would marantz combo of cd6002 and pm6002 outperform meridian f80?

[gooner26]

im on the verge of buying the meridian f80 mainly because of the portability aspect to it but also want exceptional sound quality. also entertaining the idea of the marantz combo but the portability side to the meridian really appeals to me even if it means sacrificing a teeny bit of sound quality to the marantz set up. so basically is there a major difference in terms of performance between the marantz and meridian? thank you.

 

[Anonymous]

You are comparing a budget solution against a state-of-the-art portable solution from Meridian - there is no comparison. Not in your wildest dreams.

 

[gooner26]

thanks. thats the answer i wanted to hear.

 

[chebby]

Well, everything I have read about the F80 positively raves about it from 'Stuff' magazine to Stereophile.

I saw one in a branch of John Lewis two days ago and it looks amazing. (Regrettably there was not time or facilities to listen to it.)

If you buy it and end up eventually hankering after a full size system then I am sure you must have other rooms it can perform in once you have recovered financially.

A normal full-sized system will not amaze your friends though I have read one person explaining that everyone in the room assumed his Quad electrostatics were producing the sound!

Amazing your friends (and yourself I hope) is probably a pretty shallow reason for such an expensive purchase but hey, why not have some fun? There is little enough of it around nowadays!

In your situation I would get the F80. It is unique, sounds great, and will probably become a classic very quickly. Everyone and his brother have got something 'vanilla' like the Marantz combi. As nice as the Marantz stuff undoubtedly is, I think you are going to kick yourself if you don't get the F80.

Enjoy whatever you decide on.

(If nothing else it is good to hear of something that makes a Bose look and sound like a Binatone! At least with the F80 you are getting the goods for your money and not woofle dust.)

 

[Anonymous]

gooner26:im on the verge of buying the meridian f80 mainly because of the portability aspect to it but also want exceptional sound quality. also entertaining the idea of the marantz combo but the portability side to the meridian really appeals to me even if it means sacrificing a teeny bit of sound quality to the marantz set up. so basically is there a major difference in terms of performance between the marantz and meridian? thank you.

How portable does it need to be? Do you need to move it around all the time or does it just need to be reasonably small, all in one, good quality solution? In case of the latter, also consider Avi adm9- active speakers with built in dac that can be connected to any digital source.
Please don't buy on mag reviews or recommendations only, go and listen! That will make the decision some much easier and the buy satifying in the long run.

 

[gooner26]

i just love the idea of having a truly excepional sounding music system thats just happens to be portable too. i dont pretend to be an expert in hi-fi because im not but i do love music , got stacks of cd's and its always been my dream to own a proper hi-fi or even some kind of home cinema set up. ive just fallen in love with the meridian f80. is there any word meridian could bring out a 2nd f80 ideally with a hdmi connection? i might wait to see if they bring a 2nd f80 out in the near future

 

[fr0g]

Why are you comparing a £1500 portable with a £600 or so system though? For the £1500 you will get far better than a portable DVD/CD player. But of course the portability is useful.

If it has been your dream to own a proper hifi, then I'd follow your dream and buy a proper hifi, rather than a whim product, no matter how good it is.

 

[chebby]

However. Given that an F80 is about £1400 (your maximum budget I assume) then you should really be comparing something like the Arcam Solo-Music (£1000) with £400 speakers or a Primare CDi10 (£1250) and £200 speakers. (Trying with those examples to keep to high-quality, compact, one box amp/fm/dab/cd systems.)

 

[chebby]

Sorry fr0g, I was typing my response and did not see yours.

Guess we are making similar points about an unfair comparison.