What Did Your System Look Like 20 Years Ago???

[Kenc]

fun thread! especially for those of us of a certain age.

ca. 2001: Wilson Sophias driven by Rowland Model 6 monos with batteries. My wife's best line when she first saw the amps was
"I don't know what those are but I bet they're expensive." Bass traps were home brew and thus useless. I had a friend reproduce the painting
featured in a Meitner ad from the 80's. I loved staring at it while listening.

Preamp was a CAT SL-1 Ultimate. Oracle Delphi V with SME V and Koetsu Rosewood. Had to play around with a couple of SUT's not shown.
Digital was an EAD Ultradisc 2000 chosen largely because the front fascia matched that of the Rowlands . I used a Perpetual Technologies
P-1A upsampler and P-3A DAC because they promised speaker specific room correction software but that never happened. This Madnick/Schifter collaboration was anything but "perpetual". Tuner was a Magnum Dynalab FT Etude.

 

[MTB Vince]

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.

The pair of late '80s Meridian M100 actives we have had sitting in our living room for the past two decades are visually identical to the M10. In the same way that the M20 & M30 were updates of the M2 & M3 actives, the M100 was an evolution of the flagship M10 with a superior Kef T33 tweeter and some additional circuitry that allowed for networked audio. They do look pretty strange with the grills removed but I leave the grills on as these are used for TV and background music listening these days and to protect the impossible to replace drivers.





Both the M10 and M100 were both awesome sounding speakers that are capable of absolutely holographic imaging given a top shelf source and preamp. The updated M100 offered a little airier high frequencies but otherwise sounds the same as its predecessor. While that 208 CD/Pre was a nifty bit of lifestyle kit that did sound very good, it and the too-low M2/M20 factory stands were the limiting factor in that system. When fronted by a great tubed full function preamp, those old Meridian analog active speakers actually sound sublime playing vinyl. It was the later DSP based Meridian actives that are a non-starter for keen vinyl fans.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Vince, you're really taking me back! The Meridian gear in the 80s had a very strong presence in UK dealers as CD swept aside LP as the decade wore on. The M10s/M100s were a little outside my ability to consider (only ghetto blasters need apply at the time), so my daydreams switched to the M20, and especially the D600, the new design that had the amps and DACs onboard. But the M20 was the one to really get my blood racing.
But, fickle fellow that I was, my eye then became drawn to the active Naim DBL and ATC SCM100A and 150A alternatives.

 

[MTB Vince]

Vince, you're really taking me back! The Meridian gear in the 80s had a very strong presence in UK dealers as CD swept aside LP as the decade wore on. The M10s/M100s were a little outside my ability to consider (only ghetto blasters need apply at the time), so my daydreams switched to the M20, the new design that had the amps and DACs onboard. But the M20 was the one to really get my blood racing.
But, fickle fellow that I was, my eye then became drawn to the active Naim DBL and ATC SCM100A and 150A alternatives.

That wasn't an M20 if it was a model with S/PDIF digital inputs and built in DACs Mark. Meridian's first digital active, the D600, was a compact 3-way floor stander introduced in the '90s. The first stand mount digital active from Meridian was the DSP33 released in 1999-2000. There was also an M33 analog active stand mount sibling to the DSP33 developed alongside and released around the same time. The M33 appeared visually identical to the DSP33 but with an analog RCA input and analog active crossover circuitry in place of the S/PDIF digital-only input, DSP crossover, and DACs in the DSP33 sibling. ...Yes like all fanboys, I'm a font of largely obsolete information on the products of a favorite brand- LOL!



So if the loudspeakers you remember auditioning were the M20, then they were analog actives not digital versions. The 208 CD/Pre was a full function CD player with built in DAC and an analog preamp onboard so that pairing with the M20 would make sense. The D600 digital input loudspeaker would have been paired with just the model 200 CD transport as both the DAC and analog preamp in a 208 would have been redundant. With the digital loudspeakers volume was controlled in the loudspeakers themselves via a Meridian system remote.

 

[spiritofmusic]

I'm sure now I mean the 207 CD transport/pre into the D600 active spkrs w onboard DACs, c.1989.
That was a £5k total system, and was touted a lot at the time as the future of digital.
Tricky when I was earning £5.50/hour doing 20 hours/week market research as a student.

 

[thomask]

20 years ago, I used Jadis 500 to drive B&W Notilus 801 at 20ft by 18 ft deep and 12 ft high medium size room.

