Origin of the Meridian "Zebra" series
organstan
thinking of nothing in particular when I recalled working with Allen
Boothroyd on a project shortly after Lecson Audio folded. Bob & Allen
had formed a design consultancy and I was a director of Cambridge
Audio; then probably the largest UK manufacturer of quality hi-fi
electronics. The Cambridge products were ultra-slim and probably the
first "designer" hi-fi products, in that design effort had been put
into their appearance as well as their performance.
We were looking to make a new line of products so I commissioned Allen
to come up with an appearance design. Some weeks later he appeared
with a cardboard mock-up of a modular system where you could mix 'n
match modules to make your own configuration rather like with a
recording studio mixing desk. I still have the drawings somewhere.
However I didn't think the public would go for such an idea; certainly
not in the quantities we were used to selling (2000 plus amplifier
systems a month). The modules were to have been finished in a
beautiful anodised aluminium just like the existing Cambridge products
and would have had the same height of 2 inches (50mm).
Some years later the idea re-appeared as the Meridian modules (we all
called it the Zebra series). The modules were bigger and not as
pretty but the concept was much the same. Perhaps Howard can tell us
if the idea was a commercial sucess or not and if I "missed the boat"
Stan
Logical
Yes, I can expand on the story. Bit short of time though right now.
Hope to get my act together re this and the long delayed scanned
images asap.Heavy involvement in [a] getting my new audio website
together, [b] fiddling about with the blog and [c] developing online
business process systems, but not for audio.
Last night saw The Zombies in concert. Tonight, Suzane Vega.
Regards to you all
HP
===============
Logical
borne out of the fact that as the series progressed, it was
notoriously difficult to achieve colour consistency between batches of
modules. For a laugh (well, it made me laugh) I put together a set
with the lightest and darkest shades I could find out of my entire
stock of modules. And then bolted them together. And then showed it Mr
B and Mr S.
Mr S laughed, as was his style before he became Mr serious while Mr B
was I guess a bit pissed off. Certainly a bit hurt. Not my intention
at all. But hey, I was younger then. Youthful immaturity is my excuse.
That was as far as I can recall the last time the relationship had an
undercurrent of humour rather than an undercurrent of tension.
H
On Oct 25, 11:11 am, organstan <s...@divacorp.co.uk> wrote:
Lothar
Logical
integrated amp with the ultra ULTRA rare component FM tuner. What a
nightmare that tuner turned out to be. Good intentions leading to more
stress. You know the story by now; as soon as I find it and, and ..
As to a photo of the Zebra with contrasting shades of grey, I doubt if
such a photo exists anywhere, other than in the mind of their then
increasingly demoralised head of product, Mr Colin Howard. I guess
he'll take that enduring if not indelible image, and the pain of it,
to his grave.
=============
Lothar
Thanks!
organstan
when customers touched the connector pins? I got that from another
dealer who stopped stocking the products even though he loved the
earlier "chocolate box" amplifiers.
I know what you mean about Mr. Serious, Howard; I can always raise a
laugh from Allen (who underneath the cultured accent is a Northerner
like me) but Bob can be rather dry. I remember a dinner back in the
Lecson days when I told Bob that I'd changed the manufacturer of the
power supply capacitors and the sound had improved greatly. Bob asked
me why this was so & I said I didn't know at which Bob said this was
unacceptable and I should establish a reason before making the
change. The conversation continued along the same vane all evening
until in exasperation I said something like "The sun rises each
morning and I don't know why; it just does!"
Thereafter I think he thought I was some kind of unstable idiot. He
may have been right
Stan
Logical
However, there were mechanical problems with owners being none too
clever with the exposed pin connectors.
Also, but my memory is a bit hazy here, there were problems when
modules were pulled apart soon after shutting down the power. I sold
many of these systems and the most advanced one had 3 individual
volume controls driving 3 individual QUAD 306 power amps at, of
course, differing volume levels to give appropriate sound levels in
areas of a very large room. Obviously stereo was not a consideration
there. At that time, I doubt if there was any other solution, let
alone a more elegant one.
I had another one as a turntable comparator at Subjective Audio with 7
phono modules, 4x MM and 3 x MC.
One particular brilliant aspect, albeit a bit hard to figure out, was
the tape recording and cross-dubbing facilities. A couple of years
back I sold off all my modules, some still in their ploy wrapping, for
£9 each.
That entire component concept was way ahead of its time. I still
believe it was a brilliant concept, poorly executed. A but like that
bloody Alfa 166 of mine that shoulkd have been built by Toyota.
Best
H
---------
John Mayberry
Lothar
steve195527
if it measures the same it should sound the same type attitude!
On Oct 26, 5:06 pm, organstan <s...@divacorp.co.uk> wrote:
kizo
On Oct 26, 3:49 pm, Lothar <lothar.kissin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Stan- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
steve195527
and to my ears!)I changed from 101b to this type pre amp:-very
reliable though my friend who bought it off me over 20yrs ago is still
using them with my ex 105's
Lothar
list will follow now!?)
Looks real interesting....and rare.....and financially out of reach,
right?
Logical
wish to re-visit.
H
------
kizo
very open and fast with a sweet treble, bass is not deep
but fast and tuneful. One of the best integrated amps i've
heard in fact.
I've got the 101b preamp and the component preamp
i'd have to say the component is the better sounding
in my system. The main problem with both the mca and
mcp [preamp]
was the start circuit which uses a NiCad battery, once
the battery died the unit would'nt come out of standby,
usually easily fixed by soldering a new one in.
> > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
John Mayberry
party,
"Anybody here have a family that's not dysfunctional?" The room was
silent.
Instability is only a matter of degree.
steve195527
long listening period is not as"nice":-Lecson is a better sound than
either,with Lecson I have always been told "isn't it about time you
turned that off"(words to that effect!)by my better half,with Meridian
gear in the same system I always stopped listening to music before she
told me to!(listner fatigue?)
Basically I found component amplifier more "Naim" like than the other
two,and that isn't meant as a compliment,bot mine wasn't used with
component power amp but into a pair of 105's,sound apart I felt the
component pre felt "cheap"
kizo
about various pieces of hi-fi depending on what you
use it with. As for for feeling cheap, you are right and
perhaps thats it's downfall, ie perception, the actual
reality is that both the integrated and pre are crammed
with high technology for the time dressed up in a good
looking but cheap feeling and not very durable case.
for instance the integrated uses a switch mode power supply
and uses the balanced princple throughout, also has
dual mono power modules.
I also believe, and possibly Howard may be able to expand
on this, that the research and development costs nearly
crippled Meridian, and it was a production nightmare [shades of
Lecson]. Each single module alone ended up costing £80 in 1983
Agree with you about Lecson, of all the hi-fi i own the AC1 AP3
is the best sounding combo to just sit down unwind and listen
to music.