Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 2 hour impressions 568.2mm/598

After doing the PC setup (mostly logical, and still surprised when this kind of thing works w/minimal jiggering) late Wed. night, I've listened to my new 568.2mm/598 combo for exactly two hours and have the following authoritative impressions:

- Thank god the music has returned to my system. No offensive intended toward the nice guy from Denmark who bought my MC12B.

- I'm still pissed that there is no accomodation at the moment for multichannel SACD. I almost did not buy for this reason, much as I felt this was the only processor I listened to that sounded like music (didn't listen to significantly pricier stuff) Almost went backwards in convenience to the CD player/tube preamp/processor in the loop setup that the MC12 made me miss.

- Went to Tower Records in Manhattan (Upper West Side), which one would think to be toward the leading edge of hi-rez music retailers, and saw three small shelves (appx. 6' x 4 total') of SACD stuff and two (appx. 4'x4') of DVD-A material. With all the other shelf space in the store, that's not even a small postage stamp on a Pipedreams shipping carton.

- Yet I'm still pissed that the combo lacks SACD capability, and this seems mostly out of an arrogance for which we're paying too much. And, there were over 8' more sq. ft. of SACD's on display at Tower!!! Guess I'll have to go mail order.

- Though used to it in a way I'm nowhere near w/the combo, the Lex. appears to have a much cleaner, clearer interface, ergonomics and display. I'll withold too much judgement until more time is spent, but unexpected things happen when I hit some remote buttons and there seems little direct access to stuff. Perhaps some kind of British values/attitude on electronics/utility here.

- Unless I'm missing something, the lack of 12v triggers is a major oversight. I got very used to not having to flip on my amps. Some 2 ch. preamps even have this feature. Can't wait to explain the new power up routine to my wife.

- Don't have the time to be writing this now, but Thank God the Music is Back.

Thank God the Music is Back.

AMEN!

Welcome to the forum!

Doody.

Hey again rblnr
Welcom from the avs chats we had about the C1
I have keept the Halo A51 and A21
I treaded my 568.2 amd the un opened C1 ++
for a brand new 861v3 that I`m using with
my 598DP. The 861V3 is arriving next week.
I`m upgrading to go purly XLR (3 Cards of 192Khz/ 24 Bit outs)
I will post my impressions. I curently borrowing a
568V1 and with the A21 it sounds superb!

Pers

I'm having problems w/the 598: The slightest tap on the remote of either the track/chapter skip buttons, or the menu navigation buttons, yields a jump of two tracks, or two menu items. This happens on various discs, CD and DVD. Using my programmed MX-500 yields the same result, indicating something with the machine itself. Any ideas?

I'm using firmware 1.02. It just occurred to me that I haven't tried the track/chapter skip buttons on the unit to see if it is possibly an IR command issue. I will.

I'm also getting dropouts on DVD-A, and occasional no sound on startup, necessitating a power down/up that rectifies the problem. Hope I don't have a Meridian PMDT on my hands.

I'm considering writing Lexicon for additional compensation on the speakers I sold thinking they were deficient. Put the blame in the wrong place.

The skipping 2 tracks problem happens on my system when the units get confused as to which is the controller. Press the clear button on the remote when in standby and make sure only one unit, presumably your 568, displays 'con'. The other(s) should display 'n con' or 'not con'.

Also, make sure that the 568 is set to controller (not auto) and everything else is set to non-con (not auto). Then do as Steve suggests.

Presume that you have checked the "800 present" on the pc config?

Occassional no sound on start up is a bug. Others have found this also. I haven't had chance to report it back to HQ yet though. Anyone else done this ?

Drop out is also a concern. I haven't experienced it on DVD-A, but, as mentioned in a previous post, I do get it very occassionally on CD playback. I have no idea whther this is player or SSP related. I do know that it p's me off.

Rgds

Nick

After more listening, 'working' my way through some favorite CD's that I know very well, the Meridian combo is definitely one of those audiophile/music lover revelations vs. my old MC12. There's more air, soundstage depth and organic flow and speed to the music, and the unpredictablity of where a note is exactly going to go because of recovered decay and whatever else. Bottom line, the music makes my heart beat faster and my toes tap.

But I guess you all know this already.

Some parameter questions that I don't see much explanation for in the manual. Using Trifield, for example, how and what should Centre EQ be set to and what are the differences between the choices? Can someone explain the rear filter setting -- I don't want to guess.

I believe I've seen a Pronto file somewhere -- does this allow for direct access to surround modes and DSP parameters?

I've got a Pronto config file, but don't have direct access to DSP modes. I'd be able to e-mail it off sometime next week.

If M would be gracious enough to provide discrete RC5 codes for the various DSP modes it could be easily programmed.

As far as the Trifield Parms, there's very little documentation. As I understand it, the Surround filter defines the highest frequency passed to the surrounds, and off would send full range. However that's going off of memory, not any detailed documentation I've read.

Regards,

Thanks for the config file offer, but I don't own a Pronto. I'd buy one though if there was a file w/direct access to certain functions. A useful feature that was unique to the Proceed AVP as far as I know, was that it could beam signals to your remote for virtually any function. I programmed my MX-500 w/various direct access buttons this way. Though it may be nearly gone, the AVP had the most thought out and intuitive interface/remote that I've ever used. Nine remote buttons gave you unbelievable access. You didn't need backlighting.

I'll email Meridian about additional parameter info. and chime in on remote codes as well. It's silly at best on a processor of the 568's caliber that there is no direct access to modes and at least some of the parameters.

I don't think Meridian has direct codes for DSP modes. But with the way the Meridian is setup with Presets and you can configure different formats for different Media. Now this assumes you don't have too many sources so that you can use these other presets for the same source with different settings.

But the real fix is direct codes for everything.

I support direct codes for DSP modes too but can we also have direct access to the Copy sources as well via IR remote codes.

VIa RS-232 it is possible, but we have discussed this before: No real cheap way to do IR to RS-232.

Jaco