Meridian 206 CD Player.

[JDL]

Today my secondhand Meridian 206 CD player arrived purchased from eBay, for quite a tidy sum. I spent a fair bit of time chopping the back out of the unit where my previous Denon player sat, made some rearrangements, plugged it all in after following the Merian instructions to the letter, ie remove transit plug, open and close CD draw manually. I put one of my favourite CDs in and was greeted by some strange noises for about 10 seconds and then the dreaded error on the display. No go. I tried several times to get it to play but to no avail. Very disappointing. So I started a return and bought another one, that actually looks better. However it has no transit screw which is a little worrying. Am I mad, I ask myself.

 

[WayneKerr]

Get a Marantz

 

[Al ears]

Today my secondhand Meridian 206 CD player arrived purchased from eBay, for quite a tidy sum. I spent a fair bit of time chopping the back out of the unit where my previous Denon player sat, made some rearrangements, plugged it all in after following the Merian instructions to the letter, ie remove transit plug, open and close CD draw manually. I put one of my favourite CDs in and was greeted by some strange noises for about 10 seconds and then the dreaded error on the display. No go. I tried several times to get it to play but to no avail. Very disappointing. So I started a return and bought another one, that actually looks better. However it has no transit screw which is a little worrying. Am I mad, I ask myself.

Yes.
These players are ancient, just go and buy something cheap and new.

 

[JDL]

Get a Marantz

Ha ha, I might well do that if the next one arrives in a similar state to the last one..🥴

 

[JDL]

Yes.
These players are ancient, just go and buy something cheap and new.

But I'm a crank! I like old stuff. I'm an antique collector 🤣

 

[Al ears]

But I'm a crank! I like old stuff. I'm an antique collector 🤣

Then, hopefully, you have a bank balance you do not care about...

 

[Gray]

But I'm a crank! I like old stuff. I'm an antique collector 🤣

Good, I've found a customer for my varispeed turntable, complete with spare needles 👍

Comes with a stylus balance measuring in kilograms.

 

[JDL]

Good, I've found a customer for my varispeed turntable, complete with spare needles 👍
View attachment 4768
Comes with a stylus balance measuring in kilograms.

Oh what a shame, an ex girlfriend nicked all my LPs years ago. Otherwise....well. Seriously though I bet you could flog that on eBay.

 

[JDL]

Then, hopefully, you have a bank balance you do not care about...

By no means. I did a lot of reading about CD players. The opinion of many repair men is that they were far better made than newer ones and made using better materials. I think nineties Hi-Fi stuff can be extremely good, but of course I don't mean to demean anyone's gear or say that I know any more than the next guy. I just fancied having a go with one of these or a Quad 66 or 67. Anyhow if this one doesn't work out then maybe a Marantz 6007. ✌🏻

 

[Al ears]

By no means. I did a lot of reading about CD players. The opinion of many repair men is that they were far better made than newer ones and made using better materials. I think nineties Hi-Fi stuff can be extremely good, but of course I don't mean to demean anyone's gear or say that I know any more than the next guy. I just fancied having a go with one of these or a Quad 66 or 67. Anyhow if this one doesn't work out then maybe a Marantz 6007. ✌🏻

I was having a bit of a joke.
Well made, that may well be but CD players are basically turntables so things go wrong with age, belts perish and the optical readers do fail. It doesn't really matter whether it is in a nice box or not.

 

[JDL]

I was having a bit of a joke.
Well made, that may well be but CD players are basically turntables so things go wrong with age, belts perish and the optical readers do fail. It doesn't really matter whether it is in a nice box or not.

Yes indeed but these 206 are according to reviews I've read, really nice players to listen to. And to be honest it's not the box if by that you mean it's casing, that drew me to it. It's a strangely styled beast if anything and it hardly matches my Marantz PM7200 amp at all. When I looked through the pictures of people showing off their gear, it's clear to me that there are people who spend almost enough on their Hi-Fi gear to buy a house. Therefore, in my humble opinion £299 on the Meridian is worth the risk. And looking at the condition of the unit and remote control it looks as though it was hardly used.
Furthermore, I quite like the idea of re using an item that was made in Britain as opposed to adding to the endless consumption of Chinese made poshly branded products that'll quite likely end up dumped in a landfill site in the next 3 years or so. Sorry to go on but to me these are all interesting considerations and we all have our various opinions which we're all entitled to and to me are all valid. Please don't take this as me lecturing you or preaching. I'm just sharing my thoughts and I certainly wouldn't expect anyone or everyone to agree. It's all cool with me. ✌🏻😂

 

[Al ears]

