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

Michael, thank you for your thoughtful input.

Ronnie, you're hired!

I think there is always going to be diminishing returns with high end anything and its up to each of us to decide where we draw our personal lines.

All of this discussion, concern, and doubt must mean all the more we now need much more information directly from Meridian.

With all the discussion re the 861,has anyone heard of any similar trade in scheme for the G68.

On the 861 has anyone listened to one yet, without this speculation seems to be getting a bit ahead of itself. After all the HH and Meridian are all about audio quality rather than spec sheets.

Well, at least I'm consistent! And for the record, it is really only my responses to the trade-in options for 861 owners that has brought out my negative side. This isn't the first time I've felt annoyance towards Meridian as, contrary to your assumption (you know what they say about assuming ....) I did get impacted having had my 568 upgraded to 568.2 just weeks before G showed up.

And its not just about moaning about the upgrade, its a bit more subtle than that so perhaps you missed it, but its about selling an expensive piece of gear with the promise of upgradeability ... and then largely not carrying through with that promise.

But, I will relieve you of the burden of reading any more critical comments from me on this subject. I've said my piece, decided to stick with where I am, and move on to more constructive dialog.

" 2) Available cards: It seems to me that 861 owners with certain card configurations may not be able to swap their 861v4s for v6s without losing some functionality. As things stand, according to the 861v6 data sheet, there is no phono card, no balanced digital input card, no balanced analogue input card, no component video switching card, etc. etc. The whole point of the 861 was to cater for individual circumstances? What should 861v4 owners do if they cannot replace all of the functionality of their "customized" 861v4 by the end of July? "

and also :

" Some, for other reasons. If there are cards (whether older cards no longer supported or cards that have never existed) that people think are important, please let your dealer know so we can get these requests to Meridian."

The TP00 card has never been upgraded and now appears to be dropped in the new 861 release . So , Sooloos apart , the ' improved ' sound quality which we assume to be there and on a par or better than what we heard at HH2 is only available in one room/zone ?

That , if true , is a major drop in functionality . It may be ok to have a Squeezebox/Sonos or 2 but it may also be handy to switch radio , say , from a Sky box ? Or ,

" Other processing/DSP and Comms cards are unchanged from the previous
version of 861."

and could that include the TP00 or is there a newer version to be added to the cost on the horizon ??

Hopefully some much-needed clarification from M this week especially with such a short window of availabilty for the upgrade .

~M~

I strongly disagree with this. Many modern international companies with real-time pricing, or automated time-interval pricing, have had no problem at all and did not loose a penny because of currency swings. If you are an international company, but refuses to deal with currency hedging in a modern (read 24h/day) automated or managed manner then, yes, you probably lost money.

What I am saying is that if you have a problem with loosing money on currency exchanges, you have several options, but choosing to just increase your foreign sales prices with a 'safer' margin, is the worst 'solution' you can choose IMHO, since these higher prices will probably impact you sales. The money lost because of this, good have been put to better use (read: cost savings in the long run), if you have your bank's account manager perform the real-time hedging, for example. Just my $0.05 (�0.02 times 2.5),

Meridian (at least in the US, which is all I know about) only has a program for the 861 trade-in. Our store takes trade-ins of G61s and G68s toward newer units, and other dealers might as well, but it is not a Meridian program.

Michael

www.audiohigh.com

I do not think they (Meridian USA or Meridian distributors) want to make a new pricelist every week.
We in NL have a large price difference with the UK price list compared to the normal exchange rate (like 15-20%). I assume for currency fluxtuations.

Also we have had a certain increase in the price in July 2009 (10-25%) which is in no relation to the currency ( pound/euro exchange )
But i think this price increase was also in the UK.

Perhaps M steers the price depending on the market ? I think more brands do this.

Well, the January 2009 pricelist was fair on basis of currency rate of that time. The increase of July was necessary because the GBP/EUR rate changed in June. It fully get that.

Since the end of August the rate stabilized again to almost the rate of the Jan-May rates.
However even till today this big difference in rate is maintained on the dutch pricelist.

Imagine shopping for a pair of DSP7200:

1 GBP = 1.10871 EUR (jan-may 2009 average)
1 GBP = 1.16369 EUR (jun-aug 2009 average)
1 GBP = 1.10990 EUR (sep-dec 2009 average)

DSP7200 (pair)
2009 UK price 17499 GBP
2009 feb NL price 21900 EUR
2009 jul NL price 25000 EUR

At the current rate this makes a difference of 5075 euro !


This is the reason why I bought my HD621 in the UK. Even with 55 GBP shipping cost it is a big saving.

HD621
2009 UK price 1500 GBP
2009 feb NL price 1895 EUR
2009 jul NL price 2100 EUR

Very sorry for my dealer, who made me a decent offer. But with the NL price list handicap just cannot compete.

Yep, it's all about market efficiency. I'd be surprised if the dealers are not complaining too.

�2100 for HD621 is better than in Germany, where it's �2200. Why the difference? My distributor greedier than yours?

Anyway, I ordered mine from the UK...

How much do you take on trust, and how much do you want evidence in the form of written statements from Meridian, and also being able to hear improvements?

If you think that the deal is more than just offering 7.1, then why are Meridian so quiet about the new benefits?

There is also some cost / benefit analysis to be done here. How much improvement for how much cash? Or are we in the realms, as someone put it elsewhere, of having a cupholder added to your car as the equivalent of the upgrade offered here (not that I want another car debate: I am tired of autobiographical tyres)?

.