Meridian is a name steeped in British audio history. From its founding in 1977 with the launch of the world’s first active speaker—the Meridian M1—to the world’s first audiophile performance CD player in 1983, Meridian has a track record for innovation in audio.
Founded by Bob Stuart and the late Allen Boothroyd, the pair soon became iconic figures on the British audio scene for their pioneering work. The brand went on to forge a reputation for the highest quality sound which fostered partnerships with major names like Land Rover, Jaguar, TOGG and LG.
The latest product to come out of the Meridian’s Cambridgeshire research lab and manufacturing facility is the Ellipse. This compact wireless speaker incorporates almost 50 years of Merdian’s engineering excellence and know-how in one compact package that can produce a sound far bigger than its size would lead you to believe.
The Ellipse is a beautiful object and looks like a giant M&M that’s been sliced in half and placed at a jaunty angle on three stubby feet. At the front is a metal grille with the Meridian logo in its center. Despite its price, there are no exotic tropical hardwoods or any precious metal trim. It’s an all-plastic construction produced to a very high standard.
At the rear of the Ellipse is a bank of inputs for connecting external audio sources. There is also an Ethernet port, although the Ellipse also has 2.4 and 5GHz Wi-Fi built in. The inputs consist of a 3.5mm jack which can accept optical or analog sources, then there is a USB port for external storage containing music files. For streaming digitally, there is a USB-C port so you can connect the Ellipse to a Mac or PC and use it as a fancy computer speaker. There is no HDMI port for those who might fancy using it as a soundbar, although you could connect to TV optically.
As well as the physical audio inputs, the Ellipse can also support wireless streaming in the form of Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast and Bluetooth, as well as native streaming using Spotify Connect and TIDAL Connect. It’s a Roon Ready device and can be used as a UPnP renderer for playing audio files stored on a NAS device on a local network. Surprisingly, there is no native support or built-in microphone for Alexa or Google Assistant, although the Ellipse can be controlled using voice commands via Bluetooth streaming device or by using Google Home or Apple Home Kit if the speaker is added as a device.
What makes the Ellipse innovative is the inclusion of engineering and technologies used in the Meridian DSP8000 XE and DSP9. The designers have managed to shoehorn the innovation into this compact and powerful speaker. Unique control options, including Image Elevation technology that enable the listener to tailor the sound to their preferences, taking into account background noise, room size and speaker placement. Surprisingly, there’s no True Sound-style sound tester built in for adjusting the EQ to a room’s acoustics, but you do get some basic settings for shelf, wall and corner positioning.
There are no fewer than a dozen unique Meridian DSP technologies in the Ellipse, including Meridian’s Bass & Space which is a stereo enhancement technology designed to optimize and widen the soundstage. It’s a system ideally suited for when the left and right speakers are close together and might not otherwise produce a convincing stereo image.
Other clever Meridian tricks built into the Ellipse include Image Focus which applies a combination of gains and delays to correct for off-axis listening and ensures that the original soundstage of the recording is maintained. Meridian Image Focus+ is a further technology that combines the gains and delays used in Image Focus to correct for off-axis listening but with additional corrective delays between the drive units within each speaker, producing a natural soundstage with accurate left-right placement while imparting a sense of depth to the music.
There are lots of other Meridian technologies nestling inside the Ellipse that ensure this small speaker is capable of producing an exceptionally clear and well-defined sound that you’ll rarely hear from such a small wireless speaker. It’s stupendously clever technology, but all that technology doesn’t come cheap as we will discover.
Setting up the Ellipse is straightforward once you’ve downloaded the Meridian app for your Android or iOS smartphone. The software struggled at first to find the loan unit I was examining, but it got there in the end and I gave permission for the speaker to join my home Wi-Fi network.
The Meridian Control app is the main way to drive the Ellipse remotely because it doesn’t ship with a remote. There is an infrared sensor on board which can work with almost any programmable remote, but at this price, I think a remote should have been included for those times when you need to quickly mute the music, adjust the volume or pause a track without using the app. Meridian sells its own MSR2 remote, but that will set you back a cool £300.
The other way to control the Ellipse is via the control panel built into the top of the speaker. A semi-circle of illuminated controls enables the user to adjust the volume, play and pause the music, skip and repeat tracks or initiate Bluetooth connectivity. Incidentally, although there is Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity built into the Ellipse, there is only support for vanilla SBC and AAC codecs. On a speaker of this price and caliber, I would have expected to see support for aptX Adaptive and LDAC. Just saying.
