Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Sooloos Control:Mac problem

Hi all,

I own a Sooloos C10 and 2 TwinStores and I'm very happy with the system. Uploading and ripping I do via either a PC or a Mac, and it's Control:Mac that's giving me problems. From time to time it seems to loose connection with the Sooloos system - the C:Mac screen goes blanc, the little wheel is displayed and after a second the screen returns, showing the "play" mode. Until recently it was merely annoying because the software continued to do what it was busy doing: ripping a CD. But since the most recent update (Control:Mac 2.200, build 128) Control:Mac stops importing and spits out the CD.
Supposing a softwareproblem I uninstalled and reinstalled C:Mac, to no avail. Thinking it might be a networkproblem I tried a different Catcable (the same instability), a different switch (the same), and I hooked up a laptop using the connection the iMac normally uses. The laptop is windows based and runs Control:PC. C:PC performs stable, on any machine on my network. The network itself is a stable performer and all devices talk to each other and to the outside without problems.
So now I'm puzzeled. I think the instability originates within C:Mac but: do other users have similar problems? And do you have suggestions for solving them? Thanks in advance!

Cheers, J.

Hi,

I use both Control:PC and Control:Mac, and have found the same frustrating problem that you have - Control:Mac is not very good, Control:PC seems to be OK.

Sorry that I can't offer any suggestion for solving the problem; when I mentioned the problem to someone at Meridian a few months ago, I was led to believe that they knew that Control:Mac was not as well developed as Control:PC is. However, I have no idea what will be done to improve matters.

Ian

Hi Johannes
I don't have the Sooloos kit so this may be a silly question, but why are you uploading via Mac or PC rather than the Control:10? Is there a quality or speed issue when using the Sooloos option vs. a computer to get your music into the TwinStores?
Regards
Dom

Hi Ian,

Over the weekend I took my research one step further and started checking the CAT 5/6 wiring of the system components. I noticed that some functioned on a 100Mb/s level and others on the 1000Mb/s level the switch provides. I also experienced data dropout on one of the TwinStores after changing and rechanging switches. I rewired the CAT-cable on this component and since then the problems I mentioned in my post with C:Mac didn't occur.
So my educated guess for now is that the C:Mac problem was sparked by a momentary data dropout due to unreliable wiring: the iMac loses contact with the system, starts looking for it and finds it again when datatransfer is reestablished. Since the problems never occurred when I hooked up a windows machine, I guess C:PC is better equipped to handle temporarily data dropout than C:Mac is?!?
Anyhow, C:Mac is stable now for about 24 hours and when it remains that way for the next 12, I consider the problem solved for now.

Hi Dom,

It's a matter of convenience. Metadata and coverart are adapted faster through C:PC and C:Mac and not all Sooloos functions are accessible when ripping with the C10.

Cheers, J.