I had a lengthy and informative meeting with Ken this morning. He was very forthcoming. Obviously there are things he could not tell me, but there is lots of news.

First of all, I need to make a couple of corrections. The new G61R and the G68 do NOT have apodizing. Secondly, I referred to the 861 as having a motherboard. That is obviously not the case. Purely a mental lapse on my part. It happens.

The only components in the new lineup are the HD621, G08.2, 808.3, G61R, G68, 861V6, and Sooloos Control:10, Ensemble and TwinStore. The only loudspeakers are the DSP420 (now with SpeakerLink), DSP3100, DSP5200, DSP7200 and DSP8000.2. They will come out with a new line of in-wall DSP speakers but Ken could not elaborate on the details or a timetable. Everything else is discontinued.

Meridian is aware that there is a gap for the two channel enthusiast who wants to integrate his music system with television and movies, and it is an area of interest to them. That is all Ken would say on the subject.

The only products with apodizing filters are the HD621, G08.2, 808.2 (discontinued), 808.3, 861V6, DSP5200, DSP7200 and DSP8000.2. Meridian has no present intention of providing apodizing filter upgrades for any prior products. The apodizing filters are different in each of the products owing to differences in architecture and processing power.

There will be no hardware upgrades for the G61R or G68. If you want the new features and other improvements, including new digital clocking circuitry, you need to buy the new models.

The 861V6 is a completely new unit from the ground up. To upgrade your current 861, you will need to replace everything except the case. There is a new backplane, which means all of the new cards are neither hardware nor software compatible with the old cards. The new digital cards also have new DACs.

Meridian is aware that the ID26 is mislabeled DIGITAL OUTPUT. It will be corrected on the shipping version.

They have not decided whether to offer upgrades to existing 808s and 808.2s. I may know something more on that issue that before I leave CES.

New products will ship in February. Meridian is working out the final details re: pricing and timing for upgrades. Announcements will be made in the coming months. They are shooting for early summer to begin upgrades, but that is not fixed.

The G61R and G68 come in black or silver only. The 808.3, 861V6 and DSP loudspeakers come in black as standard. For a 20% upcharge, you can customize them to any of 256 colors.

The AC12 is a small box the size of a 519 or 421. Two fit in a 1U rack space. The AC12 handles two speakers, so if you have a 7.1 DSP system, you will need four of them. They convert SpeakerLink to SPDIF and COMMS. It is an active device, which means you are going to need to plug it in the wall.

There is a new MSR. I have provided a link to a photo I took this morning. There will be new keys for iPod and Sooloos.

If you have any specific questions, I may be able to answer them. Let me know.

New Meridian MSR


561, DSP5500s, DSP5000C, analog sides and rears