Folks,

I made the query through my Dealer as to whether Meridian would make their DSP8000SE Aluminium Head Unit feet available as a part and whether they can be retrofitted into the threaded sockets in the legacy head unit and bass units.

Much to my surprise and joy, the answers were yes and yes !

Their cost is £15 per foot assembly (foot and cup) so £45 per speaker or £90 a pair. 12 of these are on their way to me so I will take some photos once they are received and installed.

Personally I think they are far more aesthetic looking than the original black head unit feet. We can't get the clamp rings on SE upgraded legacy 8000's but it is nice to know that Meridian has made the head unit feet available.

You can also buy a complete DSP8000 bass unit foot assembly for £65 each should anyone require one, as I did !


Cheers,


Steve M

Thanks for sharing Steve,

I’m with you re the aesthetics and also surprised ... as this is contrary to my understanding.

Looking forward to hearing you get on fitting them and seeing the photos of course.

Regards,
Carl

That's good news for those who might be able to take advantage. Remarkably modest pricing too!

Would someone know what's the thread diameter of these feet?
Thanks

So is it just the cups changed and not the pin?

Million dollar question- sound any different?

Carl,

As requested.

I collected my DHL package today and installed the DSP8000SE feet on my two SE upgraded DSP8000 Legacy v1 speakers tonight. The first picture shows a set of 3 SE head unit feet with different aspects. Note the two holes in the side of the foot. This is for inserting a small Philips Head screwdriver for tightening up the foot to the socket on the base of the head unit. Don't overtighten these as if you try and back them out, the threaded socket will also back out from the base of the head unit.



The first surprise is that the only change is to the feet on the underside of the head unit. The original spikes located in the bass unit are retained in-situ to mate with the new feet. The following photo shows the old Legacy feet stack-up versus the new SE feet stack-up along with the bass unit spike on its own, all sitting on the counter. The difference in swallow is very noticeable (more on this later) as are the aesthetics. Also note the rubber washer on the old head unit legacy foot. I chose not to put this on the SE foot in order for the new SE foot to sit flush with the base of the head unit. Leaving it out also helps close the overall gap between the head unit and the top of the bass unit.



A front on view of the installed set of new SE feet on one speaker is shown below. Excuse the photo being upside down but I tried 3 times to get it posted the correct way up and gave up ! Note the photo was taken before I decided to see if I could get the holes in the feet aligned with the sides of the cabinet. This is easily done by removing each foot and making the required adjustment with an allen key in the centre of the foot socket in the underside of the head unit.




Here is a close up before photo of a legacy foot with the tape measure in place. Hard to tell due to the perspective but the gap was a smidge under 20mm.



The last photo is a close up of the installed SE foot with the tape measure in place. The new gap was 18mm, most of which came from leaving the rubber disk off of the new SE foot that the old legacy foot had in place.



Was this a worthwhile exercise.......ABSOLUTELY ! Sitting back in the lounge, they just simply look better. Only a small change but very noticeable.

£15 per SE foot and £45 per speaker. A pittance of the original cost and a pittance of the SE Upgrade cost. After shelling out the cost of upgrading a pair of DSP8000v1 or v2 speakers with SE electronics, the only visual noticeable difference are the new tweeters. On the occasional time that you turn the main power back on to the speakers, you are also reminded in the display briefly when it flashes "8000SE".

I have another pair or Legacy 8000's but the SE Upgrade is still yet to happen but the head unit feet retrofit will happen tomorrow, as I ordered a dozen feet to cover all 4 speakers, which I am now very glad I did.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why Meridian don't include the three head unit SE feet in the SE upgrade electronics package box given the relative difference in the cost of the feet and the overall cost of the upgrade ?

Anyway, if Meridian aren't going to include these, the dealers such as Rick, Bruce, et al, should all automatically order the SE feet to come with each Upgrade package, whether the extra cost is passed on not and here is the main reason why !

The head units are FAR more stable on the bass unit with these SE feet. The new feet swallow more of the bass unit spike and it is a tighter fit around the spike. They are what I would call less sloppy, when you physically try to laterally move the head unit. Not that I want my 4 year old son to play with them but I have far less fear of an accident now, than I did before.

Well, those are my thoughts and my recommendation is that if you are a non SE DSP8000 owner, do yourself a favour and retrofit these SE feet.

Carl, have no idea why I couldn't get the that photo to come out the right way. 3 attempts and gave up, even reversing the correct orientation to upside down and uploading it hoping it would correct itself, but to no avail.


Cheers,


Steve M

Jeje,

These threads are identical to the same sockets in DSP6000 bass and head units as well along with the DSP8000v1, v2 and SE's. Might be my next project down the line !

What were thinking of doing ?


Cheers,


Steve M

Ogri,

I snuck the package in and opened it after my better half went to bed. All of this was done late so no chance to listen to them yet.

Yes they have redesigned the upper cup as you call it. I made the assumption that the spike is unchanged as I never received any lower bit in the package.

Off to bed now as it is 2:45am here. Yes I am a night owl !


Ciao

The factory SE head supports look like this, note no more black plastic disks.



The rear support is inverted on this pair *, not sure if this is correct or not.

Regards
Carl

* image taken by me at Rick’s SE shoot out.

On 6ks, it can be pin on top or cup on top. From memory, there is more thread on one side, allowing the pin to be screwed in further and hence a reduced gap between head and base. I was always curious which was correct but concluded pin deep.

In theory, this arrangement is for isolation, so the least “coupling” the better. Sitting comfortably- good, held on- bad?

I’m not sure about these feet on my 6ks, the colour will clash with my gold stripe, won’t it?

Get out the blow torch and temper them to the desired colour...

... or get some knocked up in brass, probably cost no more than £20 at a machine shop!