I’ve been looking (unsuccessfully) for new speakers, and not found anything suitable, in size/cost/style/SQ terms.
Because of all the Meridian discussion here, I started looking out of interest, and I really like the look of the 5200.2. I really like the styling (apart from the display at the top maybe), and as they’d be in my lounge and either side of a sofa, i think they’d ‘box us in’ less, and look cool.
So, anyone have them and care to share thoughts? Basically, I dont want to demo unless its clear there are no real gotchas with them as I’m already a bit worried about longevity opt technology having DAC and amp combined in the Devialet, so this seems like it could potentially be even worse with everything in one box? But people say active’s sound amazing, so……
Some specific questions (which I could google but am too lazy and you always get a better answer from a user):
-can Roon stream directly to them, or does it need something else?
-can Room Correction be done? Is it within the 5200’s DSP, or would it be done at source like a traditional setup, ie. via software like Dirac?
-What’s the bass like!?
-Upgradability?
-Any obvious issues/concerns?
Great, great speakers. I have the 5200.non2 version and I have been very happy with their performance over the last few years. The .2 version is improved and has EBA (bass alignment) for even better performance. Soundwise, I would classify them as perfectly balanced and in control, with the Meridian ‘house-sound’ that is slightly more on the laid-back side of the spectrum. Spec-wise, they’re limited to 96/24. They’re equipped with the Meridian apodising filters that take care of upsampling and filtering of non-highres (redbook) material.
They got two inputs: Meridian speakerlink (for use with with a Meridian MS200, MS600 or ID40/41) and a ‘standard’ coaxial SPDIF port that can be used with any kind of digital output (I use mine with a measly Raspberry Pi + Digi+ board as endpoint with great success).
Bass is fine and can be tuned in DSP, as well as various positioning settings (balance, boundary, corner, near to wall, etc.). For more serious RC you could use anything before the digital stream enters the speakers: a Meridian processor with RC or, for instance, a MiniDSP DDRC-22D that works with Dirac Live.
As for upgradability: they can be upgraded to 5200SE – but that would take you to a different price-league, I’m afraid.
All in all: I’m very, very happy with them – they’ve been able to cure all Audiophilia Nervosa for me. Some may find their sound ‘too polite’ (I perceive it as nicely balanced), so make sure you can listen to them first for some amount of time.
What are Meridian like as a company in terms of supporting their product/customers? I’ve been burnt a bit by Devialet, so I’m more wary of being locked into a company of a technologically advanced product that may not have decent customer service.
The importance of that to me is not to be underestimated at this stage in the game!
A wealth of information is available at the Meridian Unplugged forums. Quite a few long-time Meridian users are avid Roon users as well (no surprise, given the Sooloos pedigree) and are present on the forums here, so I’m sure others will chime in as well.
While I have never had to deal with Meridian CS directly, I believe their support is fine. There’s quite a few active, helpful and knowledgeable dealers around as well, that can serve as your first port of call.
If I wasn’t so conscious of the fact that I’ve lost quite a bit of cash over the past couple of years by swapping kit, I’d probably have done it already….
Well, I actually don’t think they will - in fact I have zero faith in AIR ever being a reliable solution.
But I’ve lost faith in the brand anyway, and I want my one box solution they tricked me into believing I could have - so since I’m considering new speakers anyway, it occurred to me its a good time to think about a major overhaul to address the issue. Then I saw the Meridians, and thought thought they looked quite nice, (although there is a slight hint of Devialet in some of their marketing videos, it doesn’t seem quite so preposterous). But I don’t want to even think about going down that route if there are already an army of Meridian owners suffering streaming issues or whatever! (Hopefully not, but I thought posing the question here would bring any such dissenters forth)
My main hesitation is the longevity of an all-in-one system, with the technology of the core DAC components evolving at an amazing rate, I worry about it being future-proof. But I suppose that’s true of any active system?
If you don’t like the display at the top - that can be switched off from the remote (display button switches between showing input source label / rate / nothing - if it’s like the older speakers, it should kill the LED’s as well)
The only time you’d have to see the display is in ‘standby’ - I keep forgetting to turn my DSP5000’s off (when on, nothing is visible from the front with the display muted)
Reading through the Meridian blurb, I noticed that MQA didnt seem to be available on anything other than the SE model in the 5200 range. I don’t have a use for the feature (now), but the omission rang alarm bells, especially bearing in mind they offer MQA in the portable Explorer2.
Do they not update the software/firmware for the whole range of this kind of thing?
The 5200SE got a significant uplift in SQ over the already very capable 5200.2. The MQA aspect is kind of secondary as very few units can currently feed MQA in the Meridian Range,
Despite the price I think the 5200SE are very impressive.
Worth a demo if you can get to a dealer (or drop into the HH user forum and you may even find a local user who could help). M DSP have a style and presentation just as every brand does. You have to try it to see if it is to your liking.
M DSP definitely prove a simpler system if less boxes is what you are after,
I run just 2 DSP with an M front end driven by Roon on a NUC with files on a NAS.
Hi Steve, I’ve been a very happy DSP5000s, DSP5200s and now DSP5200SEs owner over the last 17 years. With an MS200 acting as the interface to Roon it makes for a very elegant solution. Just as you note, the standard coax input works for other sources (in my case, an HD621 stripping the audio from HDMI sources).
One comment I must make is the way they have preserved their value over the years; when I traded the 10 year old DSP5200s in for the SE’s last the cost of upgrade was far less than expected.
Over the years, each has received firmware updates slowly bringing them new capabilities, and early on, my DSP5000s were upgraded from 18 to 24 bit.
My only concern is that Meridian have decided to make the firmware upgrades available through the dealer network rather than by download; this makes it much more awkward if you are any kind of distance from a dealer.
But on the whole, they are without doubt the best value I have ever had from any audio equipment.
