[Wojtek]

Hi there
I just thought I'd write in to share my experience. Having recently moved to London and renting a small room there, I began to really miss my hifi which stayed behind in the countryside. So, I joined this forum, got quite excited about getting some grados and a tube amp to plug my mac into ....

Then, I happened to read about the Meridian F80, basically a one-box active-speaker digital hi fi. I don't want to make this sound like an advert but basically it fills my bedroom with convincing music, the dsp really does make it sound a lot 'wider' than you'd expect and, presumably because the speakers are all active it sounds just as dynamic next to my ear at night as when cranked up in the living room during the day. So, whilst I'm still keen on getting some Grados, and still loving my etymotics, I've found I don't need to limit myself to just headphones for real hifi after all.

Anyone else have one?

 

[panda]

you're using a much too expensive of a boom box as your main listening source? you list a naim nait in your signature, how's that going? have you tried linn kans?

 

[Wojtek]

I have the nait for several years now and it's a lovely partnership - fantastic pace , rhythm and timing, but not really about soundstaging. I picked up an old sony cd player that has twin dac chips and seems to go very well - tried a few 1k cd players from a friend that frankly didn't do any better (great experience about the importance of matching). I've never tried the linns - auditioned atc's , some small operas and proacs , the proacs just a had a lovely full sound when plugged into the naim , but maybe too warm for some.

Now, to take you up on your point about the f80 - I live in a small room in a shared flat in London during the week. There is no room for the naim /proacs/stands etc. even an arcam solo + speakers (even kanns) would have been a little silly perched on thin shelving on my wall.

I'm happy to admit it's overpriced, but then it is absolutely unique. I think that it IS easily worth about £1000 for the quality of the music you get out of it (which is what i paid for a second-hand one). The size, weight and detail in the sound is fully convincing, you can pick it up and plonk it on the dining table on sunday morning, it has 2 active speakers and a sub, and most importantly it sounds balanced across the volume range, which conventional passive hifi's certainly don't. The optical in gives you dac access too, works well with my mac - usual thing, I've now started ripping everything in lossless/flac because you can hear the difference. From a tabletop radio!

I guess I'm writing this because I was as surprised as anyone at how good it is.

But will eventually get some grados...!

 

[panda]

i run atc bookshelves myself but also thought highly of the proac response 1's.

the kanns can be placed on a desk and it will be fine, they're not fussy about room placement, matter fact they sound better close to the wall. however if you are really constrained for space, i think you could have saved a ton of money by getting a tivoli model 2.

don't get me wrong i would love to have one of those f80s, i think it would be great for portable uses, especially at small get togethers while outdoors. but 1k for the purpose it serves is just a bit crazy for me.

grado rs1 are amazing, you will not be disappointed.

 

[Leny]

My ex had one in her bathroom, and that worked OK. Overpriced though.

At the end of the day if you are happy with the sound then good for you!

 

[Wojtek]

Thanks for the input -

that's interesting, maybe I should have tried the linns with an arcam solo, but honestly, the room is a bit tiny. it's nice to bring it out into the living room from time to time and crank up the opera or some jazz.

tivoli model two- sold mine last summer after owning for year or so. beautiful but sonically it's a desk radio, not hifi. great for the bedroom if you have a proper system elsewhere at home.

as for the rs-1's - I'll look forward to the experience!

 

[mulveling]

I've had superb results setting up a SINGLE speaker in a monoaural configuration in a small (12'x12'x10') room. Put it right in a corner and fire down the room diagonally. Make it an excellent quality speaker (I use a Tannoy Dimension TDC-1 center channel, not you average center with three 8" drivers and a super-tweeter totaling 80 lbs). Single monoblock amp, stereo headphone amp/preamp summing to mono via cable adapter, and turntable. Sounds really damn good with stereo recordings, and simply gorgeous with a good mono recordings (probably even better if I had a mono cart).

Setting up stereo in such a small room? It would have to be very near-field, and probably limited to smaller speakers too. Once you put 2 speakers too close together there's almost no point to stereo, and once you make it too near-field, perhaps you might as well use headphones. Though I would like to play with some Tannoy Autograph Minis someday, to see what can be done in a small-ish stereo setup.

 

[Wojtek]

Mulveling - I just hadn't thought of that, excellent idea. I would definitely go along with the idea that a good mono speaker may the best solution for a small room ... but you manage to fit a record player AND records in there!? Will bear this in mind for the future, thanks.

By the way, the f80 somehow manages to project a stereo soundstage despite the speakers being, um, about 10 inches apart - suppose they probably fire sideways. Which, by tangent, reminds me of Shahinian speakers, intriguing things, anyone here know of them?

Leny - your wife had an f80 in her bathroom??

So, we have linn kanns and other similar small speakers, we have a solid (40lb!) mono speaker system, a tivoli model two, or my unusually expensive clock radio. Any other thoughts?