802Ds with Classe or Meridian or both?

**Jesse111** · 05 September 2006, 21:02 Tuesday

Heard the meridian. Feel the same as you. 802 more natural. I just feel the B&W diamond and marlan head are just unbeatable. Stick with your original setup is my opinion.

He's a salesmen. As soon as anyone says anything about digital speakers I just laugh. What speaker made plays digital? They all play analog. Somewhere in the stream the signal has to be converted to analog before the speaker will play anything. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's a salesman obviously not interested in the finer quality of music.

You heard them both and sounds like you prefer the 802. With that high end Meridian stuff you can tune those 802's to sing like angels. They will deliver whatever sound pleases you. With quality equalization they'll be as flexible, powerful and as articulate as you want them to be.

By the way, what do you suppose he meant by "over priced for what they are"? Sounds like a generic salesman's line of crap.

**Kal Rubinson** · 05 September 2006, 21:05 Tuesday

I, too, am looking forward to trying the Meridian (Ref 861) with my 802Ds as soon as it is possible.

Kal

**fauzigarib** · 05 September 2006, 23:51 Tuesday

Meridien

Hi there,

Man oh man! How nice to have options like that. I really agree with you about the Meridien sound; clinical is the best way to put it.

Having said that, no one can argue with the fact that it is a gorgeous line of products, and no one does digital speakers quite like they do.

However, you must keep in mind that you're very limited to sticking with that brand and that brand only. The nice thing about a "normal" analog setup is that, say some years down the line, you get tired of the classe sound, and want to upgrade to say a DarTZeel amplification. You'd be hard pressed to even consider that as an option if you were tied down with the Meridien.

Plus, I think as good as Meridien products are, I feel that B&W speakers are still on the forefront of speaker design today, and you'd have a difficult time finding a speaker that you can love for a loooong time like you'll love the 800 series.

Let us know,

Fauzi

**jericho** · 06 September 2006, 00:43 Wednesday

Just stay with those 802D's you won't regret!!! :T

**DavidB** · 08 September 2006, 15:47 Friday

What you have there is a very similar set up to my system

B&W 802D
B&W HTM2D
B&W DS8
Meridian G68

My amplification is different though I have a Dynavector HX 1.2 driving the 802D's and a Bryston 9BSST driving the HTM2D and DS8's (the sprare channels on the Bryston drive some Signature 7NT's in my dining room). I also have a Sunfire Sub.

I obviously approve of your system! I don't need to add to what others have said about the 802D's and HTM2D except you won't regret it and I did hear the top end Meridian system as well. My surrounds are the in-wall version of yours and I'm very happy with them. The G68 is a great AV Processor but I'm not sure about the G98 as I think spending that much on a DVD/CD player that is not future proofed seems questionable right now . G98's are quite cheap second hand as a result.

My system was an upgrade on my old 2 Channel system so I already have a decent (if ageing) Copland CD player and a good Arcam DVD player. I'm using those until I see which way the HD/Blueray debate settles.

The Dynavector is a little known amp and is about to be replaced by a newer model but I loved it, it has great grip and is known for driving difficult loads very well. Out of interest did you try the Meridian amp with the 802D's? I thought it was awful, well maybe that's harsh...let's just say very disappointing.

**skuzzyb** · 05 October 2006, 00:10 Thursday

DavidB, thanks for your feedback.

I am not a fan of HD DVD or BluRay because the format wars need to be sorted out before I decide which direction to go, in the meanwhile, I still want to watch HD content so I figured I can manage with the upconversion on a really good DVD player. I would much rather spend my money there that spend it on a Gen1 HD/BD DVD player. I hope it will sort itself out soon as I am sick of vendors thinking about themselves versus the customer. (ok, off my soap box). Never heard of the Dynavector and no, I did not try the Meridian amp with the B&Ws because they were two different dealers. I heard all the Classe gear with the B&Ws and actually loved the sound. I did think that the Classes did not go as low as the Macs, which I auditioned as well but thought the sound of the Classe was (may I say), vinyl like. It was magical.

I do have a question though, have you heard the Classe ssp600 pre pro? I have and it is truly astounding as well.

**Aldo** · 05 October 2006, 10:25 Thursday

I love the term digital speakers, at the end there is nothing digital, the drivers are analog and so your ears, there is no match to B&W, if you don't believe myself beleive the 80% of the world studios who use them as monitors!

**ZX10 Guy** · 05 October 2006, 19:54 Thursday

The reason why Meridian calls their speakers digital is because the speakers have DACs in them. The overall concept of the design is very appealing and has a lot of theoretical advantages. The speakers are also bi/tri-amped.

Here's a link to a Bob Stuart interview where he discusses why Meridian chose to design their speakers the way they do:

http://217.64.54.14/streaming/interviews/2006/bob_stuart_speakers/512.wmv

With that said, I felt the amount of coin to get into a set of Meridian speakers was a bit much for me given the performance. I do have a Meridian front end setup consisting of a 568.2MM and a 598DP. The setup is great and I'm thoroughly satisfied.

Instead of the G98, have you considered going with the 598DP route? There are still some floating around that you can buy new. You can get the 598DP and run MHR into your G68. Add in an SDI board to the 598 and couple it with an outboard scaler like the DVDO VP50 and still have a lot of money left over compared to buying a G98 new.

**sikoniko** · 05 October 2006, 21:21 Thursday

Originally posted by skuzzyb

DavidB, thanks for your feedback.

I am not a fan of HD DVD or BluRay because the format wars need to be sorted out before I decide which direction to go, in the meanwhile, I still want to watch HD content so I figured I can manage with the upconversion on a really good DVD player.

Its not happening anytime soon. I predict next year we will have hybrid players, but neither format is going away. There is too much invested for either side to give up easily. hundreds of millions of dollars invested on both sides...

**Aldo** · 05 October 2006, 21:42 Thursday

Next year we will buy universal HD players and we all forget this media war!

**skuzzyb** · 05 October 2006, 21:45 Thursday

Never really thought of hte 598DP but will take a look at it, to be honest, at this price I am not trying to save money but make sure I get what I really enjoy watching/listening to. I must say it was a tough decision between the Classe SSP600 and the G68, and and equally tough call between the G98 and the Classe CDP300 which I had to get past the cool factor of the TFT screen and really concentrate on the sound being generated, and could not really tell the difference. The only reason I settled on the G68/G98 combo was connectivity and the fact the the G68 had HDMI outs, something the SSP600 lacked even though it is present in the CDP300. All in all, I think it should all sound pretty good and I cannot wait for it to actually land.

In terms of the format wars sikoniko, you are correct, neither will blink, and as for a hybrid player, it will be quite expensive I think as whomever makes it will have to license both formats, not to mention the original DVD format. I will just wait and see what happens as somehow I think that my eyes will not be able to tell the difference and I refuse to give my money to vendors who think of themselves and not of the consumer.

802Ds with Classe or Meridian or both?

802Ds with Classe or Meridian or both?

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Related Topics