Meridimac

Yes, DSP9 will accept an analog source (although I use AES/EBU). Yes, they are curvy and narrow around the drivers to minimize cabinet diffraction. Yes, with four DACs and 1,260 watts built-in, they are competitively priced considering the cost of truly excellent electronics. Meridian is confirmed as one the exhibitors at this year’s UK Audio Show on 5th/6th October, 2024, at Staverton Park Hotel & Golf Club, Daventry Road, Staverton, Daventry, Northampton, NN11 6JT along with Focal and others, but I don’t see KEF.

Me neither, although I’ve owned other KEF models in the past. I loved my bi-amped Snell Type A’s in the last century before I converted to active speakers: Meridian’s new DSP9 today, which I consider to be extremely transparent and neutral. And I’ve tweaked sources to the point where I don’t hear them anymore.

In the eye of the beholder: judicious use of DSP can eliminate passive crossovers and coax realistic, concert-level sound from cabinetry that my spouse will tolerate in the living room. Mine are basic black.

I very much enjoyed almost an hour with the Chronosonic XVX driven by D’Agostino with dCS source at a dealer in Manhattan before my new Meridian DSP9 active speakers were delivered. Even though much smaller and far less expensive, especially considering that the 1,260 Watts (each) are built in, they still manage to compete sonically with that Wilson design. All-In-One computer audio (just provide a quality source) has apparently advanced to the point where power, the operating system and innovative circuit design can directly address the drivers (eliminating passive crossovers) to present a lifelike, full-range 3D soundstage from 4’ tall floorstanders for less than $100k. -Not as impressive in a HR Giger way, but they fit my living room and budget.

I purchased the same Allo products and loved the sound from DietPi OS, but don’t use them today because of incompatibility issues between their old USB driver and newer Linux kernels. RoPieee has posted an OS image for this product which has an older kernel here.

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Hello Ravi Add me to the list of faithful enthusiasts (DigiOne, original USBridge, Signatures, Shanti AND Nirvana!) who have been praying for updated drivers. We wish you much success.

I demoed BACCH4Mac last year, but decided against keeping it past the trial period because it was expensive, complicated to set up, and required a USB signal to run through my old laptop if I wouldn’t also buy a Mac Mini. -All too much for me at the time even though the system gave a surprising soundstage improvement within a very narrow listening position. I liked the effect for most recordings very much but, like you, I am back to the classic 60 degree triangle. HAF xtalk filtering in my standard setup is more general “reduction” for a broad sweet spot where you can sit any way you want, rather than total “cancellation” within a rigid, narrow space, -unless you pay $$ Theoretica for a head-tracking system. I also use the miniDSP USB microphone.

Thierry at homeaudiofidelity.com (HAF) also offers crosstalk cancellation versions of his excellent room correction filters, which are derived from your physical listening position measurements along with sweep file recordings using a calibrated mic. You can buy just the rc FIRs, pay a little more for additional filters with basic xtalk added (which is what I use), or opt for more customization to account for the shape of your head. I’ve been using HAF since 2018 in both a 7.1 theater and stereo setup, updating measurements (and filters) several times when changing speakers or significant acoustic elements/treatments. My most recent set was installed for new speakers a month ago -and this guy’s work just gets better and better IMHO. Highly recommended. Now that the hobby is abuzz about BACCH and XTC, the term “room correction” should also embrace efforts to deal with crosstalk distortion.

I am a new v3 user who wonders which rabbit holes to pursue now that my Kaby Lake i7-7567U CPU @ 3.50GHz NUC is happily running 1666 Hz 6.6.9-4-audiolinux-rt RT LTO with Diretta to a 8Gb Pi4 target. Other than implementing Diretta and isolating cores on the RPi, I’ve not messed with RAMROOT or any other configuration options yet because I’m scared of screwing up a good thing. My preference is to continue with Roon as player, but I miss the option to use UPnP, LMS or even AirPlay as I had with DietPi. Are they all compatible with Diretta, or compromise SQ when using Roon? Which configuration choices would you recommend?

Based on many recommendations here (Thanks!), I purchased two Finisar FTLX1475D3BTL from Mouser to implement a fiber segment ahead of my EtherREGEN -which I’m very happy with. I also bought a cheap 10GTek FMC with a decent 5v supply because those transceivers don’t work with my modified Cisco Catalyst 2960 switch. If l wanted to connect the Cisco SFP port to my Ubiquiti Edgerouter X SFP, would the Finisar FTLF1318P3BTL work with those older devices? Google hasn’t helped me answer this compatibility question, so I turn to the experts.

