In June 2023, eleven members of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) UK Section attended a facility tour of the Meridian HQ in the UK.
Welcomed by Cambridge Section Chair and Meridian R&D engineer, Dr Steve Oxnard, the guests experienced demos, presentations and company updates.
John Buchanan, CEO of Meridian, kicked off proceedings with an introductory presentation. The group then visited the Meridian Product Evolution Collection, which showcases the company’s first ever loudspeaker, the M1, and the extraordinary-looking M10 loudspeakers. Des Ford, technical marketing manager, then led a tour around the factory which demonstrated that Meridian has kept in-house control of PCB assembly, inspection and test capabilities.
Barry Sheldrick, director of sales at Meridian, led the demonstrations in the media room and theatre before introducing the group to Meridan’s new DSP9 loudspeakers, the flagship DSP8000 XE and Meridian’s patented HPA (High Power Array) technology, which allows three loudspeakers to be used as a single sound source.
Some of the group continued to a DSP8000 XE listening session, whilst others opted to visit the Meridian’s Automotive Lab where Meridian explores the use of its active loudspeaker technology for in-vehicle use as well as the use of use of haptics – in which low-frequency components of the audio signal (typically 40-500Hz) are extracted, processed and fed to actuators which impart vibrations to the listener’s seat.
The day concluded with Dr Oxnard and other members of the Meridian engineering team presenting some of their recent research work. Chris Cotton, graduate research engineer, opened this session with an approach to room-correction equalisation (Meridian RE-Q Technology). Cotton then presented his work into methods for quantifying apparent source width. Finally, Ethan Stanhope, research engineer, discussed in greater detail the haptics work demonstrated earlier.
Mike Turner, 2023 chair of UK AES Section Committee, said: “I know I speak for all the attendees in saying that it was a fascinating, informative and most enjoyable day, with many impressive products, facilities, people and technologies on display. Really nice to see a UK-based facility investing in the future of our national electronics industry.”