Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat CES?

I have spoken with Ken over the years and I've found him to be everything you say Gary. He is a "good guy" and Im sad to hear we will be going that way in the US.

Has anyone taken a listen to the 3200's? I'm anxious to hear the first impressions.

Wayne

I listened to the DSP3200s briefly last night, but it was in a less than optimal environment. My initial impression was that they sounded a bit more analytic than previous Meridian speakers, but that may have been room related. There was a wall of glass behind them. I would reserve judgment until I heard them properly set up in a good room.

Some CES photos;

That big monster seems to say Media Core 600 on the back - right? From the picture it seems to be 6 zones with unbalanced-analogue, SPDIF and SL out for each; and two drives in the front; and LAN obviously; and presumably it can run a core.

Initially I thought it's a strange idea to go to running digital audio lines everywhere, where the original idea of doing it all over a network was more elegant. But then I guess this is relatively a budget option. Unless it's more than UKP12000 it works out cheaper than having 6x MC200 spread around a house.

Only unbalanced analogue, running around a building?

And again, something that can rely on the iPad.

(Oh, and M seems to be dropping the colour black...)

Your guess is as good as mine! I presume the MC 600 is a multiple zone with core soloos allowing one to have soloos throughout the house but letting one choose which rooms to have a touchscreen in. Myvquestion is whether the two drives are mirrored back ups or just dual capacity. I am guessing the former so it will basically be a TwinStore on steroids!

Your guesses look pretty good. From the "Meridian News" brochure that I picked up today at M CES some of what it said is:

"The Media Core 600 represents a much more powerfull approach with six zones and sophisticated synchronisation between multiple units, along with large scale RAID auto-mirrored storage, that makes it into the most powerful and intuitive digital media system imaginable."

It goes on to discuss how additional media core 600 units can be linked together to form an extremely large scale integrated system consisting of up to several tens of zones.

This info may be available on the M web site.

Regards,
Gary

Also the brochure says the units can be linked using RJ45 cables.

That product shows the full sense of the speakerlink connection.

Apart from the analogue outputs, connecting via speakerlink cabled to each room for direct connection to a modern SL equipped speaker. The benefits of IP connection to each room is unlikely to be fully realised in every room but for those that do want the option of best connection in the future, the standardisation on structured cabling allows upgrade to networked players without any recabling other than moving the cable from speakerlink output to what appears to be an integrated switch IP network output. It is then just a simple matter to install the network player (808.3/861v6 etc) in the required room.

I really like the simplicity of this.

Of course, as had been suggested many times before, putting an ID40 directly in a DSP speaker (or ac200 nor m80 [which has no speakerlink input either]) would make it even simpler.

Have to say that I don't understand the rationale behind this HUGE box at all.........

Everybody knows that sending the Music files over an Ethernet Cabling system around the house, will majorly outperform sending PCM Data over Coax / SPDIF or Speakerlink.......and Network Data will certainly better long Analog cabling runs............So

a) Link the Storage Unit (which now can be MUCH smaller) to your Structured Cabling system

b) Then have Network Clients (ID40, MS600 or MC200) in the locations where you want Players


Result???..........Better Sound Performance........at a lower cost

Again, Storage and Home Distribution is an Area that is not part of Meridian's Core Business.........and I think they are showing it by producing a Box like this

Cannot believe they are Wasting their time on this, when they should focusing on the stuff they excel at............never mind supporting Existing Customers with Trifield fixes and Firmware Updates..........just another way in which the new Meridian makes absolutely no sense to me

With all these new products they seem to be pointing people towards using the iPad for the controller of choice.

Can someone ask if they plan to update the GUI to include a cover browse view. (bit like the interface on the Control:10/15)

Thanks
Duncan

So, they've formally announced DSP3200, AC200, MC200 at CES. But, they have an MC600 on display - unannounced and unpriced. What gives?

Zander