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Heard my friend's system, thinking of leaving hifi

I asked a friend to come over and listen to my system which consists of a Cary 303/200 CD player, Plinius 8200 integrated and Soliloquy 6.2 speakers with Acoustic Zen cabling all around, most of which was purchased from this site. He politely told me to gather my best music and invited me to go to his place and listen to his system.

He has some type of Meridian arrangement where the CD player goes directly to internally powered fullrange speakers. Oh my, the first 10 seconds and I wanted to cry! It was all there: imaging, soundstage, naturalness to all instruments, non-fatigue, front row... I've been to alot of trade shows and dealers in my area so I know what a great system sounds like and where my modest system stands in comparison, but geez that Meridian system sounded amazing! I mean it dwarfed all by comparison. (The only flaw that I could find was that in the systems current state it didn't allow for the addition of an FM tuner.)

Naturally most of us can't afford to drop that kind of money on a passtime. Certainly, I really can't afford to drop $50k on a system like that, but jeez it sounded great! I mean I came home and wanted to give my system away and find another hobby!

Does anyone have any suggestions about any changes I could make to my system to start working towards getting to that sound? I would say that first the speakers would have to go. Something "fuller" than the 2-ways I currently have. Perhaps something with powered woofers? His sytem seemed to present all frequencies in a balanced manner. Mine seems a bit thin in comparison and certainly lacks the lower end. Any suggestions would be appreciated...
portugal11
portugal11 OP
52 posts
 
Shadorne, you're right... I've got all the time in world. I'm going to hold off on speakers for the moment as I will be moving in a few months and the room parameters will most likely be different.

On that note, and based on reading in between the lines of your last post would you suggest that I try one of the Meridian CD players? I believe that the 508.24 has a following but I'm weary of used CD players and I believe that there were some quirks reported with Meridian players. (I think that they have a G 08 out now?) Moreover, would you associate imaging and soundstage with sources like a CD player in additiion to the speakers?

Great analogy regarding Queen and the dull blonde.
shoe
204 posts
 
Vandersteen 3a sig, VS VR 4 jr, Aerial 7b, Meadowlark Heron all for around $2000 here on Agon.
boper39
13 posts
 
Hi My suggestion would be to ask your friend if he could bring his Meridian Cd player to your house, to see what effect that will have in your system. Cheap experment probably only a few bottles of some good Merlot. LOL
gawdbless's avatar
gawdbless
1,235 posts
 
Hey Shadorne, my hi-fi buddy has heard all the Meridian gear. Still loves his horns,lol.
A sobering thought; expensive doesn't always equal good/or best.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Hey Shadorne, my hi-fi buddy has heard all the Meridian gear. Still loves his horns,lol.
A sobering thought; expensive doesn't always equal good/or best.

Which horns does your friend believe beats Meridian hands down? If you are referring to the fact that Meridian gear is rather expensive and may not be great value then I will definitely conceed that.

Indeed there are all kinds of great sounding speakers at relatively modest prices especially if they do not need to be played that loud - I don't doubt your friend may have excellent sound with horns - after all these were THE most popular design for many many years before solid state gave us more power cheaply, allowing other designs to be able to compete...and horns excel at low distortion because the transducer moves much less...a very live/dynamic type sound. The fact that horns are still around and used in homes is testament to their great sound. I like the sound of horns too.
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