Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/3271

The Meridian Deck

by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 13, 2007 1:04 AM EST


If you saw any of our CEDIA coverage you might have noticed this expensive little item: the Meridian F80. Meridian calls it "the ultimate high performance transportable sound system", but it's basically a table stereo. It's got iPod support, a handful of outputs including composite and S-Video for DVD playback (no component). The F80 weighs just under 15 lbs and measures 16" x 9" x 7.25". Oh and it's co-branded by Ferrari and thus available in 5 different Ferrari colors. Otherwise, a normal looking tabletop stereo right?

Here's the kicker; Manveer and I were at the Meridian press conference where they demoed this thing, and we nearly left because we didn't expect it to be anything big. We'd already been to the Sony and JVC press conferences the day before, all the major announcements had happened, why even bother sticking around for some silly Ferrari radio? Oh boy was I glad we stayed.

The rep from Meridian fired up the deck, playing something I don't remember but the sound was incredible. This little box filled the entire room, which had to be at least 40' deep, 20' wide and with 15' ceilings, with sound. It's honestly the most amazing thing I've heard in that form factor; it was loud and it actually produced bass! Both of us were thinking "hmm I may actually buy this thing" and you've got to understand, for Manveer to think that is nothing short of an incredible feat; this guy wouldn't spend money on air if it cost something to breathe, he'd just take shorter breaths.

We were sold on the F80 and whenever the rep asked if we wanted to hear another demo everyone in the crowd eagerly said "yes". Each demo was amazing, putting one of those childish grins on our faces. This was a cool product, but then our dreams were ruined when a latecomer asked if the Meridian rep had discussed pricing.

"No"

He hadn't discussed pricing, and for good reason, this amazing box was just $5 shy of $3,000 USD. At $2995 it was no longer interesting, after all for that kind of money you can actually build a decent home theater setup, granted not in such a small package but seriously, $3K? I get that you're paying for the Meridian and Ferrari names, but I'd honestly put the money towards the Ferrari and shop elsewhere for the sound.

There has to be someone else out there building a competitor for a lot less money, speaker technology hasn't really changed all that much over the years - I have to believe that there's an equally capable clone out there.

Oh and the iPod dock is optional. Such a beautiful product, but it's a NeoGeo to me, just too much.

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