Linn Ikemi vs. Electro. EMC1 vs. 508.24

and bought the 508. The hardness of the EMC (and I've got an expensive CJ tube setup with Guarneris (thanks Soundman!) so it should have been warm. Digititis to the max. Headaches. And worse, stopped listening. Bought the dealers last 508 and took a bath on the EMC1 sold here at Audiogon. My advice, don't buy a digital product from a company that doesn't specialize in it. Meridian, ah, I'm back to listening! (Ugly fit and finish too, I was embarassed when I sold it to 'sic it on anyone else's room!)

A no brainer. 508 might be the best bargain in audio. Only three players I have heard come close. The Accuphase 75V and the big Linn rig at $12000. I also own the Marantz flagship $7500 sacd bad boy but the Meridian stays on the equipment rack for redbook. What does that tell you? And, by the way, when I went head to head against the Accuphase at my dealer in NYC I had to unplug the Meridian, lug it in the cold to the shop, turn it back on and play it against the Accuphase which had been warmed up for months. STILL the Meridian sounded so close that I kept it and kept my wallet. In sound difference I would say that the Accuphase warmed up remember was silky smooth, but didn't have the jump factor of the Meridian. And less bass too. The sound was concentrated on a very very fine midrange. But we're talking thousands and thousands and thousands more here. And the Meridian was cold. Let Electrocompaniet stay on the Brit mags and Stereophile Class A list for 7 years running and we'll talk. Otherwise, buyer beware. There are as many for sale it seems as have sold since a nice guy I buy cables from in upstate NY carries it mailorder and tells me that no one who has bought from him has kept it more than a year. He has made a good bit of money in trade ins. nuf said.

I have been tempted many times to the EMC1 here because of the cheap prices almost new. There has to be a reason. Everytime I look there is another one for sale. How many have they sold in the US? 1000, less? My buddies Meridian has a serial number from 1998 in the ten thousand range! That's three years ago, but you can't find the same proportion of them for sale. I've never seen so many buyer remorse stories on this site as people who have sold their Meridians and been bummed out by what they've ended up with.

A no brainer. 508 might be the best bargain in audio. Only three players I have heard come close. The Accuphase 75V and the big Linn rig at $12000. I also own the Marantz flagship $7500 sacd bad boy but the Meridian stays on the equipment rack for redbook. What does that tell you? And, by the way, when I went head to head against the Accuphase at my dealer in NYC I had to unplug the Meridian, lug it in the cold to the shop, turn it back on and play it against the Accuphase which had been warmed up for months. STILL the Meridian sounded so close that I kept it and kept my wallet. In sound difference I would say that the Accuphase warmed up remember was silky smooth, but didn't have the jump factor of the Meridian. And less bass too. The sound was concentrated on a very very fine midrange. But we're talking thousands and thousands and thousands more here. And the Meridian was cold. Let Electrocompaniet stay on the Brit mags and Stereophile Class A list for 7 years running and we'll talk. Otherwise, buyer beware. There are as many for sale it seems as have sold since a nice guy I buy cables from in upstate NY carries it mailorder and tells me that no one who has bought from him has kept it more than a year. He has made a good bit of money in trade ins. nuf said.

You've got an all Europe system. Check out Whathifi or HifiNews. Both had great reviews of Meridian. In fact, Meridian made one of the 5 best systems in HiFiNews. They are lukewarm on the EMC in all the European rags except the couple reviews posted on the Electo site. And that was a different machine, I think it was true dual mono with two power plugs and not the single one sold in USA. And listen first by auditioning. There is a thread hear on why so many EMCs for sale, read it and be careful.