- Oracle Audio Technologies Delphi mkV
Another refugee from our prior two channel setup. This very sexy Canadian table fits in perfectly with our Meridian gear both sonically and visually. Its superior suspension does a brilliant job of isolating the cartridge from the prodigious bottom end output of the DSP loudspeakers.
Not much to say here. The V is continues to be one of the world's best pivoting tonearms.
A great cartridge- our Ref seems to track most anything, is well balanced, and on the forgiving side of neutral. We like it.
- Audiomat Phono-1 phonostage
Yup, a bit of a step down from the Aesthetix Io that used to do phonostage duty in our two channel rig! The fact that our vinyl signal gets digitized in the Meridian processor meant that we lost a little resolution here and the Io simply wasn't neccessary anymore. However, the Audiomat is a real overachiever, is very compact, musical, and gets the job done.
- Enlightened Audio Design T-8000 CD/LD
This beast of a CD/LD transport has served as the front end of our 2 channel setup for years. It sounds great as a redbook transport, better than the Meridian 598DP in fact. We still have a ton o' laser discs too and through our DVDO scaler they look great.
This is a great DVD player. Not the last word for redbook CD playback but through its MHR smartlink upsampled to a Meridian processor it excels on movie soundtracks. We run the video through an SDI output board into our DVDO scaler and the picture is great.
- Toshiba HD-XA2 w/ 3X S/PDIF output mod
The best HD-DVD player made, period. Fantastic SD upscaling playback too with its HQV chip. Shawn at www.switch-box.com installed a 3X S/PDIF output board which outputs the HD audio codecs at full resolution via multi-channel PCM for ideal output to the Meridian 861's muti-channel digital inputs.
- Sony PS3 Blu-Ray/Game console
Truth be told, this unit sees little action as it was bought primarily for its gaming capabilities but there have been few game titles I liked to-date. However, it is a great looking Blu-Ray player. One must figure out a way to address the excessive fan noise though. Along with my Xbox 360, the PS3 resides in an adjacent sound-proofed closet . I run 35' lengths of Blue Jeans best Belden HDMI cable to the Radiient HDMI switch and long Toslink cables digital audio to the 861. Noise problem solved...
The new 360 Elite permits HDMI/DVI connection to my PJ and thus a significanyly better picture than the prior component video-only 360. I LOVE 1st person shooters on my 360 and the big screen- way too much fun! Like the PS3, I deal with the 360's ridiculously loud fan by siting the console in an adjacent sound-proof closet. Long Blue Jeans Belden HDMI and Toslink cables deal with the interconnection requirements.
This is a great sounding processor. Yeah everything is digitized- no analog pass-through, but it makes music. Trifield reproduction of both CD and Vinyl is completely satisfying. On movies it is killer! The MHR 3x S/PDIF connection to the 598 DVD player allows an upsampled high bit rate direct digital transfer of the signal. No conventional DVD player/HT processor combo with their redundant DAC and ADC connections can touch Meridian's pure digital approach.
Well these are certainly a different approach than the Merlin VSM/ARC tube monoblock combo we used to use. And yet, maybe not. Our old system was tubed and analog front to back. Even our DAC used tubes. The Meridian DSP loudspeakers allow us to keep the signal in the digital domain and at high bit rate (upsampled where required) right through the speakers dsp crossovers and to within inches of the drivers themselves. This is a different kind of purity. Pure digital but similiar in its single-mindedness none-the-less. Our 24/96 DSP6000s are incredibly wideband reproducers, very low destortion, very dynamic, and they image very well. The Merlins were a little more open with their amazing tweeters but can't touch the Meridian's mid and low bass authority.
We would have prefered a matching DSP6000C center but the almost 5' height simply would'nt work with our wall mounted screen. The 24/96 DSP5000C is mounted as high as we could on a 24" high 4 post stand and angled upward towards the listener. We were very happy to discover that this arrangement seemed to work very well for music playback with no apparent sound field discontinuities.
