Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Thread Like Summary - WTB: DSP3100 with stands

A bit of a long shot… I’m looking to replace my smiley face DSP5500s with DSP3100s.

Ideally in black.

Anyone?

YMMV, and I’m sure other owners will disagree with me, but when I home-auditioned DSP3100s when they were first introduced, I thought they sounded absolutely dreadful.

They were much worse when heard at the dealership.

My passive Meridian A500s at that time sounded superior.

If you can, listen to a pair before you part with your money.

I was almost put off owning 3100s by reports they did not sound like other DSPs, but having owned them for a few years I don’t find this myself. I think they are very much in the house sound, but with less bass capacity than most (bigger) DSPs, which of course can perceptively make them seem lighter in balance. I think, if you’re coming from long-term 5500 ownership, I would expect you to be happiest if you were able to pair them with a sub (something like an SW1600 would be great), especially if you run a processor.

In some ways, 3100 are a rather unique speaker - they sort of straddle legacy and new DSP design. They can run apodising firmware, they use wood cabinets with aluminium sides (a little like Meridium) to cancel vibrations, carbon fibre (or Kevlar, I can’t recall which) mid/bass and a soft dome tweeter. Interesting little things.

If your other half is fed up with big black boxes, the silver 3100s look somewhat more pretty and less imposing in the room.