Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Restaurant at the End of Universe Hitchhikers - Meridian Equipment Oppo BDP-83 Universal Player with 4x SPDIF Powerbuy!

We anxiously await your review, particularly of the Meridian mods.

If there's one thing I really hate it's being called "Dom", especially by people I've never met


This is not what you told me. You sent a message telling me on the 18th Sept that my player would ship on the 21st. You then sent a message on the 22nd via Paypal that the item had shipped with a consignment number that USPS do not recognise.

You are now admitting that this was false, and that the shipment will be on the 28 Sept?

How do you expect anyone to believe you when you keep lying to them?

Will you please you refund me my money now, as I have requested.


On 26 Sep 2009, at 19:43, Custom Home Theater wrote:

hello

Dom, as I told you before, your order ships monday and that is your tracking #

thanks

-Gary Murrell, Custom Home Theater
www.custom-ht.com http://stores.eBay.com/Custom-HT-Home-Theater
----- Original Message -----
From: xxxxxx
To: Custom Home Theater
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2009 2:44 PM
Subject: Re: Item #Oppo83RFOUTUSA - Notification of Payment Received from

Gary,

You sent me (only via Paypal) on 22 September a tracking number (CP059257369US) for what is supposedly my modified Oppo.

This package number still does not show up as recognised on the USPS website.

You have also ignored a request that I sent week before last asking for repayment.

Either you have supplied me with a fictitious USPS consignment number to ameliorate me, or USPS have supplied you incorrectly with the true consignment number.

I have no wish to continue with this transaction if it is the former.

Will you please sort this out immediately.

Thank you,

dpstjp

OK, I am all set up.

A lot of prep work in terms of presets, phantom sources, changes in terms of cabling, etc.

Thank you to all fellow forum members for getting the configs just right. Everything except one preset worked perfectly the first time.

First, sometimes I forget what an amazing machine the 861 is. The ability to handle multichannel in various configurations with phantom sources and the ability to config on a PC then upload to the unit is remarkable.

I removed the cover of the Oppo. Gary`s work looked nice and clean. My player is labeled 120v only, so not sure if the power supply in my machine will handle balanced power (I have recently retired my PS Audio 300).

A few important points:

The outputs on the modded Oppo are now LR/SR/CS so you have to make sure to connect the cables properly to the IE42 card, in my case this was LR to D4, CS to D5, and SR to D6.

I am using 2` runs of Belden 1694a from Blue Jeans Cable. 777ES is connected with Analysis Plus wire, Squeezebox is also connected with AP wire.

Oppo config is as follows:

Downmix to 5.1
All speakers to ON
All speakers to large
All speakers to 0db
All speakers to 10ft
Secondary audio OFF
HDMI LPCM
SACD PCM
COAX out LPCM
LPCM rate 96k
Dynamic range control to OFF

The Oppo output with BR discs comes up as Music 6. At first the LFE was low so I changed the Music 6 preset to cinema (from discrete).

I then setup a phantom source called CD. Choosing IE42:M4 as the input then setting Trifield as the Music 2 preset.

My setup was:
CD/SACD via a heavily modified Sony 777ES player connected to the 861 via
digital and l/r analog into an IA45 card.

DVD player via a TAW player with SDI output into a Lumagen scaler

Squeezebox connected to my MacPro with all serious listening using Apple
lossless

As this is an audio forum let`s focus on the audio. Based on my preliminary review:

The modded Oppo is certainly in the ballpark of the Sony 777ES analog outputs on SACD material.

On SACD material the imaging using Trifield is very good. On the SACD version of Springsteen`s Live in NYC, 41 Shots, you can very clearly hear the positions of the singers as they open the song.

On CD material I give the Squeezebox a slight edge over the Oppo. Sound staging seems a bit wider. Braveheart tracks 3 and 4 reveals a slightly wider sound stage and separation between instruments. The gain levels between the Sbox and the Oppo are different so I may be hearing a difference in volume.

Need more time with the player to give more detailed results but so far very
pleased.

Other points:

The player is nice and fast, loading SACD`s on my old player took forever, now nice and fast.

Weird having video with CD/SACD, I use the pure audio mode so I don`t get burn in on my plasma.

As to the experience with Gary, not sure what is going on here. I have had the disappearing act go on with other custom mods and custom products I have had made, My amps come from Randy White at Llano designs, amazing gear but I learned the meaning of the word patience in dealing with Randy. I guess that is why I did not freak out with this mod and the time it took.

So, I have a $500 player with $1,200 worth of mods. In the end not sure if a stock Oppo with a HD621 would have been a better way to go, but for now I am happy.

Oh and Bluray video is better than DVD.

Now, if Meridian could get a version of native software for the Mac, life would be perfect.

My order entered UK customs at 1:31pm on Monday...

My Oppo is here. Took a while to get it from customs.

I've ordered it in July, asked for an upgrade in August and it was in Germany in September. That's pretty long but not longer than I experienced with other high end hifi modders...

The mods look indeed clean and well made. The new clock has its own small power supply. The new main power supply looks pretty high end. Works fine with 220V. German cable was included.

For some reason my analog audio is still active. Maybe that's because I've originally ordered a plain Oppo, and later asked to upgrade it to the digital edition. BTW I prefer having the analog section still active for future usage.

Region free is also working perfectly fine. But one has to find out how: when the unit is in standby press the blue key for about 5 seconds. Then press 1,2 or 3 for Bluray region A,B or C. You'll here some confirming beeps. My machine came here as a region A. DVD is completely region free. There was no manual. I have this information from an Australian forum.

Sound quality is very good going via HDMI through the HD621 into G68. No problems with any kind of media incl. SACD. Used a very new firmware from Sep 30th. Updated automatically via Oppos own internet connection. Very easy.

But for CD and DVDA it is NOT as good as my G91A connected via MHR. I will definitely use it as a second player for BD and SACD and will stay with my G91A for CD and DVDA.

I have received tracking information for my order - like some others here though, the number does not work when I go to the USPS website (response says "information for this item is stored in files offline") so I will have to see if this works after another day or so.

My tracking number is similar to dpstjp's a few posts up, so hopefully it eventually works.

Mark, i had the same message for my tracking number. It changed after 2 days into a regular tracking info.

FWIW, the USPS tracking feature is notoriously ineffective. I live in the US, regularly get amazon shipments via USPS, and it is a common occurance for me to have received my shipment but the tracking number still shows no information.

Rupert/Simon, thanks for the information. I'll report further in due course.

Gary has given me a FedEx tracking number. Soon!

I was given one on the 22nd September...

The man's a Dunlop, as they say in Bow.

Rupert: If I may ask, what mods did you purchase? And when you say your analog outputs are still working, do you mean the surround jacks or the stereo jacks?

Anybody else purchase the 4xS/PDIF mod and still have working analog outputs?