Yes, please. It would be helpful to gather current learnings here in order to create an up-to-date matrix of recommended settings. My goal is to share how we can fine tune AL V3 for optimum SQ.

No more trouble at my house, either, after another 30 hours.

This is the first morning when Roon wasn’t found dead from inactivity overnight, maybe because I upgraded to headless V3 kernel 6.6.9 yesterday. Since buying AL during the Christmas special I’ve had to leave a playlist running all night or disconnect power to reboot for music the next morning. Piero suggested that Roon goes to sleep after several hours which causes a crash, but it didn’t happen last night.

Then I guess l’ll be listening to Catalyst and Meraki combinations -followed by my ER at the end of the network chain- so that I can report back in a couple of weeks. Thanks again for your patient willingness to share expertise despite my tendency to wander into “special magic” land.

Thanks, John. Do the Catalyst and Meraki switches reclock the data through their two uplink ports? -And how do these series otherwise compare when it comes to electrical noise and jitter?

Here’s another question: since I’m moving both ER and Roon server to the living room (which is connected to my audio-only network segment by a long length of CAT5e), is there any advantage connecting the NUC to a Cisco switch ahead of the fiber into ER vs. directly to an “A” port on ER afterwards? Some would have us believe that noise from the NUC might be attenuated by the 10G Finisar transceivers and fiber. I will try it both ways, but wonder about any theories or real-world feedback on this point.

Hi dancause. I’ve preferred ENO after ER for the main stereo system (Meridian active speakers) where the goal is widest/deepest soundstage. -But my hobby is to keep experimenting with different switches, power supplies and interconnects among four listening situations: Now I’ll try ENO alone for 7.1 theater sessions based on the recommendation that ER be one short cable away from my living room endpoint. With all of the odd audio items floating around my house, and my obviously suggestible, expectation-bias brain, you would be wise to take anything I say with barrels of salt: the $150 iFi iPurifier3 sounds different to me when flipped around at opposite ends of the same usb cable between the same two components…

OK, here’s the new topography from Theater to Electrical Closet to Living Room for endpoints #1, #2, #3 and #4: (CAT5 are longer in-wall runs over 8’) Catalyst (T) > ENO to #1, AQ to #2, and CAT5 to Meraki (E) Meraki (E) > CAT5 to #3 for whole house audio system and CAT5 to Meraki OCXO (L) Meraki OCXO (L) > singlemode fiber to ER (L) ER (L) > Shunyata Venom to #4

Yes, 44 and up.

Yes. Network Acoustics is reportedly two guys in the South of England making this stuff by hand. Sounds so good to me that I also bought their AES/EBU filters for my Meridian speakers. It’s a crazy hobby we’ve gotten ourselves into. -And now that Alex tells me I’ve done it all wrong, I can re-jigger everything to get even BETTER performance!

Thanks for the new info about PHY chips and signal integrity. My Intel NUC running ROCK is connected by Blue Jeans CAT6 to a Cisco 2960 Catalyst switch which is fed via fiber from the router in my home theater where FTTH comes in. Also connected to the Cisco is an FMC with Finisar transceivers into the ER, which has three other endpoints connected to “A” in addition to the long run from “B” to my living room.

Hi Alex. I am using Audioquest Carbon cable between Allo and USB REGEN. Complete path is: singlemode fiber into ER powered by 12v Sengterbelle lps and grounded to Shunyata conditioner, ER “B” to long run of CAT5e through walls coupled to ENO Ag filter into Allo Signature which is powered by 5v Allo Shanti lps (both grounded to Shunyata), AQ Carbon into USB REGEN with Uptone USPCB A>B Adapter out and powered by 7.5v LHY Audio lps which also powers the “dirty” side of a Singxer SU-6 DDC. “Clean” Singxer side is powered by 9v Farad Super3 with AES output to Meridian active speakers. Brad

My music has annoying Pops & Ticks using ER “B” port which disappear with a Netgear GS108 switch instead. This odd behavior only happens with my preferred transport, Allo USBridge Signature running DietPi, not other Roon endpoints (including other DietPi devices) into a USB Regen and the USB port of a Singxer SU-6 DDC. The same Allo Signature works perfectly well from an “A” port into a USB Regen or miniDSP USB-to-SPDIF converter. Does Fast Ethernet vs. Gigabit figure into this? Any ideas?