Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 7.1 input on G Series

I'm not going to worry about that until I have a better room.

OMG this appears to be true the G68 new with current firmware v. 1.44 is only 5.1 discrete. Two months ago I began a major upgrade on my system. Among other things I wanted the full 7.1 experience. I decided to acquire a Classe SSP 800. A Meridian dealer friend (possibly soon to be ex-friend) pushed for a Meridian sale. He clearly knew I wanted 7.1 discrete. He sold me side speakers and installed them. I purchase the required extra 2 channel amp on Audiogon. I bought several 7.1 channel blu-rays in anticipation. I saw the pictures of the rear of the unit. Output 8x analogue balanced XLR: Main L, Main R, Side L, Side R, Rear L, Rear R, Centre, Sub. On the HD621 I see HDMI and 8 digital outs. And now for the rub. I look at the inputs on the G68 an see a sea of inputs and I don't look any closer. In the literature I read about the 8 channels of output. Wow, I have a $10500 knot in my stomach as I prepare to call my dealer.

But it will still sound better than the Class�, and that is from a Class� fan.

I can see why you'd be annoyed though, that sounds like blatant mis-selling or bad product knowledge, though whether you'll get anything out of him I don't know.

Let us know how the dealer responds to your disappointment.

As an owner of the 861v6, I'm all for it getting premium features, however, a 7.1 input seems like it ought to be table-stakes - for a $10K processor like G68 to not have 8-ch input capability is a pretty significant shortcoming.

Regarding HD621, remember, it was as much a backward-compatible solution to HDMI as a forward looking one. Since it needed to have 3xSPDIF anyhow, presumably adding a 4th involved minimal cost and provided some 'just in case' insurance. I had a Bluray player modified for 4XSDIF (rather than 3) for similar reasons.

Perhaps G68 will be modified with a 4th coax - seems to me M need to give it 8-ch input cpability somehow or risk marginalizing the product.

Toy Story 3 is the first movie to be mixed with a true 7.1 soundtrack. The studios also consider it to be the first 7.1 Blu-ray disc feature film. Some of the AIX stuff might be true 7.1, but AIX does not produce feature films.

The entire 7.1 story from Meridian is pretty disappointing. A lot of Meridian owners in my area have been moving over to Anthem since the v6 announcement.

I spent more than an hour today talking to my dealer/friend and we still remain friends. He was not deliberately trying to mislead me regarding the G68 7.1 capabilities. I had told him that having great 2 channel was number one for me but I also wanted 7.1. When we discussed 7.1 he was considering the Meridian software generated 7.1 as acceptable. But of course it would have been nice if he explained that it was not discrete 7.1. That combined with the misleading literature and I was unable to figure out that the G68 is really a 5.1+ controller. I do prefer the sound of the Meridian to the Classe so in that respect I am in agreement with what the previous Classe "fan" said. However, the Anthem was on my short list and since I thought I had the best solution for me, I did not give the Anthem a full consideration.

I sent a letter of complaint regarding the literature to Meridian-America. It made me feel better. (even if it went to the dead letter office)

Sorry my 58 years are showing. Let me bring this up to date.

I sent an email complaining about the misleading literature to Meridian-America. It made me feel better. (even if it hit the spam shreader)

Lemme get this straight - both of you guys prefer the G68 to the Classe 800? I'm not arguing or anything, I've never heard the Classe, but know its reputation. I have a G68J, and I'd be chuffed if it was better than that.

As it happens I'm listening to the G68 and an Anthem D2V at the moment, which is an interesting comparison.

Nick

This may have been covered before, but I was wondering how discrete 7.1 from the studio is?

I can see an argument for discretely recorded 7.1 being discretely reproduced.

But, presumably, most movie soundtracks are electronically generated & then electronically processed into 5.1, 7.1 or other. 5.1 correctly re-processed into 7.1 by the user might be as good, then, as discrete 7.1.

Can anyone clarify this?

Locus

Presumably, it is about how the soundtrack is mixed - for 5.1 vs. 7.1. I've no idea how many tracks are available to the sound mixer (many more than 8 I'd wager) but if those tracks are mixed into 8 channels then I would expect some benefit to having a disccrete 7.1 capability. If the 7.1 track is simply processed from an existing 5.1 version then I agree that a re-processing inside the Meridian would be fine.

A prior post mentionned that Toy Story 3 will be the first major film to get a soundtrack discretely mixed for 8 channels - I'd see no reason why that would not become the norm.

Does anyone know how the theaters would handle 8 channels - or even if they could? My local theaters mostly have a set of surround speakers running up both sides of the room - but I think they all reproduce the same channel.