Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 598 DVD-A in simple stereo?

I know that this CAN be done, but would it be worth replacing (or supplementing) my seven year old 500/518 combo with a 598 DVD-A player feeding a pair of MHR compatible DSP5500 (with no TV connection). Over 99% of my music would still be on CD,at least until I could build up a half decent DVD collection, but I am curious to know how much better (if at all) 24/96 DVD-A might sound in stereo. A Meridian surround system is neither practical nor affordable at the moment, and even a TV connection would require a major seating and audio rearrangement.I don't have the 5500s yet, but am eagerly awaiting a promised home demo.

Michael

Michael,

I listen to most of my DVD-A's in just plain old stereo into a pair of 5500's. Compared to CD equivs, DVD-A are in-the-main really quite excellent. You will also find the 598 is a great upgrade from the 500 on CD anyway, although I don't know what you get from the 518. That may be redundant in the setup

I am sure you will have a great sound.

Beware some DVD-A that don't carry a straight 2ch track though.

Rgds

Nick

Nick -
thanks for that; but how do I identify the DVDs you warn me against, and how serious is the problem? No sound? An odd balance? Or missing information? And can it sometimes be awkward to access the tracks (or whatever they are called on DVD)without a TV screen to guide you?

Some discs don't list them so they're easy to spot. Some claim to have 2ch tracks but in fact don't. These are a pain but at least not too many around. Some are 2ch only which makes life simpler.

(Anyone got the Art Pepper jap disc that was featured on the audiorevolution site ? It's supposed to be the dogs b's)

I think if you tell the 598 not to decode the surround mix then it puts the 5.1 out as a 2 ch. I'm not too sure if it sounds right though compared to a proper 2ch mix. Never had the time to figure it out properly. Some of the guys with a 2ch setup may be able to confirm


I also don't understand what the logic is for the player to select what type of track to play. This was mentioned a while back when the 598's hit town. Some discs default to 5.1 and some to the 2 ch. What really confuses me are the ones that vary each time I put them in !!! It means that you have to use the TV to navigate around.

Maybe it's something to do with the disc authoring.

Rgds

Nick

I think the trick is that, when you have configured the player the way you like it,then pressing 'Play' will load the disc and select the optimum quality soundtrack (in my case multichannel mlp) according to how your player is configured.If you alternatively press 'Close' to load the disc you will be expected to select from the Menu.
So if you have multichannel set to off then the next highest stereo track should be selected.

Regards,
Manus

Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong: When the 598 is configured for 'multichannel = No' the 598 will 'fold-down' MCH DVD-A into 2CH. Fold-down is part of the DVD-A spec where the MCH is reduced to 2CH. This will allow the disks that do not have a dedicated 2CH group to play on 2CH hardware. IMHO it does not sound as good as the dedicated 2CH when available *but* is good enough when you pop a disk in for background listening.

There is no way on the 598 to have it default to the 2CH group when available on the disk. The player always seems to default to playing group 1. Of my small number of DVD-As (21), the majority place MCH on group 1 and 2CH on group 2. A single exception is 'The Best of Mickey Hart - Over the Edge and Back' which reverses the groups. I think it is suppose to be possible for the hardware to be configured to play a specific group type (2CH or MCH) so hopefully Meridian will update the firmware to support.

To switch between groups on the 598 you just press: '#' (Function + Top Menu), *number*, play. *number* represents the group you want to play. The 598 display will display 'Group -', then 'Group *number*' while you are performing the keystrokes so you can tell what you are doing without a display. If the disk has not finished loading this will not work (yet) so it helps to be patient <grin>. This technique works for older spec disks (most to date), newer spec disks will use the 'Audio' key (Function + Play) instead. As a result, a display hooked up the 598 is not strictly required except for setup. I thought that 'Fleetwood Mac - Say you Will' would be to the new spec but I cannot get it to switch to MCH at all - tried both top menu and setting MCH from the disk's menu and selecting group directly. Could be the way the 598 is configured?

Some older disks such as 'ELP - Brain Salad Surgery' indicate on the back of the case that it plays '3 ways: Advanced Resolution Stereo, Adv. Res 6-Channel Surround Sound, DVD-V compatible'. This is a little misleading as the Stereo (i.e. 2CH) in this case is the fold-down not a dedicated 2CH group. This site has done some of the homework for us: http://www.DVD-A.dk/start.php?format=1