The 825 system is more than good  All my spelling errorz are belong to me!

2023 FFRR L460
2021 AM new Vantage

Alistair wrote:

Perhaps it just means branded Meridian ?

There's some more info here which seems to confirm that Meridian make all the L405 audio systems

Surround Sound is the 825W version (see the bottom of the page linked above)

4K more off the price, can't be bad.

mzplcg wrote:

Any idea what this refers to then? Gotta love LR abbreviations

• BRANDED SURROUND SOUND SYS(L4)

I've had both and I'd never pay for it as an extra, even if it were £400 rather than £4000. Maybe for people with a real ear for the finer points of this sort of thing or more money than than they can spend in one life time it may be justifiable but whilst it's a little better than the 825 model it's not £4K better and to me has the feeling of "Emperors New clothes" about it.

You called?

My clothes are lovely.

I haven't listened to the premium one but I would never spec it. A car is a very compromised environment in which to listen to music. Offset seating position, road noise, engine noise, indifferent source quality (Bluetooth streaming of MP4 files!!) mean that the experience is never likely to be great.

I'm happy with what I have in the Autobiography.

Hi Emperor; You strike me as someone who has very lovely clothes that even I coulld actually see and you seem to speak a lot of sense too. The only noticeable difference to me and I'm far from an expert is that when playing some of my tunes loudly that the signature reference system required the input on the dial ( the loud pedal) to be a bit less than the standard 825W model but that said it very rarely got to half the max on the standard hifi

I've got the 825w system which is. Quantum leap over the basic 380w standard. That jump is well worth making.

I have also heard the reference 1700w system which is sublime. If you give it a decent input it is concert hall performance with quality that could challenge a 10 grand home hi fi . Just depends on how much you appreciate sound quality really. 4K is a stack of cash.

Emperor Mong wrote:

I haven't listened to the premium one but I would never spec it. A car is a very compromised environment in which to listen to music. Offset seating position, road noise, engine noise, indifferent source quality (Bluetooth streaming of MP4 files!!) mean that the experience is never likely to be great.

I just bought an Autobiography (MY 2015) that has the 1700w system fitted and all I can say is "WOW." It reminds me a little of my not cheap Bose headphones that I bought a few months ago and I hear backing sounds in my music that I have never heard before, the clarity and range is amazing. I would never have spent the £4,000 or so on the upgrade but feel lucky that it has this fitted as standard.

But, 29 speakers in a car? When I grew up it was posh to have one speaker and if you had two speakers that was showing off.

If I read this right the sound system in my MY2010 AB is different to what I had in my 2007 Vogue - I've got to say it doesn't sound any different to me - then again DAB doesn't sound any different to FM.

and to think I used to sell HiFi, we used to describe the stuff from Japan with all the fancy lights etc as "HiFi for the deaf" maybe Meridian Signature is "HiFi for the rich".

Oh two more things

1. I listen to MP3's a lot in the car - so no HiFi there anyway
2. There isn't any HiFi in a car anyway, just sound systems some of which are better than others.

Good HiFi (call it what you will) can only really be achieved in the home where you have total control of the source, the amplification, the speakers and their positioning relative to the main listener.  Geoff

That's not strictly true Geoff. There are many ways of achieving exceptional sound quality in a car and I have won silverware in the past for exactly this back in the 90's when the standard car audio was a radio cassette and 2 speakers. I put 17 speakers into a Poxhaull Astra in 1992 to achieve a 1st place at Sound-Off. A Nakamichi front end with Soundstream amplifiers (class A) and a home built set of active crossovers with level controls for all 17 channels.

It is all about design, i.e. placement of speakers, eliminating unwanted noise and ultimately reproducing what you would hear if you were in the recording studio. Not easy but definitely achievable and this is what Meridian seem to have done with the Signature 1700w system.

I note the comment above about 29 speakers. Yes, and every one of them will be doing something to ensure the car with its challenging acoustic properties will sound like a more controlled environment. One of the reasons there are so many is to cover the whole audio spectrum and ensure that what you hear sounds as if you were listening to the live music. There will be nuances such as reflected sound which have to be reproduced in a car due to the lack of internal space and so on.

Also, consider that you want the whole audio spectrum experience to surround you but without having to have it loud as hell such as you would experience at a rock concert. There are only 2 ways to get sound into certain places, either make the main source loud, or provide infill in the dead areas. 29 speakers is to do the latter so you don't end up stone deaf. Concert hall quality without the high volumes.

For the 4k price, which is high for sure, I would definitely spec it on a new car. But then, I can tell the difference between FM and DAB. I can also tell the difference between CDs engineered by those who can and those who can't. Sadly there are way more sound engineers who ought to be emptying bins than there are real talented guys who know how to do their job well.

just a thought, if you have the bestest ever audio equipment in the FF, wouldn't it be compromised by the engine and tyre road noise ...

That is true Stan, but the same can said of home hifi.....

Walls, floors, glass etc all effect the acoustics as do the furnishings and wall covers etc...

I think would spec the top end hifi in the car as it would be used pretty much every journey and the cabin noise is well contained, not to Royce standards, but not bad.

But then I have spent many thousands on my LiNN hifi that can only do CD - because I can hear the difference (and recording/mastering flaws). Yet my listening room is far from acoustically perfect.

You pays your money, you takes your choice

stan wrote:

just a thought, if you have the bestest ever audio equipment in the FF, wouldn't it be compromised by the engine and tyre road noise ...