Conference hips::uk_audioo

355.0. "Meridian Evening" by SEDOAS::STEPHEN_I () Fri May 01 1992 17:16

        
        Last night I attended an evening of demonstrations given by PJ 
        HiFi and Meridian.  The event took place in the Angel Hotel, 
        Guilford, in an upstairs room about 40' long, 15' wide and 12' 
        high.
        
        The demonstrations were done by the Meridian Sales Director and a 
        sidekick.  They came armed with a mass of CD's - I would guess 
        about 100 !  And were willing to play anything they had in the 
        collection if you requested it.
        
        They started with a 200 Transport, 203 DAC, 201 Preamp, and a 
        pair of 205 Monoblock amplifiers.  All this driving a pair of 
        Argent 3 floorstanding speakers triwired.  They used this system 
        for the first 45 minutes or so and played lots of different music 
        on it.  They also played a number of CD-R discs made from Decca 
        Master tapes for them.  These on the whole very very good.  In 
        comparison to the same recording on Decca CD, there were some I 
        liked better on CD-R and some I didn't.
        
        They then hooked up a 602 Transport, 601 DSP Preamp, a pair of 
        605 Monoblocks again triwired into the Argent 3's.  I liked this 
        system :)  The sound was strong with a good rhythm, and the 
        instruments sounded very believable.  By this time it was clear 
        that the Sales Director liked recordings of an "Event".  Were all 
        the players played at the same time without lots of editing.  He 
        played a really good Brass Band piece recorded in the Meridian 
        Factory onto CD-R.  On this system it sounded great.  However, 
        the 601 Preamp is a little to tweeky for me.  6 Optical INPUTS, 5 
        Analogue inputs, 2 Digital and 2 analogue outputs.  Internal D to 
        A convertor and DSP chip that lets you play with the sound.  Lots 
        of functions that I would never have used.
        
        Finally, they hooked up the 602 Transport to the D6000 Active 
        speakers.  Massive bix two box beasts, with 3 internal DtoA 
        convertors, 4 power amplifiers and a complete control system.  At 
        this point the technology took over.  They were adjusting the 
        width and height of the soundstage !  Using time delay to shift 
        the balance of the image about, all sorts of hitech things.  
        These speakers had an awsome bass.  Playing organ music on them 
        was like being in the rows nearest the organ in a church hall, I 
        swear my chest was resonating in time to the music :)  
        
        For all the technology, I think I'm going to audition the 602 
        Transport and Normal Control system at home sometime in the next 
        couple of months.  The 601 preamp for me isn't worth the money 
        neither are the D6000's.  
        
        In summary, I enjoyed the evening.  The Meridian guys were really 
        relaxed - Let people choose the music they wanted to listen to 
        and set the right volume levels.  They weren't forceful about the 
        products and their love of music flowed out at every opportunity.
        
        I'll post details of the next Demo evening in response to this 
        note if anyone is interested.
        
        Iain.