Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Running SPDIF and Com cables question

One thing I have learned here regarding setting up your system is you need to follow instructions exactly. In the Meridian 568.2mm manual they show digital cables and comms for the front and rear speakers starting from the processor to the LEFT speaker and then daisy chained over to the RIGHT. I will run short on length with my existing cables unless I run the cables to the right side first. Will I encounter any problems doing this? If so, I'll have longer cables made but I was curious. Will the proscesor just think the left speakers are really the right speakers?

The SLAVE comms cables (S5) have a uniform pinout on both ends of the cable. You can run them in any order. The fact that they come paired with the SPDIF (digital audio) is (usually) just a convenience. In some cases it is easier to run the control part separately from the audio part.

The MASTER comms cable (M5) is different, but it can only be plugged in one way (unless you get VERY creative). The slave end of that cable just needs to connect to any of the speakers, and then connect the rest of the speakers via S5 cables.

A multi-channel Meridian system usually needs a 511 patch box (which is just a dumb parallel bus) to have a place to plug in all of com cables if you use a "star" topology (using the paired control/audio cables as supplied by Meridian).

The speaker doesn't have any active electronics to connect the com input to the com output - it is just a loop-through. You can prove this (on speakers with displays, which omits the DSP33 and the subwoofers) - unplug one speaker from the mains and change the volume with the remote. You'll see that the "downstream" speaker still changes its volume display.

Left/Right speaker selection is done via the remote (for speakers with displays) or via a slide switch on the speaker (DSP33s and subs). This tells the speaker which channel of the SPDIF data to interpret, and is independent of the com cable. If you don't mind the volume being set at 65, you don't even need to hook up the com cables, just the SPDIF ones.

None of this is related to setting a speaker as "controller" (the one that interprets IR commands, completely unrelated to the meaning of controller as used in things like "562 Controller"). This seems to be the thing that trips up new users the most. Usually, more than one device thinks it is the controller, causing very strange responses to infrared commands such as the volume control - some displays will go up by the expected 1 digit per press, some will go up by more than one, and some may even appear to ignore the command entirely. This can trick the unwary user into thinking they have a com cable issue. I suggest not using the "Auto" setting, and instead configuring each device except the one you want to be the controller to "Not controller" (N.con on speakers with 7-segment displays).

Thanks
I'm still Meridian stupid as I'm learning on the fly from those here and a manual. I forgot about the switch behind each DSP33 which sets the speaker as the right, left or center. Unfortunately DSP33s do not have front displays.

But they do have manuals and the switch is detailed there.