New York – Meridian added an
active DSP speaker that can be used in more home theater setups than its other
DSP speakers as either a center-channel or left/right-channel speaker.
At $3,995 each, the two-way
DSP3300 L/C/R speaker can be positioned horizontally for use as a center
channel on furniture or positioned vertically as a left-right or surround
speaker. Meridian uses a combination of driver design and DSP to deliver a wide
and accurate stereo image whether the speaker is positioned horizontally as
vertically, the company said.
The driver design consists of a
3.35-inch wide-range driver surrounded on two sides by a 6.5-inch woofer.
A rubber mount can be used to
angle the speaker up when placed horizontally on furniture. The same mount can
be used to cradle one of the speaker’s curved ends for vertical positioning.
The biamplified speaker features
digital active crossover, digital upsampling, and digital-to-analog converter
that converts the signal to analog for amplification by a 2×75-watt amplifier.
The amp is said to offer high linearity, low noise, and low distortion.
The DSP also incorporates
loudness control said to deliver “a bigger sound that remains balanced at low
listening levels.” DSP also provides “dynamic bass protection” to ensure that
when the speaker plays at very high levels over prolonged periods of time, the
performance remains “clean and controlled,” the company said.
The DSP3300’s sealed cabinet is
available in high-gloss white or black finishes.
The launch follows the launch
earlier this year of the company’s smallest active DSP speaker, the $6,000/pair
two-way DSP3200, which replaced the DSP3100 as the smallest loudspeaker in the
Meridian line.
All of the active DSP speakers
can be connected by a proprietary SpeakerLink connection to Meridian’s music
sources, including its music servers. SpeakerLink delivers balanced
96kHz/24-bit digital audio and control signals over up to 300 feet over CAT-5e
RJ-45-terminated cable to the speakers. SpeakerLink eliminates signal losses
and coloration induced by analog signals riding on a cable, and it simplifies
cable connections because Meridian DSP speakers can be daisychained to avoid
home-running cable from each speaker to a Meridian component, the company said.
Meridian also offers the $3,000
AudioCore 200, which features multiple analog- and digital-input types to
connect a variety of audio components via SpeakerLink cables to Meridian’s
active DSP speakers.
