even with crappy placement, equipment and cables comparing to the Velodyne/Amphion setup.

From this moment on, listening on Velodyne DD series have never satisfied musicality or integration wise. Revel B15 is a much better and musical sub.

Now, the Meridian SW1600, in my room with my DSP 5200 speakers after flipping the phase switch does integrate and performs imho even better than the Revel setup. I would perhaps vote on 2xSW1600 for optimal placement and in your setup with 3x5200 (vertical).

Regarding Trifield bass, after flipping the phase switch to negative it does output considerably more bass in collaboration with the mains. You will have to experiment, and don't just measure, listen! All my measurents pointed to another phase position but listening together with the mains is where it boils down to.

Good luck

PS. With your setup I would go for 2xSW1600, I would have it too (it would even out my bass performance more) but due to aestethic reasons I have it postponed.

If I could get one more feature on the SW1600 I would like to have 360 phase dial. Even if I would not use the extra degrees in my setup it could certainly be beneficial in analog/DSP setups for integration.

crion, how do you define "a real BIG room"? Can you compare 2xSW1600 with 1xSW5500 and 2xSW550?

Thanks.

My experience is virtually identical to crion. My setup is 3 5200's in front (horizontal center) and 4 5000's side/rear. When M- released the new sub, I went on a listening expedition of subs that lasted most of a year. My bias was musicality first and movies second, but wanted performance for both. Meridian's new sub was my first choice, with the Revel a close second.

I actually liked the Velodynes a little more than crion describes I think, but agree they were a distant 3rd for musicality voice matched to the M- ; (That said, many are happy with them and much has to do with individual taste);

I wanted to get 2 SW1600s to better balance the room for musical reproduction; but due to the odd M- price structure, ended up getting 2 SW5500s instead. That turned out to be way too much for my room size, so I sold one of them (to chris1971 above actually - who needs to sell due to his HT physical constraints);

I'm presently using 1 SW5500 in a room 16 x 21 with great results. More than enough; with all subs though, you get more balanced presentation and wider sweet spots if you can use 2 (actually 4 is best to cancel room nodes); If I had my way now, I would have 2 SW1600s. However, properly tuned, the 1 SW5500 is wonderful....

ken

Crion,

Is there any other option to preserve the bass in Trifield mode without adding subs?
I will check the default set up of my 568.2 using computer this week after geeting my null modem cable RS232. I will also upgrade the firmware to 2.5b9 the latest one. I hope it will make presentation better. I think I will stcik with Meridian sub.

Cheers
Harry

Ken,

Do you have the same experience with Trifiled?Have you listened to single or double SW1600 in the M system, does it need 2 subs? I have to spend lot of money to get 2 of them. And how would you connect them if you have 2 subs?
Is'nt bass non directional? My living room is 15x18 but it is connected to dining room and corridor, I do not have a dedicated listening room. My main interest is listening to music.
Thanks

Harry

Harry-
Yes - Trifield seems to produce a slight drop in bass, but I believe it to be more accurate of the 'correct' amount of bass;

Regarding one vs two sw1600s: Frankly you don't need subs at all with the 5200s; I ran music and movies beautifully with 5000s for years without a sub and the 5200s give full range beyond the 5000s.

That said, the sub will add value and strength to the lows, even for music. I say all this to make the point that 2 subs are great for cancelling nodes and providing a bigger listening sweet spot area, but 2 are definitely not a necessity.

If you are budget contrained, consider getting one and trying it out; I believe you will be thrilled with the result; It's all diminishing return - 2 is not necessary; But just a little sweeter....

Regarding the 2 sub connection; I would be predisposed to music setup and go with a main L/R connection; others have rooms with different node conditions and go for front - rear setups; It will depend on your room, your music preferences and your tastes ; there's no single answer; Much of the research says to put them on oppsite walls for node cancellation, with the most optimum being 4 subs, one in the middle of each of the typical 4 wall room; Yes sub level bass is mostly non-directional, but it's still bouncing off surfaces creating some nasty bass nodes at different room positions.

Also keep in mind if you are going multiple surrounds (sides and rears), your limited to 8 DSP channels total (7.2 not a digital option right now with M-)- so 2 digital subs can be a connection issue. If you are 5.2 as most are with 2 subs, no real issues that I'm aware of. That may be another consideration; If you plan on 7.1, you might just stick with the one sub now....

it's never ending....

My experience is that is all about distortion, filtering and acoustics. You can`t compare subs if they are not set up at the very same spot. You are listening to the room as well and it is impossible to select to listen to just the subs behaviours. I have never understood the difference between a cinema sub and a sub for music. The sub should just reproduce the signal from the input as accurate as possible. If you want more slam, adjust that in the filter, if you want more accurate signal avoid room problems and set the signal level to an appropriate level. The same goes for size, I have not came across subs that are to “much”, to bad Yes but not one giving to much bass and impossible to control. Control and adjust the placement, volume and the filtering and normally bigger gives a better result.
Regards
Harry

Harry how would you define the main attributes to the term musical? Crossover integration? Low distorsion? Dynamic range? Speed? Elimination of room modes?

As for Cinema vs Music, a good sub should be able to do both with splendor ofcourse.