Thoughts invited re a curious phenomenon re pre-owned BS Meridian gear

[Neil McCauley]

There has been for some while a curious (in my view) trend re the sale prices achieved for BS Meridian pre-owned equipment. The 500 series and 600 series do attract rather high prices whereas the G-series rarely do. Even the comparatively modest 200 series, now circa 28 years old, achieves surprisingly high prices.

The 101/105 and 101/103D pieces get snapped up very quickly. 35 years old in some instances. Now of course the buying of equipment is part rational and part emotional. On the face of it one might think that this ‘process’ would apply uniformly through a brand’s discontinued inventory. Clearly not though. Some unseen (by me at least) factor is at work here.

One illustrative example from many. The 600 transport apparently no longer has replacement drive mechanisms whereas the G-Series do. Stripping out the effects of inflation, the residual values achieved by the 600 units are higher than the G-series versions – despite probably having had far, far more use!. This isn’t of course limited to BS Meridian. However I use them to illustrate the point because I have more knowledge of their range than I do of other brands, other than LFD of course.

What might be going on?

Thanks

Regards

Howard

[Spectral Morn]

I use a G02 pre and G56 power amplifier in my system fairly regularly and they are very good imho/e; sins of omission not commission. I for one was sad that Meridian chose to discontinue them recently.

I suspect it will take a few years for (some)G series components to become fully appreciated.

I for one don't like the sound of BS Meridian Dacs 203 etc but the Transports were always very good imho/e.

Regards D S D L

[Neil McCauley]

I for one don't like the sound of BS Meridian Dacs 203 etc but the Transports were always very good imho/e.

Regards D S D L

I agree with you re the above. I found their vintage DACs rather too 'soft' for my taste and yes, those transports were superb.

Until recently I used a 508.20 in preference to almost anything else – at any price. Interestingly my pal Christopher Breunig (Classical music reviewer for Hi-Fi News) uses the self same unit in slight preference to the more 'advanced' 508.24. He won't be parted from his. He asked me what I thought might behind the assertion (other than measurements of course) to support the claim of 'advanced'. I truly had no idea then and neither did he.

Thanks & kind regards. Howard.

[nat8808]

I'm not so sure that it's the case.. at least not on Ebay.

Meridian 602s tend to go for about £325 and maybe the 606 a similar price when sold seperately but from about £450-£550 together.

G series CD players I've seen on the other hand are always over £1500 but are few and far between and so hard to get a real sense of value.

There's a thing for the older TDA1541 and TDA1540 based players for sure, which includes the MCD, MCD Pro and 207 - build quality of the older (especially the first ones) machines is hardly ever matched in later years as the emphasis from people like Philips were to make and build their chips and transports to lower and lower costs rather than necessarily better and better spec for the same price..

The swingarm mechs hardly ever go wrong because they are very robust (except for the CDM2) and when they do, it's rarely the laser and can be repaired. With newer machines and especially those using CD-ROM mechanisms, failures appear to be much more common, I guess because they are based on much much cheaper mass-produced technology. I'd therefore be more concerned about replacements for lasers on a g-series player than a 602 or 206 for example - never ever had one go wrong having owned maybe 12 or more MCD, 207s, 208s, 206s, 602s (unless it was a 207 with CDM2 mech).

Amp wise, I think there has been a bit of keen interest in the 105s/103s over recent years (perhaps partly because of your enthusiasm on your own writings Howard!) as people realise they were good designs but still only fetch about £250-£350 for a set of 105 monoblocks which isn't too dear for well regarded older amps in the grand scheme of things. The 605s had a bit of a legendary status due to Martin Colloms placing his modified versions in his top 5 amps of all time some years ago, but they only fetch £500 or so as opposed to Krell 50s which will fetch over £800.

I sold my pair of 605s to a guy who had visited a dealer and listed to a lot of the newer G series gear and 800 series stuff - he said he was left cold with a very 'HiFi' and sterile, boring sound.. Perhaps afterall, that is the reason?

[Spectral Morn]

The Meridian G56 power amplifier is anything but sterile sounding (just to the warmer side of neutral and very musical in an almost valve like way), thought the G02 pre is rather more neutral.


Regards D S D L

[Neil McCauley]

Amp wise, I think there has been a bit of keen interest in the 105s/103s over recent years (perhaps partly because of your enthusiasm on your own writings Howard!) as people realise they were good designs but still only fetch about £250-£350 for a set of 105 monoblocks which isn't too dear for well regarded older amps in the grand scheme of things. The 605s had a bit of a legendary status due to Martin Colloms placing his modified versions in his top 5 amps of all time some years ago, but they only fetch £500 or so as opposed to Krell 50s which will fetch over £800.

Interesting point Nat re the 605s versus that classic Krell. Given what the KSA 50, KSA 80 (very rare on the market) and KSA 100 can achieve I am very puzzled as to why on sound quality alone they don't attract higher sales price.

The 605 are undeniably a very fine package in every sense of the word. Still not sure whu i sold mine! Nor my KSA 50 for that matter. Hmm. Big hmm in fact!

[nat8808]

Interesting point Nat re the 605s versus that classic Krell. Given what the KSA 50, KSA 80 (very rare on the market) and KSA 100 can achieve I am very puzzled as to why on sound quality alone they don't attract higher sales price.

The 605 are undeniably a very fine package in every sense of the word. Still not sure whu i sold mine! Nor my KSA 50 for that matter. Hmm. Big hmm in fact!

Ah.. That old question, "why did I ever sell that?" Thrill of the chase and attention deficit disorder are two appropriate answers for me..

[Neil McCauley]

Ah.. That old question, "why did I ever sell that?" Thrill of the chase and attention deficit disorder are two appropriate answers for me..

Ah ha. If as I understand it from the above that you are confronting ADD then you assuredly have my sympathy. Sincerely, Howard.

[DSJR]

My own take is that the collapse of the audio mid-market has broght about renewed interest in used gear, which is now fetching often silly money on the likes of eBay. The prices on aforementioned auction site have gone loopy in recent years and any mention of possible sleepers brings about a rush to buy the latest in-thing - I'm a victim/sucker too, so feel I can say as much.

I like certain Meridian stuff, but there were some real clunkers in amongst the gems. I remember comparing two 500 series CD players (506's I think) only six months apart and two more different sounding products it would be hard to imagine, one all thick and fruity "CD-Analogue" sounding and t'other sharp and almost clinical. This was a difficulty in selling early to mid period Meridian, as they kept tinkering with them almost with every batch and the rep encouraging dem units to be turned around every few months because the model had been changed internally, as did Linn in the mid 90's with their electronics I remember, the circuit boards being changed in layout regularly (I saw the evidence for myself).

It's just the way the market is running right now and in the mid price area it's only really the Richer-Sounds brands, Arcam possibly and good old Rega that really count these days I feel..

[hifi_dave]

It was a similar story with the 200 series. The rep visited every 6-8 weeks and we were told 'that's got a new chip', 'that's got a new mech', 'there's a new pot for that' and on and on.

We rarely had the very latest on demo or in stock and we lost some good customers who were p*ssed at having last week's model and not this week's..:doh: