Meridian Digital Components and Systems

Meridian Audio is a seriously cool audio and home cinema company. Right at the cutting edge of digital and unashamedly aimed at people who are seriously into music or home cinema. Their new G and 800 series components are very much our favorite digital components and we’d like to think that once you learn more, you’ll want to make them yours too.

You may be surprised to learn how far back our association with Meridian Audio goes – and we have never forgotten how they have always embraced technology that other companies have shied away from and the belatedly adopted – active speakers that have the amplifiers built in, switched mode power supplies (think right back to their little grey modular amplifiers), state of the art CD players in one, two and even three box permutations, Advanced surround sound solutions for both music and film followed by DVD players that define both picture and sound quality. And let’s not forget speakers that are uniquely and truly digital.

If there is a product that defines Meridian's technical leadership, it is their flagship player - the 808.2 Signature. The 808.2 combines over 20 years of experience, a radical rethink of how to best replay the CD standard and serious computational grunt in a beautiful and massively engineered package.

The 808.2 is unarguably the very best CD player we have ever heard by a substantial margin. While we have fond memories of Linn's NZ$40K CD12, the reality is that it would sound flat as the proverbial pancake next to the Meridian. Meridian's own G08.2 is a highly regarded machine in it's own right, but again, the sound produced by the 808.2 is immediately and obviously more substantial, detailed and spacious. And it is also fair to say there are a good number of other players in the Meridian's price territory but the critical consensus is that the 808.2 is the best of them.

Both the reviews and Meridian's own information will give you and in-depth explanation as to exactly how they accomplish what they do. But we'll try to summarize it in our own way - it's always been assumed that the CD standard (16 bits) was the big limitation of the format. What Meridian prove with the 808.2 is that this assumption is incorrect. While higher bit-rate playback is being touted as the answer to all the worlds problems, there is a huge physical body of recorded music in peoples CD collections and the 808.2 can make this sound markedly better.

You shouldn't underestimate just how good the 808.2 is. It's not a little better than well regarded value for money players. It's a whole different ball-game. There is simply no substitute for hearing this for yourself. We have and are convinced. As of now we have a 808.2 in stock.

Many serious music collectors will own upwards of 1000 CDs - That's an accumulated spend of rather more than the 808.2s NZ$24,000 price tag. If the Meridian can bring the replay of these collections up to the standard of new formats, it becomes a worthwhile option. As befits what is a considerable investment, the Meridian 808.2 is built to a seriously high standard. There is always a danger with flagship products that they will effectively be one-offs and there are no economies of scale, the white elephant syndrome. But the 808.2 is part of a continuing range and benefits in full from Meridian's vast experience and engineering savvy. It simply looks like it is worth every cent. And sounds even better.

• 808 CD Player Technical Specifications
• User Manual
• Data Sheet
• Brochure
• Press reviews

We introduced Meridian’s 200 and 500 series components to Dunedin during the 90s but have always been looking for that ‘special’ product that manages to be all things to all people. Enter Meridians new G Series. Meridian’s latest range includes three basic families of all-new designs: four variations of optical disc CD and CD/DVD player/transport/controller – two with extended, pre amp-like capabilities; four components including surround processor/tuner, pre amps, and a two-channel receiver; and three power-amplifiers including stereo and multichannel models. The G Series products answer every potential need, both for ‘analogue’ systems using conventional loudspeakers, and several high-performance arrangements of Meridian’s DSP digital loudspeaker models.

Don’t be confused by all this choice. There will be something in there that is right for you and it’s simply a case of working out what you want to do...

CD is still a very good format – and Meridian CD players have always been at the top of the pile. The new G08.2 Up-sampling CD player (NZ$ 7,100) addresses any issues you might have had about digital sound – it’s silky smooth, detailed and dimensional. Very much a product of all their accumulated experience and a distillation of what makes the 808.2 the flagship that it is. Don’t worry about SACD or streaming – Up-sampling solves any issue that SACD is supposed to and the Meridian version makes any existing CD sound a whole lot better than the compromised hybrid players.

The G06.2 24 Bit CD player (NZ$ 5,400) is essentially the next best thing. This is the player for aspirational audiophiles and while it may be a stretch to get there, you’ll never regret owning a Meridian. We’ve got many clients who still enjoy original 200 and 500 series players every day (we think even older Meridians are still better than 95% of new players from other brands). The G07 is just the ticket for any Perreaux owner...

Home cinema and music without comprise?
Can it be done?

We think so and the G92 (NZ$ 11,300) is the way to do it. It’s a great way to get into the best of everything that Meridian have to offer.

The G92 is many things in a single handsome box. A Multi-format Disc player (DVD Video and Audio, CD and just about every other worthwhile silver disc standard), A comprehensive preamplifier dealing with both analogue and digital inputs as well as video in many different formats. Did we also mention there is a particularly good AM and FM tuner section built in?

