Around 15 years ago: main speakers were Krell LAT 1000, turntable was a Simon York, Nagra CDP and Krell MCX750. The KPS 25 sc is hiding somewhere. Crazy days ... 
What Did Your System Look Like 20 Years Ago???
- Thread starter gfroman
- Start date
Indeed. Craig Oxford, the head of Nearfield Acoustics was quite a character. He was hardly one of my favorite people in the industry but when it came to wood finishes for his speakers, he was a total obsessive compulsive about quality, bookend matching, and finish. I think only 2 of the Carpathian Elm Burl speakers with hemisphere backs were made and I eventually sold mine to a guy in California who had the other pair. He wanted 4 matching towers for a full surround system. Not sure how they sound but I'm sure it's a joy just to look at them!
The LAT speakers were terrific in their day, particularly if you had enough power to really drive them.
No, I sold the Merlins along with the pictured Aesthetix & ARC stereo tube gear a few years after those pics were taken @jeffrey_t. This made room for what would prove to be an ultimately disappointing move to a complete Meridian multi-channel digital system. My dedicated music room was the only windowless space in my otherwise wide open loft apartment. When my TV producer wife and I decided that we'd enjoy a really big screen HT movie experience, this was the only room sufficiently dark enough to accommodate a projector properly. We chose Meridian for the audio side of things as Stereophile and several other magazines had extolled the virtues of this being a set up that offered cutting edge sonics for both music and cinema.
In retrospect that prior two channel system anchored by Bobby's VSM-Ms was so much more musically satisfying than the much larger Meridian DSP6000 fronts playing in straight stereo (or Tri-field). Sure movies and multi-channel DVD-Audio music were fun but stereo playback, particularly LP playback, took a big step backwards. So much for Stereophile's Class A components rating of the DSP6000 active speaker system and associated processor and transport...
I worked hard with this set-up over the next decade trying to bring it's two channel music performance up to an acceptable level. There were major room acoustics overhauls, an upgrade to a motorized acoustically transparent screen which supported a trio of identical DSP6000s across the front, a major subwoofer upgrade from Paradigm to Seaton, new racking, upgraded SPDIF signal cables, and many expensive in-person visits from both acoustics consultants and a Meridian "premium partner" dealer.
After all the work and money spent, movies sounded great, multi-channel music very good, CD stereo good, and LP stereo was still only decent at best. After stewing about the less than awesome music reproduction for years, I figured there had to be a better way. My goal was to retain great multi-channel but to do so without compromising stereo playback. I theorized that the way forward was to backtrack. I needed to start over completely. I began planning the changeover about three years ago and it took about two years to complete.
I retained my Seaton subwoofers and Oracle turntable but unloaded all my Meridian DSP gear 'cuz it's entirely digital encrypted hi-rez signal path made it a closed system. For all five bed loudspeakers I chose identical stand mount active ATC studio monitors. Then I built up two independent signal chains, one multi-channel and one stereo, each with their own sources, preamps, and bass management. I seamlessly share the left and right mains and the subwoofer array between either multi-channel or stereo front-ends via 12v relay triggered passive XLR switchboxes. Well the new dual duty system (listed in my signature) performs every bit as well as I'd hoped. Multi-channel made an unexpected leap in sound quality and now features Immersive Audio too with four additional passive ATC monitors hung on the ceiling. And stereo... Well now two channel playback in some respects outperforms my old stereo-only entirely tube amplified Merlin rig, despite there being far fewer tubes. So these days I very happily have my cake and get to eat it too!
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Threshold 100 watt class A monos driving the Maggies and a Stereo 500 driving the homemade woofers, 24" Hartleys. Threshold Fet 10 line and phono. Crossover designed by Nelson Pass.
Thank you, i had the SA 3 with Yamaha C 2x pre much in love these amps. SA Series are really good amps.
50watt pure class a
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The legendary faux marble look Apogee Divas
Aesthetically not entirely my taste but they are for sure a contemporary statement/witness
Do you happen to still have those rare beasts?
That would be awesome!
The legendary faux marble look Apogee Divas
Aesthetically not entirely my taste but they are for sure a contemporary statement/witness
Do you happen to still have those rare beasts?
That would be awesome!
