Loudspeakers

What comes to mind when you think of UK audio brand Meridian? Most likely its range of high-performance (and high-ticket) digital active loudspeakers, a product category it effectively launched in the Eighties with its D600. Since then it has evolved the concept, so that its current DSP8000 XE floorstander features eight drivers, eight built-in amplifiers and sells for £80,000.

This makes the new Ellipse – a compact, wireless desktop speaker – a bit of a surprise. Meridian has in the past lent its sonic expertise to Bluetooth speakers from LG, but now it’s entering the market itself – albeit at the premium end. And considering that the technologies built into its full-size stereo speakers, from D/A conversion and DSP to amplification and drivers, are the same that go into any single-box, ‘lifestyle’ speaker, you might wonder why it hasn’t done something like this before.

The Ellipse is the third model to come out of the company’s ‘Extreme Engineering’ programme. Broadly, this means it shares hardware and software also lurking within the flagship DSP8000 XE and £60k DSP9, although its ‘R2’ electronics platform is bespoke, being a slimmed-down version of the R1 iteration of its tower speakers. The claim is that the Ellipse is a: “complete Meridian system in a luxury and compact form factor”.

It certainly fits that description in terms of size, measuring just 412mm wide and standing 171mm tall upon its pre-fitted tripod feet. The cabinet, only offered in black, is curved to the rear and elliptical in shape, therefore reminiscent of Bowers & Wilkins’ Zeppelin range. The Ellipse’s front is all-grille, while the top surface has a control panel with illuminated buttons for volume, track skip, play/pause and Bluetooth pairing. You can also press on the Meridian logo to put the speaker into standby or cycle through inputs.

Behind the grille are three drivers, all front-facing – there’s no Dolby Atmos here. The full-range, 90mm left and right drivers are mounted into individual acoustic chambers, and independently powered by 25W-rated Class D amp modules. In between them is a 150mm racetrack-shaped bass driver, operating below 180Hz and fed by a 30W amp. In keeping with the rest of its speaker range, Meridian hasn’t opted for any reflex loading. Instead, the sealed cabinet and DSP promises a controlled low-end performance down to a suggested 40Hz.

Around the back is a smattering of connections: Ethernet if you’d rather not use the Ellipse’s built-in dual-band wi-fi, a combined optical/analogue input, USB-A for playback from storage devices and USB-C that supports 24-bit/192kHz from compatible sources. For wireless use, the speaker offers AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect, and is Roon-ready. It also works as a UPnP renderer with third-party apps.

Anyone with experience of setting up a wireless speaker should have no difficulty getting going with the Ellipse, but to get the most out of it you’ll want to download the Meridian Control app. This is used to adjust volume, display track artwork/info, switch sources and dig further into the settings on offer. This last section is particularly important, as it includes a slew of DSP modes that have a big impact on the sound.

At the top are bass (+/-5dB) and treble (+/-10dB) controls. Scroll down and things get more interesting, with Image Focus, Free-Q, Bass & Space and Image Elevation options. The first of these is a clever balance control to tune the sound for off-axis listening. Free-Q, meanwhile, has options for Free, Wall, Shelf or Corner placement, each altering the bass output. Bass & Space, says Meridian: “adjusts the perceived width of the soundstage”, but is better thought of as an all-round performance booster. Use the (default) Max setting and the Ellipse sounds bigger, beefier and considerably louder. Image Elevation raises the height of the soundstage, but seems to accentuate treble details. Have fun experimenting…

Sound quality
With compact single-box sound systems there’s always the danger that you end up listening to the cabinet and drivers instead of the music. Meridian’s Ellipse, as it should do at the price, steers clear of this pitfall. There’s a sense of ‘rightness’ about its performance that belies the form factor. Few, if any, desktop units of its stature sound this good: detailed, dynamic, tonally rich and – perhaps most importantly – fun.

The Ellipse doesn’t serve up your music in a matter-of-fact fashion or over egg its DSP to smooth over rough edges. AC/DC’s frantic, energetic Riff Raff plays with plenty of swagger, the abrasive tone of Angus Young’s guitar matched by the pounding drums. It’s fizzy, foot-tapping fun and even ramping up the level on the Controller app past the ‘80’ point (the range is 0-100) doesn’t cause it to lose its grip on proceedings.

This ability to go loud with composure means Meridian’s speaker can happily be parked at the other end of a room and still make its presence felt. In such a setup the lack of a wide stereo presentation is noticeable, although the playful left/right flavour of David Essex’s Rock On still comes across and the overall scale of the performance impresses. A hi-fi cliché, yes, but this compact speaker really does perform like something bigger.

Partly, this is down to the low-end delivery. Cue up a track like Sub Focus’s Calling For A Light and the electronic bassline bounces along with genuine depth, underneath a flurry of impactful samples and synths. But it’s just as comfortable with the more laid back, jazzy bass sounds across Kendrick Scott Oracle’s We Are The Drum, where tom-toms and Joe Sander’s upright bass exhibit gorgeous textures.

I play this album over Roon, in 24-bit/96kHz FLAC and it helps to prove the Ellipse’s audiophile chops. You can stream to the speaker via Bluetooth or Spotify Connect and get plenty out of it, but its treble clarity and expressive nature comes to the fore with higher-quality sources. The sound of the piano, the weight of each bass guitar note and the fine detail of the percussion on show during Billy Joel’s Travelling Prayer, in 24-bit/88.2kHz PCM, are exquisite.

With the Ellipse’s ‘Bass & Space’ DSP on its Max setting, Joel’s vocal sounds a little over powered by the instruments around him, so a tweak of the app pays dividends. On the other hand, ‘Bass & Space’ works fine with the low-register, libidinous vocals in ZZ Top’s La Grange, which cut through the guitar backing with ease.

Conclusion
With its £1,900 price tag, there’s a suspicion that Meridian’s Ellipse is aimed at people who already have a set of the company’s full-size speakers in the house. If that’s you, then go ahead and pick one (or more) up right now – this compact speaker is a triumph of design, performance and under-the-hood engineering. For everyone else, the Ellipse has a fight on its hands to compete with more affordable models from the likes of Sonos, Bluesound, Sony and B&W. But it’s a fight that, all things being equal, it will no doubt win. MC    

DETAILS
Product: Meridian Audio Ellipse
Type: Active wireless desktop speaker

FEATURES
● 2x 25W, 90mm full-range drivers
● 150mm x 100mm, 30W ‘racetrack’ bass driver
● 24-bit/192kHz hi-res playback

Read the full review in  Issue 526