Expensive Gear You Have Bought/Tried That Sucked Badly?

[jfm]

3) Meridian digital loudspeakers.

Not having heard them (and owning a Meridian amp), I am very interested to hear your opinions. What do they sound like?

 

[User211]

Like they aren't even vaguely worth the money... but I will refrain from specifics because the last time I heard them was a few years ago. Jeff (Tonepub) & co. really liked the latest ones. I'll get to hear the latest ones this Friday at a hi-fi show. See my report for what I thought (if the queue for the demo isn't so large I can't be bothered to wait!).

 

[Mantana]

I've owned a number of speakers but two i was disappointed in
were the Proac Response IIs and the Thiel 1.5s. The Proacs
sounded too polite and boring in my system and the Thiels
were too bright and veiled. I always had to crank up the volume
with the 1.5s to get mediocre sound...seemed like there was a sock
over the speakers. My little Signet BU280s at a 3rd of the price
were more fulfilling.

 

[tonepub]

Sorry, I like the Meridian 7200's a lot.

For 32k, you get great speakers, a preamp, three power amps, an electronic crossover, digital room correction and a built in 24/192k. DAC, not to mention all you need to cable the whole system is a pair of ethernet cables.

Just cabling that much stuff with good cable would cost 5-10k.

I wouldn't trade my CLX's for them, but still very impressed and in a difficult room where you can't put a panel where you want to for optimum sound, the Meridian 7200's are one of the best....

 

[User211]

All looks good on paper, I agree Jeff. But we have bickered on this one in the past. I said then I hadn't heard the 7200... but hopefully this Friday.

They HAVE sucked in the past. Honest! So much so, I have just walked past their demos for the last few years.

 

[houstonshark]

What caught my curiosity was his comment that one Levinson amp was superior (by a large margin if I understood his post) to another model when auditioned through the CLX.

GG

Gordon, the amps in question here are the No436 (750W @ 4ohms, $7250 ea) and the Reference No53 (1000W @ 4ohms, $25k ea).

While it sounds strange that there could be dramatic differences between amplifiers within the same high end line, these are two totally amps. The No436 is a class A/B amplifier. It shares a lot of the same technology of the highly acclaimed (although somewhat unreliable) Reference No33 amplifier.

The No53 is a totally different animal. It is a switching amplifier by design (they are careful not to use the term Class D so as not to be associated with poorly designed Class D amplifiers of the past who most only think good enough for powering subs). There are many proprietary design elements in this amp that were developed by Harman's parent company Crown. If you are not familiar with this amp you should check out their site:
http://www.marklevinson.com/products/details.asp?prod=no53

Here's a review (granted not a great one)
http://www.hometheaterreview.com/equipment-reviews/audio-reviews/stereo-amplifier-reviews/mark_levinson_no_53_monaural_power_amp_reviewed001091.php

DaVinci Media is a ML dealer and if I remember has a No433 (200W x 3) hooked up to the SummitX. Maybe they can comment on the current Mark Levinson amplifiers.

 

[VanDaRo]

Adcom products... junk.

I won't touch them with a 10 foot pole. And the fact that their influence in the hifi market has diminished to insignificance these days kind of makes me smile.

~VDR

 

[tonepub]

The biggest dissapointment I've ever had in the high end has been the ESP Concert Grands. For 40 thousand bucks they were very underwhelming when we had them here. A review never ended up being forthcoming.

It was a speaker that sounded very good at modest volume on material that was not terribly demanding. I.E. female vocals and small ensemble jazz. At low volume they got very flat and if you cranked them up, they would not rock at all.

Worst of all the guy that was the importer came over here, took 14 hours to set the speakers up (ugh!) and was rude to everyone. When he was done, the speakers were about an inch away from where I had them and the sound was still no big deal.

I've heard them sound decent at shows, but again only with limited material.

 

[User211]

Not having heard them (and owning a Meridian amp), I am very interested to hear your opinions. What do they sound like?

Since I have some time off before starting a new job, I just went down the local hi-fi shop. I was pretty shocked to see they have gone much "higher end" during a recession - full of high end Chord and Meridian gear - plus some high end displays.

Anyway, I have just (within half an hour) heard the Meridian 808i.2 and DSP7200s... using an album I know like the back of my hand - The Cure's 17 Seconds.

They definately didn't suck. But the respective cost is high - around £17K for the speakers and £8000 for the player, but the speakers are active. Personally, I think you can do better for less, but the package is very clean and nicely presented. Good if you want a nice simple setup with minimal wiring. More of a wealthy person's "not entirely an enthusiast" package rather than maximum bang per buck slightly hard pressed audiophile setup.

It's a nice lifestyle product, with a very nice remote controller. And the sound is detailed and well resolved with no nasties. I think they'd work well in smallish rooms, too, since they are quite a reasonable size and won't dominate.

I'd take a Spire/Krell S300i/some good CD 2-3K player over it and hit about £13K if I was in the market for an "all new" system. But then I like stats alot.

So, Bob Stuart, not too bad after all Better than the last time I heard the DSP speakers many years ago.

 

[tonepub]

I keep hearing more and more about this new Levinson stuff, time to get an audition and check it out....