Unlike some of its competitors, such as the Naim Mu-so or the Cambridge Evo One, the Ellipse doesn’t go in for multiple speaker drivers or a nice color display to show off the album art and settings. Behind the unit’s removable speaker grille are two 90mm polypropylene wide-range drivers—for the left and right channels—and a 150mm x 100mm polypropylene long-throw “racetrack” subwoofer separating them. The crossover is set at 180Hz, while the full-range drivers are fed with 25W of amplification each and the subwoofer gets a generous 30W.
In essence, for most people, a high-end speaker Ellipse will be used as an AirPlay 2 or Google Cast device. That means the audio resolution will top out at 44.1kHz / 24-bit for AirPlay whereas Google Cast can go as high as 96kHz / 24-bit.
If you use TIDAL Connect or Spotify Connect to stream hi-res music directly to the Ellipse, you can bypass the limitations of Apple’s AirPlay. For the other inputs, there is a maximum sampling rate of 192kHz / 24-bit for the USB-C port and 96kHz / 24-bit when using the mini-TOSLINK optical input. If you use the 3.5mm analog jack, the Ellipse will sample the source at 88kHz / 24-bit A/D conversion.
And so, we come to the all-important sound that this innovation can produce. The Meridian Ellipse is a stunning performer for its size. Not only does it have astonishing clarity in the mids and treble, thanks to those incredible 90mm polypropylene drivers, but the subwoofer nestling between them produces such a solid and clean bass for its size.
The drivers are perfectly matched and using the Meridian DSP technologies with settings on the smartphone app, the Ellipse can create a soundstage almost as wide and convincing as a separate pair of bookshelf speakers set two meters apart. It’s astonishing how well this speaker can image a piece of music.
This is a surefooted speaker with an impressive soundstage and the kind of presence that Bose used to brag about when it came to “room-filling sound.” The Ellipse played jazz classics wonderfully, including Diana Krall’s sublime “Sway” which is my go-to test track when evaluating speakers and headphones. The space around the music that the Ellipse creates is breathtaking. The way the bass detaches from the mids and treble is a delight.
The Meridian innovation costs and the Ellipse has a price tag of $3,000. However, is it worth the money when compared to, say, the B&W Zeppelin or the Denon Home 350, both of which are a third of the price and offer maybe a few more bells and whistles? The absence of a remote also irked me. Meridian sells its MSR2 remote control but it will set you back $300! I just expected a little bit more luxury for the money and maybe some more advanced support for hi-res Bluetooth codecs. There’s also no display for showing album art or settings, quite an ommission considering the price. There is no question that the Meridian Ellipse can sing like a beautifully songbird, but its price presents it with an uphill struggle and a barrier in a competitive market that already has some great speakers selling for a lot less.
Pricing & Availability: The Meridian Ellipse wireless speaker is available from Meridian distributors worldwide and is priced at $3,000 / £1,900.
Tech Specs:
- Streaming: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, AirPlay, Google Cast, native streaming from Spotify Connect and TIDAL Connect. Roon Ready, UPnP renderer.
- Audio inputs: 1 x USB-C supporting sampling rates up to 192kHz @ 24-bit, 1 x mini-TOSLINK optical supporting sampling rates up to 96kHz @ 24-bit, stereo analog with 88kHz/24bit A/D conversion (Optical and analog share dual-purpose 3.5mm minijack socket).
- Control options: Illuminated touch controls located on top of the unit, Meridian Control app via Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection, IR receiver eye (MSR2 remote control available separately), Automation interface via Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection.
- SPL: 100dB@1m (pink noise source).
- Frequency response in a room within 3dB: 40Hz – 20kHz (volume setting 65).
- Amplification 2 x 25W for full-range drivers, 1 x 30W for subwoofer driver.
- Drive units: 2 x 90mm polypropylene wide-range drivers, 1 x 150mm x 100mm polypropylene long-throw “racetrack” subwoofer driver.
- Crossover frequency: 180Hz.
- Wi-Fi: Dual-band – 2.4GHz and 5GHz compatible.
- Dimensions (WxDxH): 412mm [16.2in] x 223mm [8.8in] x 171mm [6.7in].
- Weight: 3.9kg [8.6lbs].
- Power: 100V – 240V AC, Max 70W.
