Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems HD621 coming

Hiya all.

I've taken the plunge and ordered a HD621, and I'm now waiting for it to arrive. while I wait I thought I'd ask a couple of questions here, if no-one minds?

Firstly, does it come with all the cables I'll need to connect to my G68? specifically some smartlink coax cables and a comms cable? serial cable? what types of comms cable should I be using or does it not matter?

Also, when I do the config in Mconfig and I change things on the HD621, will I need to connect to the serial port on the HD621, or will the G68 send the config along the comms cable? I'm thinking of both direct config on the HD621 (smartlink vs MMHR etc) and what sources are on what HDMI ports?

Lastly, I notice there's a config option there for AAC. I believe my G68ADV supports it, so should I be turning it on. will it make any difference? I'm thinking here of if my popcorn hour can output AAC perhaps.. not sure if it's worth it.

Anyway, many thanks in advance for any help

cheers
dave

Yes, it comes with SmartLink (3x coax), RS232 and DIN comms cables. I can't remember if it also comes with a coax comms cable, but I think not (which is a bit weird).

MConfig - you need to connect the RS232 to the HD621.

AAC - no idea.

Re : AAC , the option is only there because , mysteriously , 861 cannot use it so it should be set to ' No' for that . Your G68 can handle AAC so you can set it to ' On'.

~M~

excellent news on the cables. means I don't need to buy any and as soon as it arrives, I can get going. a bit of a shame that the controller can't span out config settings to other things on the comms bus though. but I guess if it comes with a cable (been using USB for the G68) then I can at least hook it up.

that said, the config I've done in MConfig so far I've matched the inputs to the defaults on the back, so hopefully I won't need to do so much.

as regards the comms cables. do we know why there are two kinds? I'm guessing the DIN version is the older type and the coax/BNC version is newer? can one only use one type, is there any advantage of one over the other?

I have eventual plans to get a 3 set of DSP33 speakers so should I start using DIN comms now?



the 861 doesn't support AAC? how bizarre. I'll turn it on though I guess and see what happens when I try to feed AAC to it from the popcorn hour

dave

The AAC option is just to tell HD621 to switch to bypass when it sees AAC. If your 861 doesn't handle it, it won't matter what it's set to. So it's not there for the 861. Why would you ever want any of the format options off with any processor? It should bypass all of them otherwise it corrupts them.

George, I think it is more to do with HDMI EDID protocol so that the source device knows what it can and can't output to the HD621.

Regards,
Carl

HD621 only has RS232 so if you laptop/pc only has USB ports you will need a USB/RS232 device, see Wiki for details.



DIN and BNC speaker comms are compatable with each other and can be mixed.
In my system I have both Master and Slave leads with DIN at one end (861) and BNC at the other (DSP).

Control comms between processor and HD621 can be DIN or BNC.

Regards
Carl