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

Technically correct but not in the real world of "Competitor Claims"

They can claim that "The 808.2 is just another tired old Re-Hash of the original 800 Player that was introduced in 1995. It still can only play CD's and has no ability to play Bluray or other High Res Sources"

Technically, the 861v4 is only about 5 years old (2005 approx) but its origins date back to 1995 approx

My main point is this. They appear to have COMPLETELY UPDATED the Internals of the 861v6 with the Quality of Audio Reproduction being utmost in their minds.

If that is what they have actually done, then why don't they simply call it the New Product Design that it actually is. I think it makes it easier for Users and Competitors to see that this is really a New Product, not just an "Upgraded" one

Just what I think............

Asa
I'm simply adding together the various Shreds of Information on here from Audio High, Meridian themselves on this thread; Meridian's obscure Press Releases and New Data Sheets as well as a few comments from my own Dealer over the last week.

It seems to me that Meridian wanted to achieve any number of things with the new 861v6. It's likely then that they set themselves a List of Objectives and tried to achieve those Objectives using the Existing 861v4 Architecture and Cards.

After trying for a while, they discovered that they could not meet all their Goals, so they make a (not so light) decision to COMPLETELY Change the 861 Internals; Backplane, Cards and Power Supplies.

They did not take take this decision on a whim IMHO and in time, hopefully, tell us why they've made this decision

I just wish they were a LOT better at communicating this stuff to us

I've heard that Meridian already has approaching 100 861v6 pre-orders. It doesn't mitigate Meridian's communication in any way, but perhaps that number puts this forum into perspective?

That's right. I've ordered 99...

VK:

That is interesting. I wonder what percentage of the installed base that represents? In other words, how many 861s are there out there? My dealer thinks probably about 350-400, and that about a third would go for the upgrade.

In the bigger picture, I certainly want Meridian to be successful so am pleased to see folks availing themselves of the program. The other good news (see, not always negative) is that with a 100+ v6s in the marketplace, there is a better chance of second-hand units eventually cycling through the market - should the benefits of v6 prove ultimately to be irresistable!

Simon

To be honest I'd be astonished if such a high hit rate was achieved. Given the change in their dealer network that M have had over the recent past, I'd have thought a certain number of owners would have fallen "outside" of the dealer network. On this basis if a third of owners have been "lost", then half the rest are converting? Especially given the marginal benefits the V6 gives versus V4.

I suppose the best analogy is back to that of a recent topic, cars. When BMW, say, introduce a new M3/5, I wonder what % of normal (ie non-fleet) existing M3/5 owners rush out to upgrade to the more recent model?

Possible that the 100+ pre orders may include those that dealers are required to stock as part of their contracts with Meridian?

Not sure where your Dealer gets that impression!!!

If that were indeed true, then my UK Dealer alone would have sold more than half of those 861's!!!

The number of 861's in the wild is a lot higher than that

Dunno! Maybe he was just talking about the US.

Why not? More and more International companies simply provide their monthly (or quarterly) pricelists on their website, if they happen to have chosen for market related currency translations. By the way, some of them don't even bother to convert them to other currencies, and the price you pay would simply be the converted UK-price of that day.

If you want, you can download the pricelist related your country, and if you live in the 'old world', you could even print it with actual black ink and a piece of paper Just kidding, of course, no offence.

gekke henkie, you have sort of Dutch roots i guess looking at your Nick.

I wish they directly related the Dutch prices to the UK prices. Than the world would be much simpler.

That's definitely not right, someone I know in the trade, not a retailer, was out one evening and they were talking about which markets keeps the business' going, someone from M said that for them it was the US market, they had sold 8 861's in the UK that quarter and 52 to the States, they then got onto whether they were enthusiasts who were buying them, they answer was 'probably not, probably buying them because they can.'.