Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Are Meridian speakers worth it?

There's probably not a single item in the world whereby you are offered so many choices.

I am talking about speakers. To me they're the most important part of a hifi system, but why is it so difficult?

When spending the amount of money, we (hitchiker's forum members) tend to do there are millions of choices that can lead us to audio nirvana.

Every forum member probably has a "goal", something to dream of. I am trying to accomplish this dream, but unfortunately I have nowhere near the cash required to do this in one step.

My "goal" consists of:

7 full range speakers - same all around (that was easy)

But now the tricky part, looking at all the speaker choices Meridian offers I feel that there's a gap in the product line.

The 5000 just doesn't seem up to it. It's not a bad speaker but it doesn't seem to offer what you'd expect from it's price tag. It would not be a speaker that (soundwise) would be the final step towards audio nirvana.

The 5500 is plain and ugly. It also seems way old. Seems a pretty decent speaker but aesthetics suck (same for 5000)

The 6000 - great looking but what a price! Looking at 7 speakers equals 70,000 USD. Sound seems to be top of the bill.

I won't step into the 7000/8000 hemisphere as these prices are just crazy. The speaker might be worth it's money but if someone pays 7 x 25,000 usd = 175,000 usd for a speaker, even to my standards, this person is not sane.

So where does this leave me?

Meridian speakers (that will fit the bill - i.e. 6000 series) are way too expensive.

Let's take the B&W 802. A fine speaker that does 4000 USD a piece. 7 x 4000 = 28000 which is a lot of money but my question is, how does a setup with 7 x 802's stack up to an all Meridian 5500 / 6000 system. What to expect? Surely one needs amplication but this won't be adding megabucks..

Can somebody tell me whether they're strugling with this though as well and how they think about going forward.

By the way, my current setup is:

Meridian 561
Meridian 504
Meridian 506

Sonus Faber Grand Piano, Solo Home, The Wall & Gravis Sub

Amp and DVD are Marantz.

Thanks for sharing you're thoughts and sorry for not being very coherent in my story..

Richard

you may be able to find seven non-96/24 pre-owned 6000s for the same price as the 802s plus amplification and cabling.

the other option is to not do the same seven all around. i have 6000s front L/R and 5000s rear L/R and a 5500HC. few to no issues in my mind re: matching them.

tough decisions. good luck.

doody.

MrDoody,

Thanks for your reply.

Have you ever heard a 6K system all around? Did you settle with just having the 6k's at the front for financial reasons or did you feel that the benefit doesn't outweigh the additional cost?

How much do you reckon does a 2nd hand 6000 go for (24/96)? The european 2nd hand market doesn't seem to offer 6K's, I have a frequent look but haven't found any so far..

Thanks

Let me add my two cents, for what it's worth. As you can relate, this audio obsession that we share leads us down a path of constantly wanting more power, better components and bigger and better sounding speakers. I thought I had reached the pinnacle of home theater/audio nirvana when my system consisted of five Apogee speakers for my home theater, including a pair of Apogee Divas with Dax III. These were bi-amped with a Krell FPB-300 and a KSA-150. My center and surrounds were Stages driven by a pair of Krell KST-100's. My processor was a Classe SSP-75, CD player was a Krell KPS-30i and DVD player was a Sony es9000. I had probably spent another $3-4K on assorted silver speaker wire and interconnects. I thought I had assembled a fairly formitable system. But, I was always trying to upgrade in order to squeeze any additional performance out of my components.

Then I heard a Meridian system, a system consisting of only a 565, 562v, 586 and five DSP5000's and a M2500. I was instantly captivated by the sound and performance. So much so that I bought the system. I have since upgraded the mains to DSP5500's, added M33 side channels and have a DSP5500HC on the way. I have a set plan to upgrade my processor, probably to a 568 but hopefully to an 861 to take advantage of my front speakers ability to do the 24/96 upsampling. Thing is, I have never enjoyed my system so much. I am much less analytical toward the equipment and find myself just enjoying the whole movie experience.

Another positive note, the system is so simple once it's set up, that wife and my two boys can set it up to watch a movie without me. With my other set up, if I wasn't home, nobody could watch a movie. Plus, if you think that you can drive a pair of 802's with a Marantz amp, and be satisfied, I would be surprised. I would think more on the lines of Aragon or Theta amps would give similar performance as the Meridians. However, I respect the fact that everyone's ears are unique, but for my money, Meridian is the way to go.

Rudy

[This message has been edited by toothdoc (edited 02-18-2003).]

richard:

i'd troll the usual sites like audiogon, and the big Meridian dealers to see what they have used. no clue about europe though.

if you want to go 96/24, that's gonna get pricey. non-upgraded 6000s are a lot less expensive. a pair just sold on eBay for $7K. there's a pair on audiogon right now for $9K.

i didn't do a 6000C because my setup won't physically deal with the vertical speaker. started with a 5000C and the 5500HC was a huge wonderful upgrade.

for me, music is most important, so the rears were just whatever was simple and reasonably sized (6Ks would be too big for my room there). i have a pair of 33s in the bedroom i've thought about swapping with the 5Ks in fact.

not sure i could justify 6000s all-around. i mean, Trifield is the shiznit, but what's coming out of the rear channel isn't what i'm paying for, IMO.

doody.

There is a local dealer in Seattle that has a pair of 96/24 5k5s for $7500. (Demo units.) Seems like a great price to me.

For a European flavour.....

I bought a pair of 55k's, ex demo, 96/24 last April for about �4500....

I thought that was a OK price, especially as the rrp is now �7700

My 2-pence....
I bought an 11 month old pair of dsp6k's 96/24 last month for �6500. Not sure on the RRP.

Oh and a ver 2 861 for �1400!

Seems like you can pick most things up if you are prepared to wait a while.
Chris

[This message has been edited by phcjpp (edited 02-19-2003).]

[This message has been edited by phcjpp (edited 02-19-2003).]

an 861.2 for less than $2,500?!?!?!?

that's incredible. less than the cost of a 568.1.

"luck matters" (tm).

congrats!

doody.

I can nearly purchase a set of 6K's if I collect everybody's 2 cents here. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Having read all of your thoughts, a few questions come to my mind.

1) If using 3 6K's up front, can one justify using 6K's at the rear or are let's say DSP5000's / DSP33 sufficient? What can I expect?

2) Is DSP the way forward or are there specific advantages going with passive speakers?

3) Can somebody quantify the benefit from being able to use upsampling. So 96khz 6K's vs. the old model?

4) When using old spec 6K's, is it worth going for an 861 v2 or will a 568.2 be more than adequate?

To comment on Toothdoc's post, I wouldn't even consider driving 802's with a 'consumer' marantz amp...

Thanks to all

Richard

Richard,

I did not mean to imply that you would have even considered driving B&W 802's with a consumer grade Marantz amp. The point of my post was to state that I had tied up about $26k (retail) in my front main speakers and I find that my DSP5500's, which cost $12.5 (retail), offer an equally pleasing sound to me. So, the answer to the question you asked, IMO, is yes, Meridian speakers are worth it.

Rudy

Chris,
6k's are about �12,000 if I recall. So, you got a damn good price.

Was your 861.2 ex-dem or 2nd hand ?

Rgds

Nick