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

Someone with a V6 and DSP speakers replied to the +3dB Poll.

I have a v6 and DSP speakers, but they are all in their boxes waiting for the room to be completed.

Can i simply hook up my 800v3 to a DSP speaker for that bypass test ?

Congratulations to your v6.

The question here is if the v6 also have this -3dB offset.

First set the L&R speaker in calibrate to 0dB via Mconfig.
Disable MRC for this test and listen in direct only.

So compare the v6 and the 800- alternate plugged direct to the master DSP.
Your chain is:

800>>861v6>>DSP listen or measure the SPL

then

800(unplug from the v6) >> plug direct in the DSP

There should be no difference in SPL-then the v6 have not this -3dB offset.


Robert

I'm amazed how moribund this thread is - I'd have thought it would be hopping with all these new v6s in the marketplace. Hmmn! Anyhow, at the risk of talking to myself, I thought I'd add a quick follow-up.

I've got about 100 hours on my v6 now (yes, it's been getting some pretty heavy lifting this week) and I'm liking it more and more. I noted in an earlier thread that I've long been a proponent of 'burning in' components - though truth be told, my experience is that amps benefit the most - and the v6 seems to me to be benefiting significantly from extended play-time. I no longer hear any of the initial 'harshness', yet the superior detail and clarity is still there.

All-in-all, a very musical piece of kit. I'll be quite interested to read Kal R. presumed upcoming review.

The fact that Meridian uses Digital Attenuation for speaker calibration is actually more serious than the -3dB (limit). Because if you calibrate by the book you may have -6dB or -9dB or more in calibration offsets on various speakers.

So unless Meridian released new firmware for DSP Speakers (which is really where the limitation is) 861V6 has to use Digital Attenuation to balance Speakers. The processors right now have to use digital attenuation offsets because the DSP speakers don't support analog offsets.

861V6 very likely has the 3dB offset as well as there are valid reasons for it but it's very costly, but that cost could be minimized with more smarts in the DSP Speaker.

I tried the -3db offset on my v6, result was clipping on my rears.

Front + center +3
The rears were set at +1,5, usually they are set to -1,5.

I did not experiment with other settings.

What do mean?

You mean you heard clipping?
You saw clipping lights?
Or my program warned you they *could* clip?

Rears at +1.5dB won't clip.

Rears at +4.5dB could clip by 1.5dB (but highly unlikely and highly inaudible).

You're making a trade off by running fronts at 0dBFS (+3.0dB in Meridian MSL) and increasing RISK of clipping on other channels. It does not mean you will clip when my programs says they could.

In practice, it is well worth it.

EVERY setting you choose is a compromise.

I think it's better to run fronts at full scale and compromise other things.

Well there is one configuration that has no compromise.

All full range speakers. All set Large. Sub set to LFE only. All channels set to +3dB. Center EQ set Flat. No Gain adjustment on any channel in any Preset. Anything other than that you have to compromise something (Clipping or Resolution loss). Mild clipping could happen occasionally. Resolution loss is 100% of the time.

I agree. I can't hear the difference in spl calibration but I can hear the difference with the extra resolution.

What all these new V6s?? I would love to know how many have actually been delivered.

Yes, I meant the comment somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Either people are not bothering to comment, or not many have been released yet.

BTW, for those who do have their units, the ID26 is a digital input card, right? I don't use it presently, but was curious to see that it is labelled as an output card. Must be a typo

I have word that my unit is en route. Btw- a thank you to all of you who did the early leg work figuring out about the coms.

I just got my V6 up and going yesterday. Here are first impressions. This is after running the MRC in auto mode and not changing any of the DSP settings off their defaults, save for turning the EQ1 off in the music modes. My setup is the digital speakers. And I had not applied Georges excellent +3db tweak.

To sum it up, the improvement is exactly what it should be. There is more of the good and if there was something bad from before, its been further minimized. The top end has more air and detail, yet its also more "syrupy". My test music tends towards classic rock and that can be a bit harsh. For example I enjoy Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album. Its great but with the V4 I felt this album is better played back through my car stereo- the V4 would just pull things apart and the result would be some listener fatigue if I tried to make my way through the whole album. Not so here. I do not know if the DSPs (Trifield in this case) have been reworked, but an initial impression is yes. The whole soundfield seems so much more coherent on this album. This was the case for Rush Chronicles, Earth Wind and Fire Greatest Hits, Joshua Redman Moodswing, and Abbey Road, my testers.

Actually Abbey Road was the first thing I fired up. The first thing I noticed was this strange clipping sound coming from the rears. The yellow 96/24 high res lights were blinking and the speakers were clicking- they were getting an intermittent signal. I traced it back to one AC12 unit- either the SPDIF wire or the ethernet wire were a drop loose. I made sure to press all the ethernet wires firmly into the back of the V6- there is a little room for play- perhaps the Meridian special cables we ordered will fit just a drop better? (I wanted to keep it all in the family but they are not here yet so I used some brand new cat5e cables I have- they are all the exact same cable type and length so no mixing and matching here). Anyway after resolving this, I fire up Abbey Road.

I could not help but to smile when the first notes of Come Together came on. Pauls bass and Ringos drums never sounded clearer. There was so much more energy coming out of my speakers and yet, there were minute details that Ive never heard before- the crispness of the drums is that much more clearer. And this impression held up no matter what I played. I wrapped it up with Rush's Tom Sawyer- this sound sounds like it was made for Trifield- the synths wrap around you and the whole presentation just draws you in. Was Geddy Lee standing right there screaming away? If I closed my eyes, I'd swear it was so. (Can there be higher praise for audio reproduction gear?)

I was worried that perhaps the V6 wouldn't be a big enough change, maybe it would be more incremental, more of a V5. Its not, the move from 4.25 to 6 is the exact proper representation. As someone said you could think of this as a 961- thats right- I think Meridian have a lot of brand equity in the name 861 so its fair enough. I was perfectly happy with the V4 but this really is a new animal. I know some reported harshness to the sound, at least initially, I find nothing like that, like I said above, if anything the sound is smoother and sweeter. I am pretty sure the harshness some are hearing is probably due to the extra detail coming out of the new D-A for the analog outs.

On to movies. With regular DD/DTS fare off DVDs I did not notice such a dramatic difference. I was not really focused on this though as its been a while since Ive watched a DVD. On Bluray playback, PCM decoded in my Dune streamer to the HD621 and then out to the 861 over the ether net cable, I was surprised at the improvement in sound. I used Avatar since Ive been watching the beginning of this one lately. There is extra detail apparent that I never heard before and again, the bass and energy are more abundant but with what sounds to me like better control- its more defined. What really stood out with Avatar's soundtrack though was the clarity of the drums in the soundtrack and the little details that I never knew were there before. And voices are better defined and more clear.

I then applied George's +3db tweak across the front 3. There was a noticeable improvement in quality but I think there was a lot of newness for me yesterday and by this point I'm not sure if I would be able to objectively tell. I did hear an improvement. I have some time for more testing today.

Meridian has always asked a price in keeping with the high quality they are delivering. They are asking a higher price today but they are delivering even more. So the big question always is: is it worth it? Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Meridian is at the top of their game. Well done!