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Top Ranked Products from Meridian.
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Rating
Reviewed by:
ArthurGatos
(AudioPhile)
Review Date
January 26, 2006Overall Rating
 5 of 5
Value Rating
5 of 5
Used product for
More than 1 year Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5,
4.00 votes
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Review 1 of 6
Price Paid:
$1600.00
from Sydney Aus Summary:
A great sounding amp. the 556 is low in distortion, very neutral in its presentation of Music and extremely capable in driving difficult speaker loads.
I also have a Densen DM10 integrated amp. ( an extreely musical amplifier, but not the most neutral one on the planet).
The sound of the Meridian is clean, accourate non coloured with an amazing ability to extract the finest detail of the recording, without becoming 'harsh' or 'offensive' to the ear, there's a silky smoothnes in its sound that leaves you in no doubt that you are listening to a very refined product.
Where my Densen makes listening to Music real fun, the Meridian presents a 'matter of fact' picture with a no nonsense approach that demands your attention to the full.
This of course, demands good recordings and a good CD player if the potential of the 556 is to be realised to the full.
Overall, a great amplifier mostly suited to Classical / Acoustic Music but capable of great performance with other types of material.
The build quality is superb, in the usual Meridian fashion, and its rather narrow width will make it popular with the 'other half' for aesthetic reasons.
I use mine with a Creek OBH 12 passive preamplifier and a pair of KEF Reference Three / 2 speakers.
CD player is courtesy of Naim Audio and vinyl comes from a Linn Sondek LP12.
This is one very happy owner of a Meridian 556. Strengths:
Poweful, stable with difficult loads, extremely clean/ clear sounding, no colouration in its sound, great build quality. Capable of deep, powerful well controlled bass and smooth treble. Weaknesses:
Sonically absolutely none. I cannot fault it. Similar Products Used:
Audiolab 8000P, Threshold S200, Proceed, Quad 405 and others.
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Rating
Reviewed by:
Dizzydis
(Audio Enthusiast)
Review Date
January 23, 2005Overall Rating
 4 of 5
Value Rating
4 of 5
Used product for
1 to 3 months |
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Review 2 of 6
Price Paid:
$750.00
from second hand Summary:
Great amplifier. I have a Meridian CD player and pre-amplifier. Good combination. I use to have an Linn amplifier (intek) but this Meridian sounds a lot clearer. There is no sound colour and the power is enough to feed my Dynaudio's (Contour 1.1). Very stable sound and a good stereo separation. Strengths:
Stereo separation, power, clear sound and the build quality. Weaknesses:
It is not as small as other Meridian equipment....
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Rating
Reviewed by:
brandonhu
(Audio Enthusiast)
Review Date
December 17, 2004Overall Rating
5 of 5
Value Rating
5 of 5
Used product for
3 Months to 1 year |
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Review 3 of 6
Price Paid:
$1100.00
from second-hand dealer Summary:
Upgrading my 555 to 556 takes a whole year process. When I'm totally familiar with the sound of Meridian 555 (50w), I decided to give 556 a try (100w). The result came out fine and satisfying with my Dynaudio 1.1 speakers.
The strength of Meridian is smooth and fine to the ears. The power of 556 is quite enough to drive my Dy 1.1 into tears easily.
The importancd of the CD player makes 556 a dancing girl or a charming lady.
I really like the style of combo, 501 + 506. and though they're quite old now, but they still look quite NEW. Strengths:
warmth, smooth, find soundstage Weaknesses:
none Similar Products Used:
meridian 555, pse 100ii
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Rating
Reviewed by:
Vincent
(AudioPhile)
Review Date
April 20, 2004Overall Rating
 2 of 5
Value Rating
2 of 5
Used product for
Less than 1 month Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5,
3.00 votes
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Review 4 of 6
Price Paid:
$0.00 Summary:
I tried a 501-561 combo to replace my small Kor Explorer 90 SI integrated ($650) into a rather ambitious system featuring Meridian 507 CD player and Apertura Tanagra Signature speakers (highly musical but very revealing and demanding in others components musicality). The problem is that the Meridian combo turned out to be quite less musical than the ridiculously cheap but highly musical Kora Explorer (hybrid tube transistor design)! There is nothing much you can criticise about the Meridian; everything is rather fine, clean, but it seems such a boring performer. Yes, the soundstage is wider and more muscular than with the Kora (more power from solide state), but the sense of air, the colors and the enthusiasm of the Kora is just gone. The Meridian just does not transmit the pation of music; it is sad because I am trully very impressed by Meridian's CD players that are not only homegenous (like this Meridian amp is) but also full of colors and very musicaly involving. Strengths:
Build quality. Power and control. Homogenous sounding. Weaknesses:
Much too expensive for the musicality delivered. Cold sounding, lack of air, austerous. Where is the pation gone? Similar Products Used:
Naim, Audiomat, Kora (explorer 150 is dull, but the 90 is just incredible musicaly! it beated everything more expensive I tried), Cayin.
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Rating
Reviewed by:
javier2002(Unregistered User)
(Audio Enthusiast)
Review Date
September 18, 2002Overall Rating
5 of 5
Value Rating
5 of 5
Used product for
1 to 3 months |
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Review 5 of 6
Price Paid:
$0.00 Summary:
This is a very well constructed amp., nice to see and nice to hear. I’m using it with a Carver C-19 vacuum reference preamplifier tweaked with Jensen paper oil caps in sensible places driving a pair of ProAc 1SC.
It is not a simple task to find a good audio gear at reasonable price in our country then, we not able to try with different brands and models easily.
Before the Meridian, I had an Arcam delta 290. It is a VG amp with most speakers but not with the ProAc. The couple have harsh high mids- low treble with all the CD Players, speaker cables and interconnects we have tried. Really they don’t work fine together. I’ve buy a Musical Fidelity XD10 in order to reduce these problem but, the low input impedance of the Arcam (believe or not, 4.7K) made this approach unsuccessful.
Well, what I have found in the 556? A peace, in terms of sound quality, soundstage, focus, dynamics macro and specially a fine and incredible low level detail with a more relaxed long time listening sessions. Really you can hear inside the studio or the scenario with such focus that you can “see” the players or technicians! moving around you (not only in front of you). This could not be a virtue if you want music instead off noise or simply –sound- but, this kind of detail levels gives us a vivid panorama if it is joined with a good bass, articulate mids and real-life highs. Meridian is in that way.
Perhaps the most amazing fact is its neutrality. It is very difficult to explain its ability to provide power without adds. You feel that the final result depends on the quality of the associated equipments and the accessories in the chain. A simple cable, in any place, made significant results. I’ve never experiment changes of this magnitude in any equipment. If you don’t believe in cables try with this Meridian (and ProAcs…). It is obvious what happen when change CD players.
Bad records are more noticeably bad than never before, but good ones are delightfully good. Uninteresting records stacked in your cd-rack come to life. Ancient instruments like the violin family, sound substantially different than modern ones, guitars (from acoustic to electric) sound powerful, rich and with drama.
You, not only in this case but specially in this case, should never use a single or a couple records to setup a system based on a 556 + a revealing speaker. Be patient to get a good balance or accept Strengths:
neutrality,soundstage, music communication Weaknesses:
I don´t find any yet.
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