Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Installed the Trinnov Altitude

I received the Trinnov Altitude last week and installed it over a few days this week.

First, the summary - It is brilliant! Why? - The impact it had on that part of the spectrum that MRC does not touch - was simply amazing. The resolution, detail etc. that I obtained from my regular recordings was amazing. Little things like a singer shuffling or clearing his throat were audible; I had never heard this before. More listening and viewing will follow. The flexibility of configuration it allows is mind blowing. I think it will be many months before I understand the impact of these parameters on audio.

Integrating it with the 8000SE was a bit of a pain. Why? Because the 8000 has its own level control, which I had to set to a standard reference level to make it sync with the other speakers. Since it starts at 65, setting it to my reference level of 99 involves 34 repeats of VolumeUp from the Logitech Harmony. Until I get a control system (if I do) this is what I need to put up with.

The 861v8 is now out of the chain. I have added 2 more subs and a couple of KRK rears.

As an incidental finding, the Trinnov shows me that the 8000 have an X response curve. The usual squiggles below 500Hz (mostly above 0dB) and a steadily declining line from 1Khz to 20KHz, ending at about -4dB.

More to follow.

Interesting，thanks sharing！

99 on Meridian DSP is above unity gain so you run the risk if introducing distortion/artifacts into the chain. I can certainly hear this on my old DSP5200's, albeiit without any other attenuation as i expect the trinnov is adding.

Iirc that unitity gain is 87 but i am sure someone will correct me.

87 is correct, that's full signal means 0dB for digital signal.
Doing more is simply wrong and potentially dangerous as posted and make also sound distortions.

Well done! Couldn't agree more on Trinnov.

Does 87 really correspond to "unity"? I know that one is expected to calibrate such that 87 reflects "reference levels", but I'm not sure that it means full-scale digital.

Someone else may know. Certainly, I'd not want to run a pair of 8ks much over 87!!!

Thank you all for your comments. I would like to explain my reasoning at using 99 as the reference rather than a lower number.

Bear in mind that the SPDIF input into the 8000 is variable. Also all my other speakers are powered, which means they have their own amps and level controls.

By setting the 8000 at 99, I am using its full amplification capacity and adjusting the levels of all other speakers to match it. With the 8000 at 99 and with all other speakers to match, my tolerance for SPL is reached at -10dB on the Trinnov. This means I have 10dB of headroom for a softer recording.

Setting the 8000 at say 89 would mean that I would need to set the Trinnov at 0dB to achieve comparable SPL, which leaves me with no leeway for softer recordings.

I did fool around with levels starting at 85 in steps all the way to 99 before settling there.

As to whether there will be any clipping, the other speakers are analog, the Trinnov has level meters for each channel and so far I have not been able to spot clipping on any channel. But it is a valid point and something I will watch out for with some of the more recent pop type recordings.

Thanks a lot

Yes I also will never run my 8k on that level, I need my blood in my body and not coming out from the ears

I tested the 87 level long time ago with a test CD and a non Meridian device, with a 0dB signal on the test CD I had full signal on the processor output.

Going over 87 generate clipping.

I am confused with this 87 business.

Firstly, with a reference level Coax input, 87 on the level is loud. Nobody disputes that. But if the input Coax is -10dB then surely 87 on the level is equivalent to 77. And if the input Coax is -20dB then surely 87 is equivalent to 67?

The Trinnov outputs Variable Coax. If I set the 8000 at 99 and send a -20dB from Trinnov into the speaker how does that hurt?

Secondly, even with the regular all-Meridian config, I understand 90 or 95 is loud, but where is the question of clipping? Clipping occurs at the input Coax, not at the output analog signal from the internal amps to the speakers.

IMHO the level on the display refers to the SPL, not the input signal level. Otherwise Meridian would not even have provided the ability to go up to 99!

Forgive my stupidity but not able to understand the linkages.

Shankar

Robert there is no 861 in the system any more. That is the cause of all the confusion.

I am feeding the 8000 from the VARIABLE Coax output of the Trinnov.

Shankar

Hi Shankar,

Can you update your signature box, to reflect your present system.

Regards,
Carl