Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems AC12

Guys, you do need to make sure the DIN --> BNC adaptor has the correct gender. For this AC12 issue you will need one that converts your existing S-lead from DIN180-5 to BNC.

Andy,
Glad I could help, how was the skiing?
Do let me (us) know your opinion of the 7200HC against your 5500HC. It will be interesting to hear your thoughts and see how it compares to my experience.

Regards,
Carl

After examining more closely, M provided me 1 x 5m BNC - BNC lead and 1 x BNC - 270 DIN connector (i.e. to make an M lead). Nice, but no cigar, as I (fairly obviously) needed a comms return back to the 861 DIN SL00 as well, so had 'jury-rig' a BNC connector (via phono) onto the return S5 - thanks due to all who posted on this thread re re-wiring!

Eventually got things rocking (but not after some strain at home) - why is it you always find stuff like this out after the shops have closed?

Andy

Carl - slopes were good thanks, but knees and liver still recovering . Once properly set up and bedded in, I'll post my findings.

What confuses me is why Meridian left the OE12 out of the 861v6 option list.

To gently push their customers towards SpeakerLink ?

Gently? For someone with 5.1 SPDIF DSP speakers, it is not gentle.

So after all the discussion on the problem for existing nonspeaker DSP speaker owners the options on getting the AC12 to work with existing S leads are:
1) 511 slave patch ($150 US)
2) S lead to BNC adapter (M may have some-not sure of the cost)
3) cut off end of existing S lead and solder phono (RCA) plug and use a female phono to male BNC adapter.
There may be other options that I'm not aware of or that have not been mentioned.
It seems option 3 is the least expensive and for people that don't want to solder there is a solderless phono plug connector ( available at any Radioshack in the US - not sure about the UK) which should work although I haven't tried it.

Joe

Meridian should provide (2) FOC IMO.

I received my 861v6 upgrade this weekend along with 4 AC12 units for my DSP speakers and I will be posting about the 861 in another thread about my thoughts on a full M speaker setup with it by the end of the week.
I spent the weekend trying to get the comms to work and finally figured it all out (learned alot about comms along with it).
So as to try and save fellow HH'ers with a full nonspeakerlink DSP speaker system alot of frustration this is what I found in a system with no speakerlink speakers (not sure about a mixed system):
1) The master speaker(s) will work with an M lead comms cable and anything connected to it will also work (daisy chaining off of it).
2) A slave pair of speakers connected to the AC12 unit feeding an M lead cable will only work the first speaker it is connected to ( the second speaker connected by an S lead will not get comms). The reason is that the S connector on the M lead cable is different than one on an S lead cable-- it has one less wire lead soldered to it ( check the pictures on the wiki board) so it will not send a signal to the second speaker in the chain.
So the solutions are as follows:
1) Use a 511 slave patch ( best for me as all my cabling is in wall) and easy to implement.
2) Use an S lead cable and cut off one end and solder a phono jack and use a phono to BNC connector to connect to the master BNC on the AC12 ( I didn't try this but others have said it works).
3) Daisy chain comms around the room (not practical for me).
I hope this is helpful and saves hours of frustration for someone as the Manual doesn't show a full nonspeakerlink setup and seems to indicate that M leads will work - which they don't.
Anyway back to setting up the new 861 and enjoying the music.
Regards
Joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the info.

So basically you can not connect an AC12 to a slave pair of DSPs using either a standard S lead (the way is should be) or even a standard M lead!

It all sounds utterly ridiculous M should be ashamed of themselves; they have got it well wrong.

Regards,
Carl

Hi Carl
Yes that is correct.
I think you pointed out earlier in the thread the difference in the 180 DIN ends of an M lead and an S lead. That solder connection to the extra pin on the S lead is what allows it to communicate to the next speaker. For the Master speaker the M lead works ok because there is direct communication between the processor and the speaker-- so any speaker connected to the master speaker will work thus allowing a daisy chain to work off of it.
I'm hoping that since the AC12 has an RS232 port that it can be changed via firmware to work with straight S leads ( not sure if that is possible) as that would be practical. As for me I ordered a 511 slave patch to fix the problem and I have enough extra S cabling to daisy chain around my room for now to get me up and running until the 511 comes in.

Joe

Hi again Joe,

I think there are going to be a lot of frustrated users & dealer/installers with this.

For me, I already use BNC to BNC comms cables with adaptors at the 861v4 end to convert to DIN (2 slaves & 1 master). With a 861v6 I'll go SpeakerLink to front 3 DSPs and just remove the DIN adaptor for the rears so I can connect up to the AC12 via BNC.

I've also been thinking of mounting the AC12 at the back of the room and running CAT6 (a long run) to it, so that I minimise the amount of coax, I can still do this but it would require a little soldering.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

Regards,
Carl

Carl
I'm not sure how all of this will work with a mixed setup ( speakerlink and nonspeakerlink together) but that is my experience for all nonspeakerlink and no BNC comms which I suspect will be a good portion of M owners.
In all fairness to M - they probably didn't have a system like that to test as they make only speakerlink DSPs now. Someone mentioned beta testing but that would have delayed us older M speaker owners from upgrading now - so I guess this is the test. Now it would be great for M to respond with a fix that is simple as I think they will if it becomes a widespread problem.

Joe

when is a set of speakers slave ? All the ones not master ?

I have 3 SL speakers front, and 4 non SL speakers back, so i assume they are all slave ?