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Opinion of Meridian 557 Amp

Hi, has anyone heard the Meridian 557 Amp. I heard these 2 of these Amps bridged, on the Sonus Faber Extremas. This system with Meridian 557 Amps bridged, sounded so sweet and smooth and articulate. Now i'm not sure, if that was due to the Sonus Faber Extremas, or the Amps. The Amps bridged were 1000 watts. The Preamp being used was the Meridian 502. The Digital system was the Meridian 566 Dac, 518 Jitter reducer and the Meridian 500 Transport. But i must tell you, this system sounded unbelievable. I never heard anything this good. Alot of people know Meridian threw there digital equipment, Dacs, CD Players, Processors. But the 557 Amps and 502 Preamp in this system sounded amazing.
twilo
faberryman
20 posts
 
I have had a 557 for about 2 years and have loved it. It replaced an Acurus A250 and was definitely a step up. I bought another 557 this weekend and am running the pair as bridged monoblocks. I haven't had a chance to do a serious audition, but they obviously have near limitless reserves. I currently have Thiel speakers which do not have a bi-wire option. I think the real question is how do they sound bridged vs. how do they sound run in stereo mode to vertically bi-amp a speaker with bi-wire capability.
twilo OP
357 posts
 
Faberryman, You have to hear these Amps Bridged. They sound amazing. But i heard them on the Sonus Faber Extremas, which need lots of power. If your bridge them, tell me how they sound brided, compared to using one of them. Thanks JVC2020@Yahoo.com
redkiwi
1,092 posts
 
I have not heard the actual combination you refer to but have heard the individual components. In my opinion the 566 DAC and the 502 preamp are not nearly as good as the rest of the Meridian gear concerned. But the 557 bridged works very well with Thiels and the Extremas. In some systems the 557 can be a little too "yin" and veiled, but with an exuberantly transparent speaker that also wants some "welly", then in that case I have heard the 557s sound very right indeed. Also very good with Shahinian speakers by the way.
faberryman
20 posts
 
Redkiwi, what is "welly"?
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