Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems G68 vs G61R

If you don't need two zones and don't want a tuner, are there any advantages getting a G68 over a G61R?

There seem to be more G68s than G61Rs here, and I was wondering if it is just because of the zones and tuner.

Hi Nic

I think it may also be beacuse the G61, and then G61R were released a couple of years after the original G68 variants, so most people here were already tooled up.

Evidently the G61R and G68 are identical in terms of processing and sound; the former can safely be regarded as a less feature rich version of the latter (that advice directly from M a few years ago)

Cheers

George

And the features one looses are those I already listed, plus video switching and balanced analogue output? Am I missing anything?

....... and my G68J doesn't even have those !

I concur with George about timing.

The G61 came in a few years behind the G68 variants - it had no MRC so functionally was somewhere between the 568.2MM and the G68J - the G68J was basically a stripped out G68xxx and come out slightly later than the other G68 models - no tuner, no/limited zones, limited audio configurations available. Apparently the J was for 'Japanese'/Asian market but it became quite popular with DSP owners who didn't need all the extras for the G68D. It basically was the G61R, albeit in G68 sized box.

When V2 of G68 came in, M introduced the G68r and I think the G68J was phased out at the time as otherwise I they would have been identical apart from case size. The V2 G68's introduced the USB audio input and hence this appeared in the G61r too. So a G61r will have the USB audio input along with the later G68's. For much the same reasons that you don't see many G61r's, you don't see that many G68's with USB audio input.

Personally I prefer the smaller form factor of the G61r.[typo corrected]

Nic
I have just ordered a G61RSl version to replace my G68ADV. I had no need for multizone or the redundant video side and given that by 2015 the tuner won't work either it seemed to me to be an additional �1500 for nothing UNLESS there was superior performance. I was told by Rick that those differences apart, the rest of the electronics are identical. Guess which is the bargain??

Rod

'Personally I prefer the smaller form factor of the G81r'.

wow a mini G61 perhaps?

Rod

Thanks everyone. Now I understand. I am sure people who buy G68s now usually have good reason to - particularly when not running DSP speakers. Having spent my childhood listening to the clicks and pops of interference on long unbalanced line-level cables, I certainly wouldn't want to be without balanced connections.

Not that I'm going back to analogue speakers, mind.

I may well get back into the M fold after owning the 598/568.2/G68 for several years -- would love to go for the G61 as I don't need the other stuff, but want the balanced outs as noted above, so new G68.