Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems CES 2010 speculation thread

You should see how much it costs me to buy a bottle of HP and a pack of Chocolate Hob-Nobs!

Having read all of the posts in various threads concerning the upgrade program a few of my thoughts are as follows:
1) It is nice that M is offering a trade in program at all. As has been stated most other companies leave you out in the cold.
2) That being the case the cost does need to be refined as it is unfair to more recent purchasers(within last year especially) to have to pay the same as someone who upgraded 3-5 years ago.
3)I think most 861v4 owners with all non speakerlink DSP's ( as myself) will NOT upgrade (at least in the US) unless the new 861v6 is a HUGE improvement over the v4 in audio quality (as VK stated in one of his posts). At a cost of almost $20k (including SpeakerLink conversion boxes) to get 7.1 discreet sound is not worth it for me at this point. Maybe down the road a few years just to be able to stay current and get all the future firmware update benefits I will purchase a dealer demo or nicely priced used unit and save a good bit of cash assuming M continues to update the v6 without going to another redesign for a number of years.
4) Hopefully M will continue to support the 861v4 with future firmware upgrades as they so graciously have the 500 series and who knows -- we may even see 7.1 come to the v4-- although I 'm not holding my breadth on that one.

Amen- As analog-out 861v4 owner there is ZERO incentive to upgrade/trade-in . My next step is to get HD621.

Trade-In/Upgrade price is tad bit high IMHO. I expected a smarter tiered price plan from Meridian.

Also if I am going to dump Meridian, I think 861+HD621 would fetch better value on eBay/'gon.

Cheers,
Kishore

Out of that list though these are the films I would like to have in 7.1...

Oldboy (2003)
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Hairspray (2007)
L�on: The Professional (1994)
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

And one of my all time favourites....

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

All the rest are titles that I don't want to own or already have on other formats.

Problem is, the films I really want to see/hear in 7.1 are also the films that I would enjoy just as much listening through the TV, they are just good films full stop regardless of the number of channels.

The only way 7.1 really works is when you have a big enough gap behind between you and the rear speakers, and it is about equal in distance as you are from the sides. Get them slightly to close and the whole thing looses it, still sounds good, but to make it really sparkle you need that distance. you really need to be sat somewhere in the middle, so the same distance to every speaker, you then get this really open, wonderful soundscape. All the 7.1 set ups I have seen in peoples homes have not had this, centre speakers squashed up near the sofa with only a few feet, or evn less, between them and the listener, you canget away with less in a 5.1 set up, but when it is 7.1 level matching and distance becomes so important, I have only ever heard 2 systems where it is correct, and when it is...wow!! It really is impressive.
But the other 100's of systems just haven't been right, and the rear channels have distracted from the experience rather than adding to it.

Maybe it is a UK thing with our smaller rooms, my living room is about 25'x22' with 11' ceilings, and I can't get 7.1 to sound as enveloping as 5.1, just doesn't work in such a small room. I go to peoples houses where their system is in a 15' square room and they have 7.1, it sounds terrible.
The whole point of this game is to make the speakers disappear, and for that you need space around them and between you and them.

If I was in a 30' square room and could sit around 15' from each speaker of course I would love 7.1, but I can't, and I don't think many can either, maybe I'm wrong??

It was reported in this thread https://www.meridianunplugged.com/u...lat&Number=109101&gonew=1#UNREAD that the UK program involves the dealer keeping the trade-in unit. Does anyone have similar or different details about the US program?

I wonder how far they will take the v4 with software and hardware. I can't see trading up anytime soon with my analogue speakers.

The other point about 7.1 for me is how significant the difference will be for 7.1 with the 861 v4 and 7.1 with the 861 v6. I realize that the v4 is only simulating the extra discrete channels but when I had my system set up that way, it sounded convincing.

I think room and speaker layout will make more of a difference than discrete vs processed.

I wonder about the accuracy of that. It is my understanding from a couple of US dealers that Meridian definately expects to get the old unit back.

That makes sense otherwise the secondary market would be flooded by old units. It would really be a good move on Meridian's part to establish the program and post the details. Speculation just leads to unease and customer dissatisfaction.

In the UK, Meridian definitely does not want the units back. In fact, Meridian says explicitly that the dealer should resell (making it clear to customers that the unit cannot be traded in again) or dispose of responsibly.

Hmm, than the dealer can move the upgraded box foreward for 0 profit and make some money on the old box.

Are we expected to leave the additional cards in the chassis ?
IA45, OA13's ID20 in my case.
I just give the unit back with IA00, IE42 and OE12. My dealer will have a much harder time selling that unit than if these extra cards were included.