Meridian Co-Founder On Why Buying Speakers Should Be Like Buying A Piano

Alan

An interesting article, obviously part advertorial but a pleasant success story. I haven't heard any of Meridian's top-end gear, I know it's sometimes seen as a more upmarket B&O for 'new money' but let's not allow inverse snobbery to win the day.

Linky to Huffington Post.

RobHolt

He makes a very good point.
Some audio kit lasts while some fades away with time but the reasons are varied IMO. The design itself needs to be timeless to best succeed, both in terms of offering excellent performance not restricted by the limitations of technology at the time of conception, and also by good aesthetic design.

I was exchanging messages with someone the other day who's just bought some Yamaha NS1000s. The driver technology in that 1970s design is still ahead of most drivers today, and the design was excellent from the word go, so they become a high performance classic.

When UK Quad built and sold amplifiers they were intended to last decades, if not a lifetime. When new models came along it was in response to changing conditions such as decreasing average loudspeaker sensitivities and the need for more power, plus better manufacturing methods and value to the customer. The company often advised customers that they'd so see no benefit 'upgrading' to a newer model if the old one was still working ok. It was quite an unusual position and you see it echoed in Meridian today to some degree.

I've a lot of time for Meridian. They perhaps uniquely combine performance, innovation, reliability and style like no other audio company today.

I'm still after a Lecson pre amp, even if it just hangs on the wall so that I can stroke it occasionally.

Brain_Dead

Hi Rob, I loved the 
Yamaha NS1000s as a student I sold them from Godfrey Photographic in Basildon and the TB700 cassette deck the pre-runner to the Nakamichi  And the Echo TV from Eric Cole, see Alan I am a old git.

That when a imported Colour TV could not be bigger than 18inch and most were tubes/valves.

Fun days and nice people to work with, so does anybody recall Godfrey Photographic?

Alan

Rob - Simon? I lusted after those...

Docfoster

Haven't had chance to read article yet.
I do remember hearing some active meridian speakers at a bristol show 5 or so year ago. They were impressively realistic. The guy presenting them talked about using piano music as a reference during meridian production/listening tests.

PAC

I have sopme empathy with a lot of what he writes. In particular we ought to trust our ears as much as our sight, and to add to that, our sense of smell and of touch!  No-one has golden ears and most music enthusiasts even if their hearing isn't perfect (ie damaged) know what they like without being told what is good or bad.

Comparing a set of their speakers to a Steinway though?  Come on, get real!  It takes 100's of hours to hand make and finish a Steinway and that's before it's tuned!  Half a dozen highly skilled craftsmen/women are employed at significant cost and materials costs are way more than for any loudspeaker.  No loudspeaker I know of takes a team  many 100's of man hours to complete and I suspect that this is a little arrogance creeping into the article.  Had he simply left it as they will last a generation, that could have been enough.

Have listened to a few Meridian bits and bobs and they never impressed that greatly, especially the loudspeakers, but to be fair, never heard them properly set up in a listening room, just in a showroom.

muz690

These do compare to a Steinway however...

muz690

PAC

Steinway Lyngdorf Model D's?

Isn't the owner of the company and the developer of those Peter Lyngdorf (who had previous involvement with NAD an Snell as I recall).  The Model D's are seriously expensive loudspeakers!  I think they come as part of a package which includes the amp and a room correction device.

Nothing at all like Meridian loudspeakers though...