No, unfortunetly, they and a lot of other things went away in a divorce. What I have now is the third picture in my OP. Yes, the Diva's along with the Krell Reference KRSB and KRS 100 was a very satisfying system. I did keep the tape deck, turntable and all tapes and LPs.
Thank you for the positive comment.
Vince, just how did the Meridians fail? In the late 80s, I did a 180 from vinyl to CD (y'know, Perfect Sound Forever), and an all-Meridian system based on the 208 CDP/pre and M20 active spkrs beckoned...all I had to do was find the £5k needed, while having no income as a student Lol.
When I listened to the Meridians in depth, they were both compelling and the best reason yet not to go all-Meridian. Indeed, as a result I pivoted back to LP, and the rest is, as they say, history.
What failed for you on day to day Meridian experience?
I heard that system at CES, it was the best I've ever heard Pipe Dreams. My cousin and I were just floored by the sound.
Sorry to hear about your divorce and the loss of a lot of other things
I would love to hear an overhauled pair of Divas with your current ARC Ref 250 SE amps. That might be a wonderful match
A close friend of mine just took delivery of a refurbished Divas and is using my spare ARC Ref150, unfortunetly he only has a single ended preamp so I needed to use adaptors on the Ref150. Still, sounded very nice.Sorry to hear about your divorce and the loss of a lot of other things
I would love to hear an overhauled pair of Divas with your current ARC Ref 250 SE amps. That might be a wonderful match
Hey Mark, I actually still own several pairs of earlier all analog Meridian actives along with several pieces of 2XX and 5XX series electronics. In fact I was quite the Meridian fanboy as a young guy and in my 30's and 40's began buying up used examples of some of the legacy Meridian products I c lusted after but could not afford as a young man. In fact I currently own pairs of of the M2, M3, M20, M30, and late '80s flagship M100. All these early Kef driver based actives sound great, much better than the notorious LS3/5A IMHO.
Long story short, my positive past experience with "legacy" Meridian gear & analog active speakers informed my purchase of the newer DSP based active loudspeakers and gear. While the theory behind Meridian's move to an all digital signal path made perfect sense, in practice I simply couldn't ever get it to sound as good. And the resulting necessity of running your high-end turntable and phono stage through an ADC->DSP->DAC cycle drained all the airy, spacious, human sounding magic out of good vinyl replay. Even CD with its pure digital signal path from transport to the digital crossovers and 24/96 Dacs in the DSP6000 loudspeakers was a step backwards from the sonic perfection of my prior Sonic Frontiers SFD2 Mk3 DAC->Aesthetix Callisto linestage->ARC Classic 150 monos->Merlin VSM-M loudspeaker signal chain.
So after years of dogged iterative effort to eke more from that closed all-Meridian system with it's encrypted 24/96 signal path, I finally threw in the towel and sold it all. Then I put a lot of thought and research into just how I could achieve my goal of uncompromised two channel and multi-channel sound in a dual-duty system.
Ah, I don't think I'd ever have run vinyl thru a Meridian system.
Can I ask, did you ever hear the frankly scary looking Meridian M10 spkrs, their flagships from early to mid-80s?
They certainly appealed to a young, aspring (but too poor) audiophile.
I have to say that 208/M20 system was really attractive, especially the simple minimal box-count and tech-packed package/lifestyle statement (my GF at the time was VERY fussy about looks...despite choosing me Lol), but on hearing a well set-up Linn LP12/Naim active system, I didn't just drop Meridian like a stone...I also did another 180, pivoting back to LP, only re-engaging properly w digital fifteen years later when I found a CDP that wasn't embarrassed by great vinyl.
Can I ask, did you ever hear the frankly scary looking Meridian M10 spkrs, their flagships from early to mid-80s?
They certainly appealed to a young, aspring (but too poor) audiophile.
I have to say that 208/M20 system was really attractive, especially the simple minimal box-count and tech-packed package/lifestyle statement (my GF at the time was VERY fussy about looks...despite choosing me Lol), but on hearing a well set-up Linn LP12/Naim active system, I didn't just drop Meridian like a stone...I also did another 180, pivoting back to LP, only re-engaging properly w digital fifteen years later when I found a CDP that wasn't embarrassed by great vinyl.
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