Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 861V6 On order/upgrade and with what kind of cards

Congrates on the purchase !!!

Be nice if you could keep the old one up to the last minute so you could compare it.

Interesting issues regarding the cards. I can see a flood of cards now on the market.

I assume you want to trade in a complete system. So you would not try to trade in a box with no output cards digital or analog.

Be nice if you could cut deal with the deal. It would raise it's resale value a bit.

I seem to be the start of this sub discussion in this thread.
I would pick 2) personally

But stripping the unit is also not the right description. You trade in for a standard unit with digital outs only. So no reason to trade in a unit with both digital as analogue out, and optional more cards that are not standard.

I will wait what my dealer proposes..

I did order my upgrade today.

Standard 861v6, no extra cards. (Black)

Will trade in my 861v4 with 2xOA13 cards.
Could trade back the AC11 for one AC12
Ordered a 2nd AC12

Have left a OE12, IA45 and a ID20


Still much in doubt if i need 2 more AC12 units.

Ok, I'll bite. You ordered a v6 with no analogue outs but you have two OA13 cards in your current v4?
How's that gonna work out? Are you going to switch to DSP speakers?


I have not placed my order yet, as I'm currently considering to switch to DSP speakers (hopefully the end of endless upgrades and cable mayhem). I also have two OE13 cards in my current v4. If I decide to go with DSP speakers I wouldn't need the new OA18 cards and could also go with a standard v6, no extra cards. Not sure about the color yet, my brain tells me black, but the heart says graphite looks sexy too.

On a side note, to my surprise the german trade in price is actually less than the UK price. That might have to do with the fact that the dealer is not allowed to keep the 861 and sell it, every dealer has to return the 861 to the german distributor. Analogue output cards are also over 50% off compared to the retail price, when the order for them is placed in combination with the trade in. Not that it would be cheap, two analogue output cards retail for �3.900,- in Germany.

Stephan,

you have a private email

Robert

Stephan
What DSP's are you considering and what about the Isophon's???

Stephan,

you have another private mail (from Germany).

Ronnie,

I'm looking at anything Meridian has to offer, but I'm having an eye on the 7200 and 8000. While the 8000 is the only true full range speaker Meridian has, I'd like to compare it directly to a 7200 because that's the newer design. I could cover the absolute lower end with a subwoofer (or multiple if possible).
And I have this funny feeling it won't take too long before we see a 8200.

My dealer only has the 5200s in stock, but can get me anything for a demo for about two weeks or so. I'm not in a hurry with all of this, as a possible switch would be made with the trade-in of the 861 for which I have time until the end of July.

The Isophon's are taken care of. I have a buyer for a single speaker used as center and one for a single a pair. A friend has shown some interest for the remaining two pairs as he'd like to use them with an additional center in a 5.1 system. If he's jumping off, I'll probably put them on eBay or my dealer will sell them second hand.

I've posted this in another thread and I don't really want to hijack this thread. To make a long story short, I've always kept somewhat up-to-date over the past decade which resulted in upgrade after upgrade for amps, cables and speakers. Isophon has introduced some new speakers last year, which I really like but they would cost me �75k, then there is the Nordost Odin speaker cable... another �20k, ... and so on and so on. I keep hearing rumours about yet another new pair of Isophons for next year... �100k, �150k? I don't know and I'm sick of upgrades.

I can't enjoy the hobby anymore at this point, due to the next thing always around the corner. For a while I thought about giving up the hobby completely. I made the decision to size down everything, get something I like and can enjoy. Even if it's not the best, I'm willing to make that sacrifice as long as it keeps me happy and that urge to upgrade goes away. I just want to get something and never look back.

I'll take the opportunity to make some design changes in the room in May or June, switch to a 10' or 11' wide scope screen and get one of the new LED based DLP projectors (either Runco 750 or Sim2 Mico) for it. I'll keep the ISCOIII for that purpose. 861v4 will get an upgrade to v6 and speakers... well, I hope to go DSP. Amps and cables will be sold. Luckily the cables (especially Nordost) are still going for quite alot, so this should pay off for the video side of things and the design changes in the room.

I also have a few projectors lying around which I plan to sell. Among them an old Barco 9" which has been collecting dust for years. I keep asking myself how I could ever be so stupid to put so much money into these things... I'm really not happy with the situation right now. A friend recently sized down his system and is now completely happy with what he has, no urge to upgrade or anything. I hope that's where I will be after I made the changes. Only time will tell.

The constant urge to Upgrade can certainly be a PITA, especially when there are so many different aspects to a typical high end Analog system

The consideration of Meridian's DSP's is an interesting one, as I'm sure you can remember when you thought very, very highly of the Isophon's and perhaps not quite as highly of the Meridian's

Anyway, good luck with your planned changes. The new LED Projector from SIM2 certainly looks interesting. Will be interesting to compare to the the 3-chippers

Please don't get me wrong. I'm still thinking very, very highly of the Isophon speakers and for someone who's looking for the ultimate performance and is willing to apply endless tweaks, I'd still recommend them.

My priorities have changed though. I have very little time these days, maybe a movie or two every two weeks. Sometimes I won't have the time to watch anything for two, three or maybe four months. And once I have the time, I don't want to try new tweaks to improve things further. Moving to DSP would eliminate the option to play with different amps and cables. It would bring me in a position where it gets as good as DSP can get and I'd have no option to change things. Basically I'd have my back against a wall and I'd have to live with what I can get.

If the M speakers can give me good enough quality, good enough so I can enjoy a movie or a CD, I'd like to switch. Keeping what I have now would just make me think about upgrades again. As I said, I think I need my back against the wall with nowhere to run and be happy in that situation.

I figured that you wouldn't have thought any less of the Isophons. Good Speakers, no question about it

Maybe now though, the "smoke" can be left behind

Sounds like you're moving into an M.O. of many of us here, i.e. very little time and when we do, we just want to listen and watch, rather than tinker. We've all likely learned a lot by tinkering, but likewise, we've all probably wasted some valuable time too.

These days, I'm happy knowing that I'm in the top 5% of listening enjoyment, rather than the hassle of striving to be in the 0.05% club. Just takes up too much time, effort, money and most importantly, Listening Time

Good luck with your proposed changes, whatever they finish out at

i have no analogue speakers nor amplifiers anymore. I bought 7 DSP speakers in june 2009 but have not used them since that time.