Electronics and sources

Meridian Audio

Meridian Audio designs and builds digital active loudspeakers and streaming electronics at its headquarters in Huntingdon, England. Absolute Sound is the distributor for Meridian Audio in Singapore and Malaysia.

What Meridian makes

Meridian Audio was founded in 1977 by Bob Stuart and Allen Boothroyd, whose first product, the M1, was the first active loudspeaker built for the home. By 1989 the D600 went further, building amplification, crossover and digital-to-analogue conversion into the cabinet as one engineered system: the world’s first digital active loudspeaker sold for domestic use. That principle, refined ever since as DSP, still defines every loudspeaker Meridian builds today. Bob Stuart went on to invent MQA, an audio encoding format, in 2014. The same engineering group also designs the audio systems fitted to Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, a partnership running since 2011.

The Meridian range

Meridian speaker in a dark blue gloss finish on a chrome stand against a stone wall, beside a white sofa.
Black oval Meridian speaker resting on a petrified-wood side table between grey velvet chairs.
Slim white Meridian in-wall speakers beside a wall-mounted television above a walnut media cabinet.

DSP8000 XEthe flagship digital active loudspeaker, hand-built to order in Huntingdon.

DSP9, Special Edition DSP7200 and DSP5200the Reference Series, together with the in-wall DSP750 and DSP730.

DSP3300 and DSP3200the Performance Series floorstanding and standmount active loudspeakers, together with the in-wall DSP640.2, DSP520.2 and DSP320.2.

Ellipsea single wireless streaming speaker, built on the same DSP engineering as the loudspeaker range.

210, 218, 251 and UHD121the streaming, zone control and processing electronics that run a Meridian system.

Model-by-model specifications live on the manufacturer’s site: meridian-audio.com

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Common questions about Meridian

What makes a Meridian loudspeaker "digital active"?

The amplification, crossover and digital-to-analogue conversion sit inside the cabinet itself, engineered for each drive unit rather than assembled afterwards from separate boxes. Meridian pioneered the approach with the D600 in 1989, and every loudspeaker in the current range still uses it. Connect a digital source and the loudspeaker does the rest.

Is this the same Meridian fitted in my Jaguar or Range Rover?

Yes. Meridian Audio has designed the audio systems for Jaguar Land Rover vehicles since 2011, and the partnership continues today. The hi-fi loudspeakers and electronics Absolute Sound distributes are built by the same Huntingdon engineering team, for the home rather than the car.

Did Meridian really build the first digital active loudspeaker?

Yes. The D600, launched in 1989, was the first digital active loudspeaker built for a domestic room, and the D6000 that followed in 1991 was the first to use full DSP. Meridian’s loudspeakers also hold a place in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of Modern Art.

Hear Meridian for yourself

Come and hear Meridian at our showrooms. Tell us what you would like to listen to and we will have it playing when you arrive.

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