New series may be flush, in-wall or on-wall mounted; and passive, active or DSP-powered
International CES, Las Vegas, January 5, 2006–Following the success of Meridian’s first loudspeaker system designed for installation applications, the DSP420–which brought the innovation of Meridian’s unique DSP loudspeaker technology to the installation products market and has become one of the company’s most popular lines–British-based luxury lifestyle technology manufacturer Meridian Audio Limited (Booth 21913, South Hall) is announcing a new line of installation loudspeaker products that offer the maximum versatility and flexibility in an increasingly important market sector.
The new loudspeakers are arranged along a wall in the booth, showing the several different configurations and options available.
To the original DSP420, which shares performance characteristics with Meridian’s
stand-alone designs, the company has added the M420, an active analogue version with the same drivers and power amplifiers. The back-box includes the analog or digital input board and power termination in their own sealed enclosures, and the units can be mounted flush (completely hidden) or in-wall (with surface grille).
The new 200 Series in-ceiling designs and the 300 Series of in-wall and on-wall systems allow exceptional flexibility of configuration. They can be supplied as passive speakers to be driven by external conventional amplification; as an active analogue system driven by a G41 Speaker Control Unit, including 8 x 100W power amplifier and modular plug-in electronic crossover, which can handle up to five channels of audio; or as a DSP system, driven by a G46 DSP Speaker Control Unit with DSP crossover and 8 x 100W power amplifiers.
The G41 and G46 Speaker Control Units have the same form factor and appearance as the other G Series units, and can be mounted with the G Series Active Rack kit. The G41 features eight 100W power amplifiers and its standard configuration provides bass and tweeter outputs for four loudspeaker systems. Both balanced (XLR-3F) and unbalanced (phono) inputs are provided for each channel, and there is a 5–30v AC/DC trigger input. There is also a fan output controlled by temperature sensing in the unit. Crossover modules are inserted from the rear panel to provided appropriate crossover parameters. The Channel 4 crossover module can optionally be replaced by a dual full-range input module, which provides a pair of unbalanced inputs. The Channel 4 output is thereby reconfigured to provide two full-range outputs (a rear panel label is provided to overlay the existing one) to drive speakers with passive crossovers, thus permitting the G41 to power a complete 5-channel surround system.
The G46 performs a similar function to the G41, but replaces the analog crossover modules with a DSP engine providing multichannel crossover functionality entirely in the digital domain, in the manner of Meridian’s unique standalone DSP loudspeakers, including crossover parameters that are simply impossible to implement in analog circuitry. Signals are only converted to analog immediately before the power amplifiers, with a separate converter per audio band.
The 200 Series of in-ceiling speakers are 2-way designs with an 8in (200mm) bass driver, pivoting tweeter and optional crossover, for either surface grille or flush mounting.
The 300 Series consists of three ultra-slimline systems for in-wall (surface grille), flush-mount (completely hidden, eg behind wall coverings) and on-wall applications, featuring 6.5in (165mm) bass drivers, and a wide-dispersion ribbon tweeter for superb performance in any location. Units are supplied with or without passive crossover.
A white paintable grille and frame is included, and rough-in boxes are available. The 320 includes a single bass driver and tweeter; the 330 adds an 8in (200mm) Auxiliary Bass Radiator (ABR); and the 350 features two bass drivers and two ABRs. The enclosure in each case is extremely slim and narrow, fitting into the depth of a partition and between studs in in-wall configurations — the width is only 12in at the widest point — and extending only a short distance into the room in the case of on-wall applications. The on-wall variants include an elegant stepped aluminum extruded enclosure.
The result is unparalleled performance from an installed loudspeaker system, comparable with Meridian’s standalone DSP designs but with the flexibility of invisible, semi-visible or slimline on-wall mounting capability. In every case, Meridian installation loudspeakers deliver the performance of a stand-alone design in a discreet enclosure with minimal visual impact — and awesome power and sound quality.
Meridian Audio Limited is based in Huntingdon, near Cambridge, UK, and was founded in 1977 by Allen Boothroyd and Robert Stuart. With a 25-year history of innovation and development of the highest quality consumer audio systems, the award-winning company is widely recognised as a world leader in digital and analogue audio reproduction. Meridian developed the world’s first audiophile CD player, the world’s first consumer digital surround controller, developed the MLP lossless packing systems mandated for use in DVD-Audio and emerging high-definition disc formats, and is the only UK audio hardware manufacturer to be a member of the DVD Forum. The company’s optical disk players, DSP-based loudspeakers and Meridian Digital Theater systems are unique in the industry, maintaining a super-quality digital audio signal throughout the path from the source to the amplifier, and using digital signal processing to generate advanced crossover characteristics that would be impossible with conventional passive analogue systems. Meridian is also the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of Faroudja high-definition video processors and projectors.
For high-resolution images and data sheets, please visit the
Meridian Media Center server: http://media.meridian-audio.com/
or contact Nicoll Public Relations, 781-762-9300 or sue@nicollpr.com
