Big Changes: Meridian 808.3 as a preamp? If not why not.

[Speedbump71]

OK. Confession time. I have had a 20k CD player sitting boxed in the closet because I am scared of it a bit. I of course don't have that kind of money in it, but having grown up without a lot of nice things I tend to take good care of my toys, and I never felt the rest of my system was deserving of it so it sat in its box.

I am making some amplification changes in the near future, to help with the loads that my soon to be finished Kappa 9's will present. I am leaning heavily towards an Aragon 8008BB, or its lesser sibling the 4004.

The Meridian has an internal preamp, and all kinds of goodies. I know it is a highly regarded transport, but is it an equally good preamp, or was that functionality just thrown in to make it seem like a better deal ? Are the Kappas and the Aragon worthy of its expensiveness?

I know it isn't something many folks probably have experience with. I also wonder what is involved in upgrading the Meridian to the newer versions. Do the DAC cards etc just swap out like a PC?

Thanks for any help.

 

[sqlsavior]

Take it out of its box and put it in your system!!

I have no way to judge it, or its preamp. I just doubt that they would put in a preamp section that compromises the source section.

You want the best stuff upstream to evaluate any new-to-you equipment, imo. Go for it!

 

[TimF]

Speedie, by all means get that thing out and get it going! It should have a very respectable preamp in that unit! While you are considering power amplifiers, I would say keep an eye out for some of the Meridian G56/57 series amp or even a 556/557, these are very good amps and can be found fairly reasonable depending.

At any rate, don’t let that unit sit and rot! Go for it!