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

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 [/quote]
John
I'm glad that you and Bruce are happy with the results that you achieve with your "feedback method", however it sounds like far more of a "corruption" to me than what Meridian do with Trifield or Music, bringing all sorts of Timing and Perceptual issues to my mind

What Frank is suggesting above, i.e. turning off the Centre in the MConfig program will cause the Soundfield to alter its Processing to exclude any signal going to the Centre Speaker

Bruce and yourself may well PREFER what you hear and that's fine as it's your choice. However, to say that "it's the only answer at the moment" is about 10 steps too far IMHO

I prefer Direct on about 50-60% of my 2-ch Music with Trifield being preferred on the balance. Your method outlined above is FAR from the "only" answer for 2-ch music and sounds like far more of a "corruption" to me

Enjoy your Music and methods but there are many other ways...............

I do not, of course, dispute your findings. But I was wondering why, in the light of them , you sold your 808.2 rather than use it to process and apodise. I think the concensus here is that the 808.2 has superior apodising to the HD621 or G08.2.

I have followed the various 861 speculation and upgrade threads but, to my recollection, I cannot recall if anyone has posed or pondered the question as to how many channels the brand-new, not backwards compatible, architecture is capable of supporting in the future.

This architecture might be the starting point for >7 channels, multiple sub-woofers, channel-specific subwoofer cross-overs, height channels, etc.

I have been trying to sort out what is actually involved in rewiring for Speakerlink via AC12.

I have learned that unlike the AC11, the AC12 is not a rack mounted device. It is a small box with one Speakerlink input and 2 comms/SPDIF outputs. It will easily drop behind a speaker or can be mounted as a backpack. The actual dimensions of the AC12 are (120mm x 40mm x 30mm).

Meridian recommends wiring Speakerlink from the 861v6 to the first slave DSP speaker before passing to the second with the existing comms/SPDIF Meridian digital cable.

The concept is to maximize the runs of the Speakerlink balanced digital audio from processor to the speaker and minimize interference from the comms/SPDIF.

My understanding is that it is possible to use an AC12 for just one speaker. So logically, for a 7.1 system it would be ideal to have 8 AC12s - one behind every speaker, to fully maximize the benefit of the balanced digital audio and minimizing the comms/SPDIF interference.

At ~$600 per AC12, regardless of 4 or 8 units, it is a major expense required by the 861v6 upgrade.

Anyone have opinions on the actual benefits of Speakerlink balance digital audio over comms/SPDIF and thoughts/strategies for minimizing the expense and hassle of rewiring?

Two AC12s can be rack mounted in a 1U space. You need four, not eight, AC12s for a 7.1 DSP system.

Understood. I was just making the point that, while each AC12 can support 2 speakers, it can also support 1.

Given that the concept is to maximize the runs of the Speakerlink balanced digital audio and minimize interference from the comms/SPDIF, wouldn't 1 Speakerlink run to each speaker be better?

It is possible that the 2nd comms/SPDIF run from the second speaker can be longer than the run from the 861v6 to the 1st speaker.

We need a powerbuy for the AC12 i think

I have been told that the difference between speakerlink and the regular coax digital is not that great. The bottom line is if you have wired a room for the older coax + coms, its not a practical consideration to rewire and I've been advised the expense and effort is not warranted. However, it certainly makes sense that you could do this backpack concept if you could rewire- but if you're going to spend that maybe you could see if M could work out a way to get your speakers modified to the speakerlink interface and save the conversion step.

I received the latest versions of the 861v6, 808.3, G68 and G61R Data Sheets last night. This may be because I complained directly to Meridian about the absence of any mention of Apodizing in the newly released 861v6 Data Sheet

The 861v6 Data Sheet is dated January 25th and is now a 4-page document as opposed to the original 2-page one. Being honest, even now the changes are very subtle and require a lot of reading to figure out the differences

I've gone over the 861v6 Document in detail and compared it to the CES Release and then to the 861v4 Data Sheet (dated 2003!!! Hard to believe they haven't updated it since then) I've also compared the statements in there with all of the Q&A's over the past few years and tried to boil the new Data Sheet down into the "New" Claims from Meridian

So, armed with my full quota of 100 grains of Salt, here is what I found to be different

Very interesting. Looks like they have been very busy indeed. A major achievement indeed if they are claiming the 861v6 is immune to input jitter...

This, however, is ambiguous:

The phase in brackets could apply to "PCM and Dolby Digital" or just to "Dolby Digital". I assume the latter and that upsampling of DD/DTS is still only possible if you decode in the player.

Thanks for the information.

It is all very well Meridian going on about the wonders of 300 MIPS but I thought we are now in a world of BIPS?

Almost definite that they mean Decode in Player first, then Upsample in the 861. Otherwise, why even mention the 800 Player?? It would do it with any DD/DTS Source.

Joel
I've also emailed you the Data Sheets and I wonder if you could post them on here (traveling at the moment)

Cheers
Ronnie