It’s a serious player at a serious price – but if you actually look at all you get and the standard achieved, you’ll find the real value in it. For instance we know for a fact (having done the side by side demonstration) that this is a significant improvement over the Linn Unidisk SC in every area and you definitely get more useful features.

We like this player a lot. Make that we just love this player to bits. We first just used it as a CD player and it immediately proved to be better than anything else we’ve had through. As an unreformed vinyl enthusiasts it’s hard to get us listening to CD at home – yet the Meridian has done this and a whole lot more. Now let’s talk about movies... we’re being spoilt rotten by Meridian – no matter what screen system we run this player with it’s apparent that this is what DVD was supposed to be all about. Sparkling colours, endless detail and absolutely coherent motion. Surround sound tracks have guts and add to the whole. We could go on but there are going to be plenty of reviews.

There are some notable features that make the Meridian G92 the capable player it is. The DVD-Rom mechanism used is capable of running at much higher speed than a conventional unit – this allows the Meridian to extract more data more accurately as well as correcting any playback errors – our immediate experience is that many slightly damaged discs that upset other players are no longer issues. As well as handing its own video outputs (and having HDMI to boot) the Meridian features ‘video trans-coding’. In other words it will take in video from other sources like Sky, clean up the signal and send it back out in higher quality formats such as component and HDMI. The remote control is a component in it’s own right, pre-programmed and able to learn from other brands remotes, not to mention sexy as they come. Love those backlit buttons.

As an audio player, the Meridian G92 deserves to be well matched with high resolution systems. Some may suggest it is expensive but with most worthwhile screen systems coming in at around NZ$ 10+K, the Meridian is right in the same ballpark and really makes the most sense of any options out there, especially when you take the time to consider everything it does.

The Meridian G92 will run in any system, literally straight out of the box. But you can really go to town with customisation either through the simple on-screen menus or via the more detailed programming via PC allowing some seriously cool fine-tuning.

Next step is to look at how we can make the most of all this performance. You could connect the Meridian G92 to other designers amplifiers and speakers and it certainly doesn’t hold back. But why not consider the logical progression and connect their new DSP5200 Digital loudspeakers (NZ$ 20,900 a pair). Like the G92 system there is rather more to these than meets the eye.

Let’s first define what we mean by digital speakers. The DSP 5200s don’t connect to an amplifier via speaker cables. Or to a preamp via line level signal cables. Their input is strictly digital – up to 96Khz in fact. This means you can connect not just a Meridian but and CD player or DVD Player including (and especially) Up-sampling models for which the 96KHz capability suddenly makes a whole lot of sense.

But why make a digital connection? Like it or not, even our very best cables lose information. By choosing to transfer the musical signal in digital form we give our speakers a more complete and undistorted signal . The DSP5200s are also Active – in other words the amplifiers are built into the speaker – one unit for each driver. Meridian take this equation right to the logical conclusion. Take the time now to get meridians informative article on DSP loudspeaker systems.

But what really is the bottom line with these speakers – how do they sound? In the past we’ve used Shahinians, Sonus fabers and Linn Aktiv systems as examples of how good speakers can sound. The Meridians are easily the most revealing speakers we have heard – quite simply a whole lot more makes it through and this is directly attributable to Meridians system approach. Remember that with any of their DSP speakers. Meridian build in pre amplifiers (the speaker controls volume!) multiple power amplifiers, highly accurate crossovers and some serious processing capabilities. So if you wanted a direct comparison of systems with, say the DSP5200s, you’d be looking at not just another pair of speakers but a remote control preamp, at the very least one stereo power amp and more realistically several, interconnects, speaker cables and crossover components. It all adds up pretty quickly and is there any guarantee that a selection of components from multiple designers will works as well. Even when we look at something more comparable like a Linn Aktiv system, you still end up with multiple boxes and cables. And like it or not from the first time we listened to the new generation of speakers from Meridian we knew that this was simply a whole lot better. The logic is compelling and the end result there for anyone to hear. You really owe it to yourself the listen to the Meridians.

• DSP5200 Technical Specifications
• Data Sheet
• Press Reviews

The DSP5200s are the model within the range that we have had by far the most experience with. We would be remiss to suggest that these are the only options – it’s just that by being comparatively affordable so offer a great starting point. The newer DSP7200s work on another level again

Meridian are very much a 21st century company, completely modern and forward thinking. If you understand that technology can have very real benefits and want a hifi system that is genuinely special in its abilities, not to mention one that looks the part, it’s time to talk to us and investigate just how you can get into Meridian.

Direct Contact

John Ransley and Sharon Guytonbeck are the principals behind Totally Wired. It’s our own business and we take pride in building something worthwhile.

If you want to contact us directly per mail:

• John Ransley
• Sharon Guytonbeck

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