Yes indeed but these 206 are according to reviews I've read, really nice players to listen to. And to be honest it's not the box if by that you mean it's casing, that drew me to it. It's a strangely styled beast if anything and it hardly matches my Marantz PM7200 amp at all. When I looked through the pictures of people showing off their gear, it's clear to me that there are people who spend almost enough on their Hi-Fi gear to buy a house. Therefore, in my humble opinion £299 on the Meridian is worth the risk. And looking at the condition of the unit and remote control it looks as though it was hardly used.
Furthermore, I quite like the idea of re using an item that was made in Britain as opposed to adding to the endless consumption of Chinese made poshly branded products that'll quite likely end up dumped in a landfill site in the next 3 years or so. Sorry to go on but to me these are all interesting considerations and we all have our various opinions which we're all entitled to and to me are all valid. Please don't take this as me lecturing you or preaching. I'm just sharing my thoughts and I certainly wouldn't expect anyone or everyone to agree. It's all cool with me. ✌🏻😂

Constructed in UK perhaps but I very much doubt you will find a CD player completely made in the UK.
Perhaps it hasn't been used much, who knows, belts perish regardless.
Hopefully this one will be a good one.
Preach all you like it is you that will enjoy the player or not, personally my money would have gone elsewhere.

 

[JDL]

Well, apologies, I certainly didn't mean to preach. I'm not demanding agreement. I'm sure you're far more knowledgeable about these things than me. However, since I have bought this now if I do need a belt for it in the future hopefully I'll be able to get one do you reckon?

 

[JDL]

Yes. I'm sure you are far more sensible and knowledgeable about these things than me. I should be able to get a replacement belt for this if needed in the future do you reckon?

 

[Al ears]

Well, apologies, I certainly didn't mean to preach. I'm not demanding agreement. I'm sure you're far more knowledgeable about these things than me. However, since I have bought this now if I do need a belt for it in the future hopefully I'll be able to get one do you reckon?

I would imagine there's a possibility of finding replacement parts. Not sure if they would be available from Meridian as never have owned any of their kit.

 

[JDL]

Ah ha, my Meridian 206 showed up today, purchased from an eBay listing. It had been listed originally for £450. It had 40 watchers. The guy who'd listed it, Joe reduced the price to £299, so I bought it for that price. I plugged the Van Damme Neutrik Rean RCA leads into it that run up to my Marantz PM7200 amplifier, followed the manufacturer's instructions that tell one, to manually open and close the CD drawer (this is extremely important they say) and switched everything on. My heart was thumping a little, from nerves after my experience of two days ago.
Anyhow Hallelujah! It works perfectly and sounds great to me ears. Far better than the Denon DCD , which it replaces and better than my Marantz CD 6000 OSE KI which gave up the ghost about 3 years after purchase. The Meridian is in very nice condition and the remote control looks as though it's hardly been used.
Thus, I'm satisfied, I hope it doesn't break soon.😂

 

[JDL]

 

[WayneKerr]

I'd get a Marantz, waiting.... just in case

 

[JDL]

Ha ha. Yeah. I've got the bug. I've seen a Marantz CD60 and a Marantz PM8007 that I badly want. I must do some serious scraping together.
Anyhow the setup I have does sound absolutely wonderful to my ears.

 

[Ethics Gradient]

Do you agree?

Don't try to bump your posts, or add links that are not relevant.

 

[Peter Milton]

I hope your Meridian is still going strong.
I have a 206 Delta Sigma that I bought new in the 1990's. It is a great player and the only problem I have had with it was that a couple of the rubber feet started to disintegrate. I replaced them with Sorborthane feet and it sounded even better.
I have recently bought a secondhand Chord Mojo DAC to replace the on-board DAC in the Meridian. I connected it using the optical output from the Meridian. With the Mojo, the sound has improved greatly giving more clarity, space and realism. They are available for under £200 on eBay and well worth the money in my opinion.

 

[JDL]

I hope your Meridian is still going strong.
I have a 206 Delta Sigma that I bought new in the 1990's. It is a great player and the only problem I have had with it was that a couple of the rubber feet started to disintegrate. I replaced them with Sorborthane feet and it sounded even better.
I have recently bought a secondhand Chord Mojo DAC to replace the on-board DAC in the Meridian. I connected it using the optical output from the Meridian. With the Mojo, the sound has improved greatly giving more clarity, space and realism. They are available for under £200 on eBay and well worth the money in my opinion.

Ah....nice one, the Chord aren't all that easy to come by. But, yes thank you for asking the old 206 is working perfectly it seems to partner extremely well with the Marantz Model 30 and B&W 805. Mine are the Matrix version which although from the early nineties are a beautiful sounding speaker. Much, much better than KEF LS 50 Metas or modern B&W 707 S2 which I also o tried. I've also got a full rebuilt Meridian 508.20. That's a great player too.
I'm also running a Sony XA30ES and an Onkyo Integra 7711, both great sounding players.
What's quite amusing is that those old players, the Sony and the Onkyo, run separate sheilded transformers for the analogue and digital sections of the players. The interiors are totally shielded with copper too to protect each section from magnetic interference. To get a player with twin transformers now, your looking at players in excess of a thousand quid.