Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 7.1 input on G Series

Fair enough, we are in agreement: I just wouldn't have used that word in that way.

Like several others here, I think the answer is to borow an 861v6 from your friend / dealer. That way, you can compare directly with the G68, and see if you feel that you are really missing something with the G68 and no discrete 7.1. If you like the 861v6 then perhaps he will offer a good deal.

And the answer you get from Meridian will also be of interest!

Right on schedule the "Director of Product Management" called me from Atlanta. The Director, a man who is passionate about the Meridian product line, stated up front that he had read this thread, he understood my point of view, and he was sorry that I was not satisfied. Before I began to make my case he said that at a minimum, if I wished, I could return the G68 and HD621 and he would arrange for Meridian to return all of my money. Please note he did not say that he agreed with my point of view but he undersood it. What a class act. I put my boxing gloves away. No need to fight today.

For those of you who contributed positive comments for my position, I thank you for helping make my case. For those of you that vigorously defended Meridian, I thank you for giving me a forum to address your points and thus helped me make my case.

He went on to offer a trade up senario in which he would work with my dealer to give me the absolute best deal achievable if I wished to trade up to the 861 v6. The 861 v6 has the 7.1 capability and much more. Once again my math degree helps. Both units need the HD621 if they are to meet my needs (that's $3000). The list on the G68 is $7500. The list for the 861 v6 is $26000. Hmmm, a difference of $18500. With that large of a price gap it's just not going to be possible for Meridian to push the spread low enough for it to make sense to me.

So it looks like it is option 1 or 2. Keep the Meridian and live without 7.1 (does it really do much?)or Go to a competitor because 7.1 is a make or brake necesity for me. Right now I am leaning toward keeping the Meridian.

Thank you Meridian for being honorable.

But...

Meridian, Meridian, Meridian. Why... Why.. Why is there no discrete 7.1 in the G68. Please track down the employee that made that decission and flog him.

Sorry, just couldn't help myself. The boxing gloves were still too close.

Gary

well, that's an excellent start. very good that he should ring up and also that he should have read this thread (hi director of product management, Meridian atlanta). some good service there.


if you like the rest of the system then it's a damn fine home cinema and although it may fail one of your requirements it's unlikely to be a huge difference I guess.


you said he didn't agree with you? I'm guessing he kept tactfully silent on the issue?

as I said before, I think the lack of 7.1 discrete digital input on all but the latest 861 is a "dirty little secret" of the Meridian processor line, and if you're listening Meridian, people are clearly getting confused and disappointed with your product. the last thing a luxury manufacturer wants is people starting off disappointed with your products.

and if you're in a mood to start fixing things, I (we probably) have a list of things you could/should sort out, just ask...

Gary, really glad you got sorted out, now you just have to make the decision! let us know how it goes.

David

Gary, you have a PM.

I suspect because the G68 is over 5 years old and no matter how much anyone tries to dress up the SL version as 'new', its still a 5 year old unit with new output (non optional) 'option' which pre dates 7 channel discreet PCM.

I think it would have been a secret if Meridian had sneaked 7.1 discreet on to their 5 year old product. As far as most are concerned, it will be thought of as a consolidation of the standard G68 range (ie 6 channel discreet input via MHR smartlink) with speakerlink outputs replacing the SPDIF digital out option even if internally there may be some subtle changes.

People have to face up with the fact that, no matter how expensive the G68 seems, the G series is Meridians budget range and it is not uncommon for a budget range to have less features than a premium range to differentiate the products. They are a relatively small company who do not have the same resources of Sony, Denon etc and release a new product each year. Meridian products typically remain unchanged for years at a time only having only subtle production runs. The G68 is over 5 years old in in this time has only been subtly updated with USB audio input, speakerlink output and some internal changes.

Maybe the 'dirty little secret' is not informing people that a product that sounds this good is not a new product but is actually over 5 years old.

