Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems +3dB "LevelPerfect" Tweak Performance Improvement Poll

This thread is a continuation of the discussion on the +3dB tweak along with a poll

Note: There is one error in the POLL someone PM'd me on. That they accidently chose ALG Large imporvement on 861v4 when they meant to choose DSP. Too hard to fix. You can trust me no Poll has ever been fudged

Initial Discussion

WiKi +3dB tweak

It's early yet but I figured why not see the results as folks try this out.

Don't let the hype bias you. Trust your ears. No rush to vote. But please do vote once you've made up your mind.

I feel pretty strongly this tweak does not apply to analog. But I put that option in.

I made a mistake on number of choices being 8 and it should have been 2.

Choose Processor Speaker Type (DSP or Analog) and Performance Improvement (Large, Small, Zero).

Don't confuse Large and Small with speaker size setting.
Speaker size setting does not matter.

If you have more than one setup you can choose that too due to my error in number of choices.

Sorry I did not include every processor. It already has 45 options and you cannot edit a poll and this took like an hour to put together as it was.

But feel free to post your finding if your configuration is not listed.

Plus 3dB LevelPerfect Tweak multiple choice, up to 8 choices
	G68** DSP Improvement LARGE
	G68** DSP Improvement SMALL
	G68** DSP Improvement ZERO
	G68** Alg Improvement LARGE
	G68** Alg Improvement SMALL
	G68** Alg Improvement ZERO
	G61** DSP Improvement LARGE
	G61** DSP Improvement SMALL
	G61** DSP Improvement ZERO
	G61** Alg Improvement LARGE
	G61** Alg Improvement SMALL
	G61** Alg Improvement ZERO
	861V3 DSP Improvement LARGE
	861V3 DSP Improvement SMALL
	861V3 DSP Improvement ZERO
	861V3 AlG Improvement LARGE
	861V3 Alg Improvement SMALL
	861V3 Alg Improvement ZERO
	861V4 DSP Improvement LARGE
	861V4 DSP Improvement SMALL
	861V4 DSP Improvement ZERO
	861V4 Alg Improvement LARGE
	861V4 Alg Improvement ZERO
	861V4 Alg Improvement SMALL
	861V6 DSP Improvement LARGE
	861V6 DSP Improvement ZERO
	861V6 DSP Improvement SMALL
	861V6 Alg Improvement LARGE
	861V6 Alg Improvement SMALL
	861V6 Alg Improvement ZERO
	568.1 DSP Improvement LARGE
	568.1 DSP Improvement SMALL
	568.1 DSP Improvement ZERO
	568.1 Alg Improvement LARGE
	568.1 Alg Improvement SMALL
	568.1 Alg Improvement ZERO
	568.2 DSP Improvement LARGE
	568.2 DSP Improvement SMALL
	568.2 DSP Improvement ZERO
	568.2 Alg Improvement LARGE
	568.2 Alg Improvement SMALL
	568.2 Alg Improvement ZERO
	Meridian should send George a Letter asking him not to confuse their customers with nonsense
	Meridian should send George a Letter thanking him
	Meridian should send George a Letter attached to a pair of DSP-8200's (in glossy black)
Votes accepted starting: 2010-04-10 05:22
View Results

I know Meridian only post on here in exceptional circumstances but this would seem to require a fast comment from them.

I agree. Ive just (quickly) skimmed the posting in the wiki on this and I would be afraid of clipping but the graphs show it should be safe. If I have some time Ill give it a try but time is at a premium this weekend.

I agree, so I want to do some more listening before I vote, but my current opinion is very, very positive.

+1 very very positive on the small improvement. $10k improvement vs. $25k improvement in M terms

Never thought of assessing improvements in units of Meridian dollars.

Hello George,

I am intrigued by your findings. I too noticed long ago the 3dB difference bypassing my 568.2mm but did not know what to make of it.

I have an unusual setup and I cannot figure out how to implement the +3dB. I have the 568.2mm set to DDD with non-96.24 speakers. The L/R trim is set to 0. I use all external DACs and analog volume controls.

Trouble is I cannot find a 568 msl file to edit. I checked all 568 files but could not find anything similar to an msl file. Your poll lists the 568 so it seems there is a way to do it.

I would welcome suggestions.

George #3

Yes. And If Stuart and Meridian believe that the settings are best for their ears then they are the best Meridian settings. Maybe Meridian in the future will design and adjust as per democratic forum-like input? Not that Meridian can't benefit from input?

The msl file is your config file. I believe 568.2 uses the same xml format file for the beta version. But it may use a different name. I'll try to look unless someone jumps in sooner that knows first hand.

Ok I just looked, 568 is different.

It's an MSF file

change it to

int Gain 30

Verify 568 shows +3dB on front panel calibration and that it measures appropriately with spl meter.

OK...so, I have had a fairly limited listen this afternoon/evening.

Initial feeling is that it is very much like plugging a digital source directly into the DSP's. I've always found a difference doing this back to the 568's I've had.

I sourced direct to DSP a while back when I had SB3 into G68 and 8k's using both D1 and D2 inputs. There was quite a difference then and whilst I liked the raw presentation of the SB3 into DSP I felt I missed the MRC more. When I moved to SB+ I just used G68 route as the SB+ optical is disabled (i.e. couldn't run two routes).

The Sb+ now into G68+3dB seems to give the best of both worlds in that I get MRC included.

Presentation seems brighter. More detail (as others have noted). Voices are really quite excellent and the treble is sweeter and more distinct. I sense that it's all a little more dynamic but haven't had chance to go back to the standard profile at 0dB.

FWIW - my front 3 were all set at 0dB originally.

I've just pumped up some tunes to about 65 and they are pumping out. It sounds quite different. Not sure if some control is missing. I'm going to reserve judgement on the long-term listener fatigue aspect of the system.
I may get some time tmrrw to test this some more.

Is it a design choice (that we might someday understand), an oversight (M say they actually use listening tests rather than specs to finalise a setup/design) or potential user adjustable parameter ? It would be very interesting to see what M find when they do this.

I don't know. I'll spend more time listening and will swap back and see what happens.

I'm not sure where in the logic we get to know that it's 100% 3dB down on full digital 0dB. Is this just empirically deduced via the spl measurements ?

Well done again George.

Cheers

N

Also one of my reasons to test over a longer period, but so far I have not found any long-term listener fatigue, on the contrary I would even say. You can easily listen longer periods at high volume.