Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 861v6 upgrade thoughts

For me, the interesting question is where is Meridian headed with the G68? In recent years, my dealer actually directed people toward the G68, rather than the 861, because he felt it was a much better value. He felt it offered 90% of the performance at half the cost. He only pushed the 861 on people who wanted the best and were willing to pay for it. Now that the 861 v6 is out, will Meridian further improve the G68 such that it surpasses the 861 v4? If M does that, then I can still advance in the Meridian world without incurring the high cost associated with the 861 v6 upgrade.

Obviously, one area where M clearly can improve the G68, and perhaps give it an edge over the 861 v4, is to offer apodizing (assuming M never offers that for the 861 v4 or less). Or come out with a "new" G68 in much the same way they released the 861 v.6.

Only a week ago, Bob Stuart as good as promised apodizing for all current and earlier G68s.

https://www.meridianunplugged.com/u...;Main=11196&Number=107883#Post107883

PerS,
where did youi get this statement from? Not one that I've seen before.

Nick Ive either heard or read the same thing- it has to do with the fact that you get more accurate data flow via hard drive than optical. I honestly don't remember where I read it but it does sound familiar.

Nick
It's in the recent Sooloos FAQ

And No, I don't believe they said it either

And Yes, I remember Bob's and Meridian's Contradictory answer at HH2 where we asked which option Sounded better CD played on an 808.2i or Sooloos played thru an 808.2i............

Funnily enough, what most people forget to add is Meridian's important Qualifier "If all other things are equal, then............

And now the question is about the comparison of audio quality from a CD played in the 808.3 with that CD from the Sooloos hard drive played through the 808.3 or 861 v6.

Double posting!

Interesting thread.

Although I'm facinated by lots of A/V toys the Soolos is not on my list and this appears to be the main point of V6.

Unfortunately "apodising" is turning into another audio gimmick after introduction by Meridian and hijacking by others. This is not trying to depreciate Meridian's efforts but, as others have posted, to capitalise on them needs a lot of capital. Whether or not anyone can justify that is a personal decision.

But there appears to be quite a lot to be learned about filters with digital reproduction. David Schulte of "The Upgrade Company" is deep into filtering and claims filtering for RF is more important than replacing clocks with more accurate models. He is a contraversial figure, made more so because he refuses to detail what he does in a $USD2000 upgrade. Bottom line is he DOES make a significant difference to audio quality from players. He massaged my Esoteric UX-1 LE and it came back a different machine. Before the makeover I found the Esoteric G-0s external Rubidium clock made a significant improvement to the player but when it came back it made absolutely no audible difference. Result: sold the G-0s and that more than recouped the heavy transport costs + upgrade.

Apologies if this is a bit off 861 discussion but thought it might be of some interest.

Back to the 861, I've never been a great fan of what is does to 2CH in its surround modes. To these ears it corrupts the 2CH output at the expense of the (rather nice) synthesised surrounds. I have got around that by feeding 2Ch into a McIntosh preamp with L/R going direct to amps and speakers but still capitalising on the 861 surround sound capabilities by feeding a signal back from the preamp so the 861 does its bit on the rest of the system. A bit messy, but it works fine using a progammable Aeros 850 remote + a few IR operated relays.

So I'm in the camp of sceptics about the version 6 doing much more than integrating the 861 more smoothly into Soolos. As for Soolos itself improving audio quality there are less expensive ways of utilising hard drives as an audio source. But if you love Meridian, and can afford it, it is the way to go. But not for me.

John

I too took this approach; this works really well. It'd be nice if Meridian offered a music surround mode that left the Left and Right channels "pure" while adding ambiance via the surrounds.

Which goes to prove that great minds think alike, doesn't it.

John (not quite senile yet but getting there!!!)

Why not simply choose to turn off the center channel in music modes? It's one of the setup options.

Simple answer to that. In ALL DSP modes the corruption in the L/R stereo output is evident. Only in "Direct" will you get a true L/R signal.

Note that the "corruption" is not an issue for most sources, but if you want the best possible sound from CDs or music DVDs + synthesised surround, then what brucemck2 & I do is the only answer at the moment.

John