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Heard my friend's system, thinking of leaving hifi

I asked a friend to come over and listen to my system which consists of a Cary 303/200 CD player, Plinius 8200 integrated and Soliloquy 6.2 speakers with Acoustic Zen cabling all around, most of which was purchased from this site. He politely told me to gather my best music and invited me to go to his place and listen to his system.

He has some type of Meridian arrangement where the CD player goes directly to internally powered fullrange speakers. Oh my, the first 10 seconds and I wanted to cry! It was all there: imaging, soundstage, naturalness to all instruments, non-fatigue, front row... I've been to alot of trade shows and dealers in my area so I know what a great system sounds like and where my modest system stands in comparison, but geez that Meridian system sounded amazing! I mean it dwarfed all by comparison. (The only flaw that I could find was that in the systems current state it didn't allow for the addition of an FM tuner.)

Naturally most of us can't afford to drop that kind of money on a passtime. Certainly, I really can't afford to drop $50k on a system like that, but jeez it sounded great! I mean I came home and wanted to give my system away and find another hobby!

Does anyone have any suggestions about any changes I could make to my system to start working towards getting to that sound? I would say that first the speakers would have to go. Something "fuller" than the 2-ways I currently have. Perhaps something with powered woofers? His sytem seemed to present all frequencies in a balanced manner. Mine seems a bit thin in comparison and certainly lacks the lower end. Any suggestions would be appreciated...
portugal11
gregm
3,409 posts
 
Dave,
"Unfortunately the biggest mismatch in most systems is between the two speakers and the speakers vs. the room."
with respect I disagree. By fat the biggest mismatch /bungling /disaster, etc is between speakers and amplification.
dazzdax
599 posts
 
I've heard a full TACT system + speakers by Dynaudio (not active) in a large room. The system sounded awesome! But why didn't it sound... musical? The other room in which they demoed Accuphase gear with Cabasse speakers was far more engaging. So: optimized acoustics + in room response will not guarantee that a system will sound excellent and musical.
Btw, I didn't know Meridian could sound so engaging? It sounds impressive, that's for sure! Like the Meridian home theater demo I attended once. Impressive but artificial...

Chris
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
01-16-08: Gregm said:
Dave,
"By fat the biggest mismatch /bungling /disaster, etc is between speakers and amplification."

Interesting. I just haven't experienced that. Then again, I wouldn't try to couple a single ended, 300B tube amp with speakers like my Vienna Acoustics, which are so efficient. I've found that it only takes a little common sense to avoid a speaker/amp mismatch.

Dave
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Active speakers are NOT 1000 times better, IMHO. They're not even two-times better than a well matched conventional system.

I agree - Twice as good for Active vs non-Active Speakers is closer to the difference and I agree that room acoustics/speaker placement can make this order of difference too (although most audiophiles know about this fact whilst fewer are aware of the advantages of Active Speakers or the problmes of matching speaker and amplifier).

1000 times better is just pure ridiculous hyperbole - nobody would believe that (I think this statement is tongue-in-cheek heavy handed marketing on the part of Meridian founder Bob Stuart - nobody in AES would buy this statement and Bob knows this!).
portugal11 OP
52 posts
 
Frustration is more what I feel than anything...

I'm inclined to go with a new speaker rather than include a subwoofer. Wouldn't I have to inlcude two to do it right? Those Audio Physics in ebony look stunning but they get mixed reviews. I wish that there was a way to try out the Von Schweikert VR4JR locally...
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