Meridian argent speakers.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steenamaroo
  • Start date Start date
Steenamaroo

Steenamaroo

...
Got a set of old floor speakers delivered last night; Meridian argent.

Google knows nothing but they really do sound nice!!

They have what appears to be 3 woofers for low mid and high, and a tweeter.
3 separate inputs and crossovers inside.

One of the woofers is buzzing a little on and off. I've gently worked the driver back and forth to clear debris but it keeps coming back.

Hope I don't have to clean it myself.

Anyone heard of these?

They're the sort of speakers that make you wanna listen to old country, If that makes any sense.

meridian.jpg
 
I've heard of them. As I recall, they were highly respected back in the day.
 
I love em! If you could feel what i can feel! :p

I had to eq them a little to get 'the' sound that i was looking for. My initial reaction was not a good one because i figured you shouldn't have to eq good speakers.

Then i remembered these aren't studio monitors.

Home hifi is not something i used to but i guess it'd be completely normal to have your preferred signal path and probably eq?
 
I know the feeling. I took my new 100 W/ch amp and a pair of KEFs out in the backyard yesterday and blasted them. :D
 
We try. The neighbor behind me asked me to turn it down. Her kids were playing in the pool and obviously weren't bothered by it. It really chaps an Okie's ass to see someone else having a good time.

After I turned it down, I said, "Why don't you turn your yappy little dog down? I have to listen to that fucker every day." :laughings:
 
Meridian is some nice stuff. good score ..... and as I always point out ..... the term studio monitor is meaningless. It's simply not true that the 500 dollar monitors most of us use are any flatter than anything else. They're just bookshelf speakers that they tagged as 'studio monitors' as a marketing term.

As for the buzzing ...... I'm sure you've done this already but ..... did you check the screws holding in that driver? They could be loose.
 
diggy_dude said:
After I turned it down, I said, "Why don't you turn your yappy little dog down? I have to listen to that fucker every day." :laughings:
Click to expand...
did you really?

Oh I hope you did. If you really told them that you're now my favorite person.
 
Lt. Bob said:
did you really?

Oh I hope you did. If you really told them that you're now my favorite person.
Click to expand...

I did! Dunno if she heard me or not.

I'm gonna blast the fuck out of this system after my roommate goes to work. And ignore the front door.
 
Are the cones made of polyurethane? The bubble in the center of one of my KEF drivers had come loose at some point, and the previous owner did a poor job of gluing it down. That caused a buzzing sound. I peeled the old glue off and re-glued it with a polyurethane adhesive. If you do this, be very careful not to get glue in the throat of the driver, else you'll glue the coil to the magnet. You won't be able to press the bubble back on with your hands without pushing it inside-out, so press gently around the flange with a toothpick or something until the glue sets.
 
Thanks diggy. Luckily that's not the case.

I removed the driver and fitted a little ring of padding foam (very thin stuff) then reseated.

I did this cos the buzzing was coming from the edge rather than the centre.

This has cured it so it must have just been vibrating against the padding inside or something.

Thanks for the advice guys; I'm gonna sit a re-listen to all my music now! lol
 
Last edited:
Steenamaroo said:
Home hifi is not something i used to but i guess it'd be completely normal to have your preferred signal path and probably eq?
Click to expand...

Not so much. It's all about placement and room tuning and the keyword is symmetry in placement. Personally I would never suggest EQing over speaker placement as it doesn't solve the actual problem (unless the speakers just aren't doing what you like). Speaker placement is a game of inches and it's even more critical if you don't have any acoustic treatment in the room as you have to place around all kinds of acoustic peaks and dips. Corners are particular trouble spots as they're sources of bass buildup and flutter echo. Side walls are a secondary concern as early reflections can skew the horizontal soundstage, but in my experience, if you worry about nothing else, worry about the corners the most. You will find that placing the speakers nearer of further to the front wall, side walls and corners will change the response quite a bit. EQing is certainly a workaround, sort of like frosting a cake to cover up a burnt spot, but it changes the characteristics of the speaker's reproduction, so it's a turnoff to purists (I guess I'm in that camp a bit hehe).

At any rate, congrats on the score. Meridian was a well respected high end company. Due to vibration, all driver screws will work their way loose over time and need a little tightening back up--so I would do that without fail. This is actually a general maintenance thing I do with all my various speakers about once a year. Also check the driver surrounds for any tears or signs that they're getting brittle, and give things a gentle dusting.

Above all else, have fun with 'em!

What sort of room do you aim to keep them in? What sort of system are you running them on?
 
Thanks for all that info and advice. It's great to have.

You're final question is the big question.

I'm in the nice, but awkward position of having been asked to assess and sell inherited audio equipment.
Basically, anything i can't sell, i keep, and i'm an honest guy so that works well.

I will try to sell these, and as much as I hope they don't go, i expect they might end up in storage for a while cos i just don't have room to use them.

There is a choice of amps. I'm currently testing on an alesis r100 (spits), but i have a yahama a100a coming (which i'll pair with my ns10s), a marantz, a yamaha, a leak and a denon.
I'll have to test them all for selling so i'm sure i'll find a favourite ;)


These speakers are certainly 'of an era'. Music with hiss sounds waaay better than anything modern! lol
 
Meridian was a well-respected brand for a while.

The "buzzing" you are hearing is a damaged voice coil.

You could get the driver re-coned, and a new voice can be installed.

You need a very good reconer, however.

I would recommend you do the same driver in both units, and check all the drivers for the same issue.
 
GCalo said:
Meridian was a well-respected brand for a while.

The "buzzing" you are hearing is a damaged voice coil.

You could get the driver re-coned, and a new voice can be installed.

You need a very good reconer, however.

I would recommend you do the same driver in both units, and check all the drivers for the same issue.
Click to expand...
the buzzing he heard was a loose driver.
 
If it were a loose driver then important to know why, because if the units are acoustic suspension system then it was leaking!
 
The important thing here seems to be to get them sounding good and sell them, not to plow a lot of his own money into fixing something he doesn't own. ;)
 
I didn't wan't to contradict Lt.Bob as it didn't seem important at the time, but

The driver wasn't loose.

I took it out and noticed that there was a ring of foam around the drivers that raises them from the surface of the cabinet slightly, and presumably dampens vibrations.
This layer was flattened almost completely so i added my own new layer.

This took away the buzzing :)


Thanks for the comments. I don't know if they are acoustic suspension, but i guess that could tie in. Perhaps the foam forms a seal?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top