Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Meridian 800-series trade-up details (UK)

I have no idea what the price is and I hope I am not giving M any ideas. I feel very strongly that I would like the AC12 to be more affordable but I suspect this is a place that M knows it can pick up some money. As it is I cannot use the V6 without the AC12s. Each AC12 does 2 channels + coms. Yes Ronnie you hit the nail on the head. Though I do not believe we will suffer perceptible sound quality loss, it is not quite as elegant as say that SPDIF output card you refer to. I suspect all the old cards will not work. It really seems the 861 is a new processor. My wires run through my floor (we wanted as few protrusions in my walls as possible) and rewiring is possible but it would be hideously expensive and not worth it IMHO.

No speculation on this thread please. As well as asking for card prices, I have also asked for details on configuration and the price of the AC12.

That really would have made a lot of sense, in the same way that the 800 series had the SL00 card, but the 500/G-series needed the 511.

My guess would be that more than 90% of the 861 User Base have non-Speakerlink DSP's

If the older OE12 didn't work, why didn't Meridian just design a new "OE15" Card with 4 by SPDIF Outs?? Would I pay an extra �500 for that??? You bettcha!!!

Well absolutely.

Anyone else notice that the new OE14 Card has specs of EIGHT by Speakerlink outs

The older OE12 Card had FOUR by SPDIF outs, with the SPDIF going to the one of your FOUR DSP Pair and the other Cable running from that DSP over to its L/R Companion in that pair

It seems that the new Cabling Topography will be different, with each Cat5 Cable Originating from the back of the 861 and going to EACH of the EIGHT Speakers.

If true, then this would be a substantial change, especially for those who had run the Cable Ducting / Channels to suit the Previous Arrangement!!!

More info for you guys to digest

No existing cards from any age of 861 will work in the v6.

The AC12 retails for �400 inc VAT

New card costs:

ID40 Sooloos Card - �1,000
ID26 Digital Input Card - �550
OA08 Analogue Output Card (unbalanced) - �750
OA18 Analogue Output Card (balanced) - �750

Thanks BAV.
AC12 at �400 would be about $660 but I suspect it will retail for more here.

Ronnie I think that is right. Speakerlink is much easier to install than the old master slave SPDIF + COMMS from before but to redo pulls of wiring, it could be very challenging. I think in my case I could use the wires I have as pulls- and I think we left pulls in place in case of this. I need to check with my electrician- its been years.

There are two possibilities,
one is ronnie suggest to have one card with 4x SPDIF or an "adapter" for the OE22.
The advantage is that the cables to the DSP dont have to be changed.

The other possibilty is to have a hook up box at the speaker(with in and out like the standard solution)
so you have to use the cat cable.
The disadvantage is have this (expensive ?? ) little backpack on the DSP,
but the signal to the speakers get less influenced an distorted as the AES have 5V signal instead of 0,5 V as the SPDIF have.
So the owner can decide to pay more money on the backpack solution if he wants.
He can maybe get some money back because he can sell the expensive SPDIF cable if he have some -
or have not to invest in that cables when hewant to buy used (not standard) DSP.
So this - still more expensive- solution should have the same or near the same sonic advantages as the new speakerlink.

I reckon there is enough demand for a "v6" OE12 card and I think that prospective 861 owners need to get on to their dealers to feed this information back to Meridian ASAP. Unfortunately, I doubt that Meridian could develop a new card before July.

And a further thought regarding the EIGHT by Speakerlink out on the 861.............

My original thought was that you would have the following at the back of your 861 (in a situation where you had SPDIF plus Comms Cables running from the back of your 861 out to each of the DSP pairs. Again, by far the most common current Meridian DSP Installation)

a) ONE off Speakerlink output to a Powered AC12, which would convert Speakerlink into SPDIF and Comms

b) You would connect your EXISTING SPDIF + Comms cable to the AC12 Output ports

c) Your Cables would then run as normal to each of the DSP Pairs


However, if there are really EIGHT by Speakerlink Outputs on the 861v6, does this mean that you would have TWO Speakerlink Inputs into each AC12, which would then convert that to ONE SPDIF + Comms???

My brain is beginning to hurt..............

I think you can wire as pairs or individually.

Hi Ronnie,

Yep I did, as I interpret it, one has the choice of star wiring each individual DSP back to the processor OR wiring just one of each pair of DSPs and then daisy chaining the 2nd DSP off each pair.

I did not get back to you on the audio advantages of SpeakerLink v SPDIF.
I tried to dig out some “proof” but failed
I believe the main advantage is that because SpeakerLink is a balanced digital signal it is therefore less prone to external noise. Thus my comment that for long runs mounting these new AC12 boxes at the Speaker side would (could?) yield more advantage than installing them at the processor side.

Regards,
Carl