Since I do not have original photo, I copied some of the photo from elsewhere.


The source was CEC TL0x CD transport, DCS Elgar and upsampler.

It was the SOTA digital back to 20 years ago like Wadax digital sysem now.


The system gave very dynamic and musical sound with most oomph in the deep bass.

But since Jadis 500 generate too much heat, it was hard to enjoy music during summer time.

I had kept the system for two years between 2000 and 2002.

Then based upon recommendation of my friend, I swithced to Silatone 300b SET to drive efficient full range speaker.

Although full range speaker gave very musical sound with nice timber, I had missed dynamics and deep bass of B&W Notilus 801.

Thus I switched to Lansce 4.1 on 2006 which had been used until last year before I got Altec A7.

 

[Xtc magic box]

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This was my mastering studio in London. Closed in 2006 when I decided to return to Australia.

The room was done by Recording Architecture and to this day, I have never heard a finer room.

Highly modified Alon Phalanx and Poseidon speakers
XTC Pow 1 main amp
Boulder 500s on the Poseidon subs
XTC pre3
XTC Dac and Transport
Van Den Hul Cables
Mana racks
Various studio gear including AD converters EQs, compressors and tape machines.

I still have some of the gear, but I made the mistake of selling the tape machines before the home market took off.

Nice set up

 

[Xtc magic box]

View attachment 87417

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View attachment 87418

This was my mastering studio in London. Closed in 2006 when I decided to return to Australia.

The room was done by Recording Architecture and to this day, I have never heard a finer room.

Highly modified Alon Phalanx and Poseidon speakers
XTC Pow 1 main amp
Boulder 500s on the Poseidon subs
XTC pre3
XTC Dac and Transport
Van Den Hul Cables
Mana racks
Various studio gear including AD converters EQs, compressors and tape machines.

I still have some of the gear, but I made the mistake of selling the tape machines before the home market took off.

 

[Xtc magic box]

Nice set up

Hi do you still have any of the Xtc?

 

[PeterA]

SME 10, Pass Xono, Aleph P, Aleph 3, Eggleston Rosa.

 

[facten]

A pair of Polk Audio foorstanders, a Portal Panache integrated amp, an Arcam CD player

 

[cjfrbw]

I could piece it together more exactly from my archives with some research that I am too lazy to do, but I was in the Apogee Stage phase with Luxman tube crossover and various tube amps (including Wavacs and/or VTL 450). Turntable went from SME 10 to 20 to 30 (I wore out the 30 bearing last year to my surprise).

 

[dcathro]

Hi do you still have any of the Xtc?

Still have the XTC preamp, but it is very modified.

My power amp is a DIY affair, but the circuit was designed by the same person.

 

[gfroman]

Redmond, WA apartment circa 1996.
Spectral/MIT + Genesis II + Sony XA7 CD + Pioneer Laser Disc

 

[dcc]

About 20 years ago, no rug as the kids were small and were crawling on the floor of the living room.

A pair Infinity IRS Epsilon loudspeakers driven by two stereo Krell KSA 200S power amps and a Krell KRC HR preamp with the KPE Reference phono board. The main sources were a Michell Orbe with a SME V tonearm and a Koestu Black cart, a CEC TL1X CD transport with a dCS Delius DAC and a dCS Purcell upsampler, a Nakamichi RX 202E. I still had an analog tuner at the time, a Rotel RT 1024 with a Magnum Dynalab antenna. No fancy cables.

 

[Riverdinaudio]

Magnepan MG20, Bryston 10b crossover, Threshold SA12e and Threshold s500v2, Aleph P pre w/remote, Teac R2R, Revox
B790 w/Shure V15 type 3, Camelot Technology Uther v3 DAC with Merlin Pro disc transport. All in a dedicated audio room.
Cannot find any photos. Sad......

 

[Jim Smith]

My system, 2001-
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[Jim Smith]

My system, 2001-
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WOW!!! Kinda looks familiar...

 

[PeterA]

Jim, how does that old Trio system compare to what you now have in terms of musical/emotional engagement? I've always wanted to hear a well set up AG trio.

 

[LL21]

Jim, how does that old Trio system compare to what you now have in terms of musical/emotional engagement? I've always wanted to hear a well set up AG trio.

I just heard a latest generation Trio set up with double-stacked dual horn subs earlier this week. Quite effortless in a large enough room to house 2 other smaller systems to each side plus 3 very deep rows of seats (8 seats wide each).