The 24/96 DSP5000s are on surround duties. Although they are fairly close the back wall they've been placed using golden ratio principals and deliver a well balanced sound. They are far enough away from the listening position to work well and enjoy the same sidewall abfusor and corner sited tube trap treatments the main speakers do. The result is great Trifield and multi channel music playback and fantastic envelopment for movies. THey are currently on 5" Corian sandbox plinths but we intend to moun t them on 12-16" custom Sound Anchor stands shortly.
These potent black beasts are another holdover from my two channel setup. They are sounding the best they ever have with the recent addition of a Behringer Feedback Destroyer digital parametric eq. They now measure flat to 15hz! I only use the Servo 15s for movies now. The bass reach of the Meridian DSP6000s requires no help for music. The Servo 15s rest on large "Brightstar-style" DIY Corian sandboxes in an attempt to minimize the excitation of my hardwood floors.
- Velodyne SMS-1 Parametric sub EQ
This parametric sub EQ is conceptually similar to the inexpensive Behringer BFD prosound piece it replaces but has a vastly more friendly user interface. Although the SMS-1 is many times more expensive than the BFD, its ease of use and included measurement mic and real-time display of room response still make it an incredible value. Highly recommended!
- DVDO iScan HD Plus scaler
This is a great scaler at a very reasonable price. It is the nerve center of the video side of our system. The Meridian 598 player is connected via SDI and then DVI from the scaler to our projector so the video signal avoids DAC/ADC conversion entirely. The rest of our video sources are connected to the scaler with component or s-video cables.
- Projectiondesign Action Model One Mk 3
This new PJ just arrived. Comments to follow...
- Vutec Silverstar Projection Screen
A 110" plasma TV! The best fixed mount screen you can buy for DLP, DILA, or LCD projectors.
- Cardas Golden Reference Phono & RCA ICs
A holdover from the previous two channel tube setup. Why fix what ain't broke? Here it runs from the Oracle to the AudioMat phono to the Meridian 861.
- River Cable DigiFlex Gold Plus S/PDIF cables
The S/PDIF portion of Meridian's M & S digital speaker interconnects are simply dreck. The problem was that I required 30 meters of S/PDIF cable total. River Cable came to the rescue with this ridiculously affordable cable. It handily bested the stock wires. In fact it is so good I may not bother upgrading it. Highly recommended!
- Kimber Illuminations D-60 S/PDIF cable
I run this cable between the EAD transport and the Meridian transport. I used to run an AES/EBU Illuminations Orchid between the same transport and my SF Dac. My Meridian gear only accepts S/PDIF so this was an easy choice.
- Stereovox XV2 1.5m S/PDIF cables
These are used in sets of three between both the 598DP and modded XA2's multi-channel digital outs and the corresponding inputs on the 861. The best value in an S/PDIF cable!
- River Cable Audiflex Gold RCA
Again a well made, ridiculously affordable interconnect I simply use to feed the LFE output of my Processor to the Behringer sub EQ.
- River Cable Starflex Subwoofer RCA
Truth be told, any well shielded decent interconnects would have done the job here. These looked great, are very affordable and actually sound a little better than the Monster sub cables I'd originally bought with my Servo 15s.
- Foundation Research LC-1 and LC-2 conditioners
No downsides whatsoever. These are simply the only line conditioning product I've found that when operated within their current capabilities are totally beneficial. A (way) lower noise floor, increased dynamics, improved air and space, improved bass clarity and power- these are just some of the things that ED W's little black boxes accomplish. I run one of these dedicated power conditioners on everything but the PJ!
- Target welded steel 2 & 3 shelf racks
I use 3 of these, one particularly robust version for my Oracle turntable. I have a bunch of DIY "Brightstar-style" Corian sandboxes that rest on the racks and support all the gear.
These were a, "If MDF works great for the Brightstar originals, Corian must be even better." -sort of idea. A local Corian installer built 'em for me. They worked fantastic under all the tube gear we once owned. All the new gear is still really new and I haven't really experimented with isolation and footers yet under the Meridian stuff. I just plopped it all down where the old stuff sat. I'm sure it can't hurt.
- Black Diamond Racing Cones, Pucks, Record Clamp, & Shelf
This stuff simply works! I've yet to try a BDR product I didn't like. Highly recommended!