Only one 4 letter word applies here: FAIL

[Guess mode on]
5 year or so old design and only 6 channels of PCM architecture inside.
One of the last DSP's makes the last 2 channels for 7.1 output
[guess mode off]

There must be a reason that old cards do not fit a 861v6.
If that is because it went to 8 channels input, the backplane must have changed to accept that and bring it to the DSP chips.

New backplane would render all the cards useless (like for 861v6). So G series upgrade would mean almost full replacement of all internal cards. Not economic to offer to people.

Perhaps new serie will come and trade in program just like for the 861 will be done ?

I've remarked before that I hope the 861v6 backplane is not "limited" to 8 channels.

My rooms do just fine with 5.0 and 5.1 (I've tried 7.0 and liked it) but some rooms are big enough to need 10.x (i.e. plus centre rear and two front height channels and as many subwoofers as you like).

Even if >7.1 source material isn't available, Meridian's fantastic matrixing (I really liked 7.0) and, perhaps not so fantastic, bass management would be a great feature in this context.

If you have a look at blu-raystats.com and look at technical stats, you can see that out of 2983 blu-rays currently released, although 2098 have lossless soundtracks, 901 are 24-bit, 172 have 7.1 channels, and only 16 have 96kHz sampling.

So for all the talk of 7.1 24/96k soundtracks, the reality is that majority make do with 5.1 16/48k soundtracks. At least they're usually lossless. Given the raw material, I'd probably put most confidence in Meridian to make the most of that surprisingly limited bottle-neck.

I have a G68J, and yes, I'd rather it had a proper 7.1 capability like everything else on the market. It is what it is, but I think I share Gary and David's frustration that Meridian do not make it clear what their equipment can and cannot do. I think the real problem is not that the G68 doesn't do 7.1 audio - its that M don't say that it doesn't.

Question for Gary - if the dealer and the brochure had made it clear that the G68 only accepted 5.1 audio - would you still have bought it?

Nick

Since when do companies list what their products DON'T do !!

A couple years ago the G68 would be considered an "8 Channel" processor and it really has not changed while the media has *STARTED* to. 861V6 got it first and G68 will probably get it later.

I think it's just historical where Meridian products ended up, it's not like they tried to dupe anyone. But obviously they did understand how a customer could be confused.

And I think Meridian need to realise that this is 2010. the G68 may not be the top of the range, but (with the HD621 which I think is required these days) it's �6500 of processor. yes, they make a more expensive one, but that is still a lot of money.

Saying that it's only 6 channels because of a 6 year old design I don't think is good enough. that's what R&D is for, to constantly improve the products and make sure that they are competitive.

Bear in mind what they are competing with in the �6500 market:

Denon AVP-A1HDA
ADA Suite 7.1 HD
Arcam AV888
Krell S1200
NAD M15HD
Anthem D2v
and a few others I can't think of off the top of my head. AFAIK, they all take 7.1LPCM if not full HD decoding facilities.

the market doesn't stay still and if Meridian were going to add 7.1 input, they should have done it at the G68SL stage. While I appreciate that no company likes listing negatives, when a customer is looking for a �5000+ processor and finds out that not only does the Meridian need an external box for HDMI, doesn't support 24/192, doesn't decode HD audio, and it can't even accept 7.1 LPCM, then it means that the demo of the processor is going to have to be *really good* to overcome these shortfalls, and that's if the customer even bothers to demo it.

the likely response from a typical customer is likely to be to strike off the Meridian as too old and crap, and to look to the more modern stuff. and lets face it, some of the competition is very good (as it should be for the price). Now maybe the customer is wrong/should know better/is concentrating on the wrong things, but it's the kind of thing that people do and then not only is it a lost sale for the processor, but that consumer will probably never buy any DSP speakers either. Lets face it, Meridian encourages an "all in" type of commitment and (almost) no-one is going to setup a 5.1 or 7.1 DSP speaker system without a matching processor and the speakers are where the real money is.

I guess I am being somewhat critical of mother M here, but a lot of this stuff seems obvious and is not helping them sell more kit and grow and make more exciting things.

dave