Meridian 508.24 Service

I had one of those. Honestly, I wouldn't bother fixing it. Its just my opinion, but I think that there are alot of other players out there that sound much better. Either way, call Stereo Exchange in NYC (212-505-1111). They can fix it.

I still have a 508.24 and I think that it's still one of the best sounding players ever. Mine occasionally has trouble reading a CD until it worms up, but once warm it's fine. Most of the problems with these units involves (occasionally) repairing or (usually) replacing the crappy Pioneer CD drive, which is only available as used parts. I hope that you are not SOL with that.

Those players use a Philips drive.

i'd start with Marc Koval at The Repair Shop.

Elberoth2,

You are correct, sir. I thought Philips but typed Pioneer. I guess I should stop replying late at night...

I just remembered something that's kind of funny and may explain some of the problems people are having with these units. As part of a demo in the store, the salespeople unplugged the CD player, pried the drawer open by hand and then picked it up using the open drawer as a handle. And then, to the amusement of all, started shaking the poor thing around in a very violent way. Yes, it did seem to work OK after all that, but I made damn sure to get one in a new, clean and factory sealed box. I hope you guys did too. Those little black boxes are really heavy.

Also, to expand on my first post as to the sound quality of the 508, I didn't really mean to put it down as a bad sounding player. I just found it a fairly boring player to listen to. It was one of those products that didn't do anything wrong. But that's it. Of course, thats just my opinion of it in my system. If you have one and enjoy it, keep it. Thats all that matters.

I owned a 508.24 but sold it years ago. When I first got it I was thrilled with its sound quality but cd has vastly improved. I found a Rega Apollo has superior pace as the 508.24 is indeed boring by modern standards. I now used a Sim Moon which is altogether superior to the508.24. Thus unless you can get the meridian fixed cheaply it's not worth the money

I have tried unsuccessfully a few months ago to get my 508.20 repaired. It won't read the TOC on any CD I put in it , just keeps trying to load. From what I understand, the lasers go and it's unlikely to find another one. I tried to two local shops here in Portland, OR. Good luck.

After some Internet research, I found the following contact for Meridian repairs:

Marc Koval at:
Marc Koval
The Repair Shop
404-585-1102
marc.koval@gmail.com

I have never used The Repair Shop. I suggest you give him a call.

I used The Repair Shop to repair both my 598 & G68. They both work great now. I also had Mark install a LPS 60 Watt power supply in my G68 that makes it sound much better. I would recommend anyone with Meridian equipment to replace the original PS. Both of my pieces needed repair because the PS went bad.

I've listened to about 100 cd players since the 80's andn Meridian 508.24 is close to top of list..
Don't let anyone tell you different

I will tell you different. I owned a 508.24 which was a great player in its day, but digital circa 2014 is better. For what the 508.24 cost new ($4000) you can buy a whale of an incredible player. I now own a Simaudio CD player which in my system is better in dynamics and scale. Dynamics was always what I thought to be the 508.24's weakest hand.

I never liked the bass in the 508.24 (undefined, opaque).
I bought it new in 1998 and liked the Accuphases much better a few years later, then moved on to EMM and never looked back.

"I never liked the bass in the 508.24 (undefined, opaque)."

I always liked the bass of the 508.24. Rich, deep, redolent with tone, and amazingly similar to bass I hear in live acoustic performance. Music lovers appreciate this kind of sound reproduction. Audiophiles...it's anyone's guess what they'll like.