MERIDIAN AUDIO DSP5200SE, DSP7200SE, DSP8000SE, DSP5200HCSE, DSP7200HCS Technical user guide

2014 marks the 25th anniversary of
the launch of Meridian’s first digital
loudspeaker, D600 – the first digital
loudspeaker in the world – in 1989. From
the very beginning, Meridian loudspeakers
had been Active – in other words they
included the amplifiers and line-level
crossovers inside the cabinet. But Meridian
had taken the leap into digital audio
technology with the introduction of the
Compact Disc several years earlier: it had
been evident to Meridian’s founders that an
all-digital signal path from the source to the
loudspeaker was the future.

Meridian has launched a new series of
Special Edition loudspeakers to celebrate
the 25th anniversary of the launch of our
pioneering D600 in 1989, the foundation
upon which today’s Meridian DSP Digital
Active Loudspeakers are built.

The new Special Edition DSP Digital Active
Loudspeakers from Meridian provide
the most revealing, lifelike and powerful
performance of any Meridian loudspeakers to
date. Developed from expertise honed over
more than 25 years of original research and
continual system development, these new
Special Edition loudspeakers particularly
benefit from Meridian’s scientific research
into how humans perceive sound – ‘how we
hear’ – in particular, focusing on how our
brains process sound.

Meridian’s fundamental philosophy,
building on co-founder Bob Stuart’s unique
background, has always taken its cues from
neuroscience and psychoacoustics as the
starting points for audio system design,
placing Meridian in a unique position to
resolve the challenges of high-resolution and
high-performance audio reproduction.

Special Edition

DSP Digital Active Loudspeakers

Product highlights

The most revealing, lifelike and
powerful performance of any
Meridian loudspeakers to date

DSP5200SE, DSP7200SE
and DSP8000SE available
plus DSP5200HCSE,
DSP7200HCSE horizontal
centre-channel versions

New Meridian-designed short­horn-loaded tweeter with a
Beryllium dome for outstanding
transient response and extended
frequency range

New mechanical clamp rings on
the mid-range and bass drivers
provide enhanced mechanical
stability and further minimise
coloration

New extended-bandwidth
analogue electronics, optimised
to deliver maximum performance
from high-resolution recordings

New DSP provides several
performance enhancements
including the latest implementation
of ‘EBA’ (Enhanced Bass
Alignment) technology (patent
applied for) to ensure accurate
time-domain response, providing
additional clarity and an open,
transparent sound-stage.

A DSP Loudspeaker includes the entire
system’s electronics inside the enclosure –
providing dramatically increased efficiency
and enabling them to deliver a level of
performance equivalent to a passive
design of eight times their physical volume.
The DSP approach also eliminates the
space, power, and thermal management
requirements for other individual system
components and, significantly, creates a
system in which the individual components
are all perfectly matched and sonically
balanced.

Guided by original research, and always
striving to bring the subtle nuances of a
musical performance to the listener at
home, Meridian’s engineers have addressed
important new areas in developing these new
Special Edition loudspeakers.

With the new Special Edition loudspeakers,
Meridian delivers more accurate time-domain
response and offers significantly improved
transient handling across the entire digital
active system.

The Special Edition loudspeakers introduce
Meridian’s latest innovations in digital
loudspeaker system design, including a new
driver, new electronics and new firmware,
plus mechanical enhancements to deliver
the highest-performing Meridian DSP
Digital Active Loudspeakers available. The
three new models all feature the following
performance-enhancing improvements,
developed over hundreds of hours of critical
measurement and listening.

Beryllium-dome tweeter

For the most natural sound a high-frequency
driver’s cone must have superior transient
handling for dynamic range and contrast.
It must also have extensive power handling
for wide dynamic range. A perfect material
for this is Beryllium – it is seven times
more rigid than, and over twice as fast as,
aluminium, the traditional tweeter cone
material. The new Beryllium-dome tweeter
uses a semi-horn-loaded approach and was
designed by Meridian engineers.

New SpeakerLink input board and DSP

A new SpeakerLink board provides
enhanced interoperability between Meridian
Controllers and DSP Loudspeakers. Digital
Signal Processing has been enhanced for
higher clock speeds, giving superb handling
of the high sample rates encountered with
high-resolution audio sources. The source
information that appears in the loudspeaker
display is now derived from the controller,
allowing for additional custom legending.
Meanwhile, additional enhancements

include Bass, Tilt, and Axis presets for
enhanced control and a new crossover
design. All SE centre channel products
include Centre Elevation – allowing the
image from a centre channel loudspeaker
positioned under a screen, for example, to
be raised to match the rest of the system,
and at a height for realistic dialogue delivery.

Enhanced Bass Alignment

Enhanced Bass Alignment (patent applied
for) extends across the entire frequency
range for accurate time-alignment of all the
drivers in the system, delivering exceptional
imaging and a clear, transparent and more
lifelike sound. In a loudspeaker, unlike real
life, lower frequencies are progressively
delayed compared with the MF and HF
range. The extent of this timing error is
determined by the crossover, driver, and
enclosure type. To eliminate the delay
between low and mid & high frequencies,
Meridian has designed a combination of
digital filters and time delays for the mid and
high frequencies. This solution enables the
mid and high frequencies to “wait” for the
low frequencies, delivering perfectly-timed
music playback.

In the Special Edition loudspeakers, mid and
high frequencies are delayed to time-align
them, while upper bass is delayed with
allpass filters, enabling delay within the
driver’s range. These features require a DSP
loudspeaker design; they are impossible to
achieve in any passive or analogue-active
loudspeaker design.

Special Edition

DSP Digital Active Loudspeakers

Wideband analogue electronics

Each individual amplifier within the Special
Edition enclosure has been refined to
provide a more lifelike sound, with optimised
transient response, extended frequency
response and enhanced dynamic range –
complementing the improvements in DSP
performance and delivering overall a more
authentic sound.

Clamp Rings minimise vibration

A great deal of effort has gone into ensuring
that Meridian DSP Loudspeaker enclosures
are rigid and free from resonances. The
addition of driver clamp rings ensures that
the driver is rigidly attached to the cabinet,
maximising authenticity and minimising
coloration. You hear the loudspeaker, not the
cabinet.

Additional enhancements

The source information that appears in
the loudspeaker display is now derived
from the controller, allowing for additional
custom legending. Meanwhile, additional
enhancements include Bass, Tilt, and Axis
presets for enhanced control and a new
lowpass crossover design.

All SE centre channel products include
Centre Elevation – allowing the image from
a centre channel loudspeaker positioned
under a screen, for example, to be raised
to be in line with main left and right
loudspeakers and at a suitable height for
realistic dialogue delivery.

Availability and colour options

The new SE loudspeakers are available
in addition to the current production
DSP8000, DSP7200 and DSP5200
speakers, in Piano Lacquer Black and High
Gloss White paint finishes as standard, as
well as the full set of custom finishes as part
of the Meridian Select programme.

Upgrade path

Upgrade paths are available for owners
of DSP7200 and DSP8000 DSP
Loudspeakers – including the Anniversary
Edition – and most models of DSP5200.
Contact a Meridian Retail Partner for full
details.

The upgrades also include a full new
warranty for the entire loudspeaker system.

SEDS • REƒ • V1.2 • 20140507www.meridian-audio.com

SPECIAL EDITION DSP8000

DIGITAL ACTIVE LOUDSPEAKER

PERFORMANCE

Frequency response in-room 20Hz – >32kHz ±3dB (for inputs at 44.1kHz or

48kHz). ‘31/2’-way crossover system with linear-phase mid–top crossover;

6th-order Linkwitz-Riley bass–mid crossover. Output >118dB spl @ 1m on

music material. Noise less than 15dB spl. Overall distortion typically

<0.02% at any frequency or level

INPUTS

SpeakerLink balanced digital (2ch, RJ45)

S/PDIF unbalanced digital (2ch, phono)

32kHz–96kHz sampling rates

OUTPUTS

1x RJ45 with balanced digital audio and control for a second loudspeaker.

Carries infra-red pickup for system automation.

AUDIO PROCESSING

FIFO memory buffer input for the lowest possible jitter from almost any

source. Four 24-bit D/A converters. 3x150W amps on bass (1 amp per driver

pair) and 2x150W amps on midrange and tweeter. All upsampling and

processing is performed by 2 x Freescale 56367 running at !150MHz.

CONSTRUCTION

Two separate enclosures: mid/top and bass.

Horizontally opposed and profiled bass system introduces minimal vibration

to the mid/top enclosure. Entire speaker manufactured from interlaminated

panels with glass front.

AMPLIFIERS

Bass: 3 x 150W power amplifiers

Mid: 150W

Treble: 150W

Total: 750W

Drivers 6 x 200mm long-throw bass drivers

1 x 160mm polypropylene (TPX) mid driver in separate enclosure

1 x 25mm (1") !Meridian piston in short horn, beryllium dome with silver

voice-coil.

DSP

2 x Freescale 56367 running at !150MHz, 4 x 24-bit Multi-bit delta-sigma

DACs with 128x !oversampling. Crossover minimum-phase at 2.6kHz.

Response correction for the whole system. Bass protection. User tone

controls. Analogue/digital volume and phase control.

CONTROL

Rear-panel controls for Power On/Off. Full control via MSR+ and RS232

SpeakerLink carries Comms, serial and balanced digital audio via

RJ45/CAT 5

FRONT DISPLAY

Eight-character display with system lights, can be blanked.

POWER

20W standby, 920W max.

DIMENSIONS

1350mm (53.2in) H, 400 (15.7) W, 528 (20.8) D

WEIGHT

105kg (231lb) each!