Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat CES?

To develop a BD player would be too expensive and the market, at that price level (�10,000?), would be too small to recover costs.

And how many more years' life does BD have?

Do you mean something like this product released at CES?...

http://www.msbtech.com/products/universal.php

Well, you have to give them credit for not trying to hide the source of their basic hardware.

It's only Lexicon that did that: Ayre and Theta have been very transparent about it.

You're probably right, but Ayre disagrees.

Theta only replaced the power supply. Ayre gutted it and threw everything out except the drive and video board, which they also modified. The Ayre is a thing of beauty, as it should be for $9950. I heard it through an Ayre KX-R preamp, MX-R monoblocks and Wilson Alexandria's in a custom listening room, and CDs and SACDs sounded phenomenal.

Assuming for the moment that Meridian used the Oppo as a platform. Their effort would be akin to Ayre's rather than Theta's, and would be priced accordingly. I just don't see it happening.

The Oppo BDP-95 will be out in February at a target price of $999. It will be hard to beat.

That's half the price of an 800... Some architectural issues of course (you have to go via HDMI for multi-channel movies, DVD-A and SACD).

I spent some time talking to Vince Galbo, "National Sales Manager" for MSB at CES. I like what they have done but cosmetically it isn't a very good fit with M. The list price is $3999. They just started shipping and are about 3 weeks out from delivery.

so let me get this straight.

The smallest box is the Media Core 200, which has a 500GB drive and costs $4000.

the second box is the Media Source 600, which i am still trying to figure what that does, cost, etc.

The third box is the Media Core 600, that has 6 zones and dual hot swappable drives (size unknown) and cost unknown.

Any additional info you can provide?

Thanks

There is another saying in retail. good news travels fast, but bad news travels faster.

Who is the dealer? Have they've been cooperative?

Dr. One,

thanks for asking.
The dealer in the last 3 years where the austrian distributor.
But this have changed end of that year,there is a new distribtutor in Austria- the old one makes "only" the "service".
no selling anymore.
That is what my distributor is telling me.

The support was/is sometimes very slow and othertimes correct,
BUT my impression is that I suspect that he dont "explain" or "push" M strong enough to solve the problems.
On the other side he showed me some sentences in english language with the comment
"that is the comment or report from M" when I make strong pressure on him why there is no sucess.

1)Crackling noise after lightning on the DSP and 800?

M-Uk asking for "what happened with the equipment-what is the failure-describe it-wait for the failure" .
Sounds ok for the first impression,
but each of that faulty equipment have gone multiple times to Uk, so they know it very well.Also the failure appears again when its coming back from "repair".
Asking the distributor what was repaired,he said I have to wait for a report-but then there is no report just short "headlines" and also "we didnt " find a failure
when there is NO reaction at all.!!
And as Iam technician, I explained them with pictures and also with audio records the failure and long reports very precise - otherwise "M will not believe me" say the distributor.
And I also paid my local main line distributor to analyse the voltage over one week-no problems at all-
no glitches,overvoltages,fluctuation-I do have the PS audio premiere(makes nearly complete new voltage),
so that kind of failure could be excludet and that is also known at M-Uk.
So the failure is still there and I wait for the reaction of M to solve the problem.

Regarding to my distributor as I cannot contact M-uk direct>they give no answer or maximal contact your dealer:

M-Uk give no failure report to the customer
M-Uk have no failure history what happened with the specific equipment
M-Uk cannot fullfill the professional work of a repair-they are swapping parts what they suspect that have the failure
M-Uk have extrem long repair times
M-Uk ignores the customer needs
M-Uk forbid the customer to forward the comment/suggestion/advices what the sends to the distributor for a customer request (repair)

2)Crackling noise on 861v4 after installed NEW cards

As I bought a v6 and sold my v4 crackling noise problems appears own the v4.
The seller get analog cards as he have an analogue system.
Also other cards like the ID16 get reinstalled(what used with no problem before) and IA45 get new installed.
I asked the distributor for advice for the new cards placement and he ask M-UK,
finally after WEEEKS I got this "difficult" information.
I installed and tested out with my DSP-everything worked.
The buyer traveled some HUNDREDS km to my house dit listen and bought the v4. After 2 days I dit get a mail as he was shocked-he get FULL VOLUME crackling noises.
M was asked again for the same question what could be the failure, the simply said the customer have to install the DSP output card(OE12) INDEPENDENT if he need it or not. Why they dont said this BEFORE ? So he bought the card and also the terminator have to changed the positions. The system works on 2 channel sources but have the same FULL VOLUME failure on Mch sources.
The buyer get mad and also I get mad and M-Uk give us the THIRD time different position placement for cards and terminators and said that the IA45 and analogue cards can maybe make problems but they "have no experience" on that?
The manufacturer have no experiences on his own equipment?
There is NO v4 with analogue output cards and IA45 card on the market-who should believe that?
After getting from a "ghost" internal M information for the card placement and backplane issues to place the terminators-
and a excellent help from my distributor because he rent me a complete analogue system to test the v4-
we are very optimistic that the problem is solved.
The v4 buyer and I tested HOURS all at my home no crackling anymore-no problem.
The crackling failure allways appeared after some seconds maximum after 2 minutes.
So when the buyer traveeled home we are both satiesfied independent that this last "finding" the correct position have costs additional "WEEKS".
One week later I got the same mail-crackling noise on Mchannel after about one hour. As he have extreme expensive equipment(MBL speakers) he is absolutly afraid to test something again what I can understand.
So asking my distributor again weeks ago-no answer from M-Uk he respond.**

So my conclusion
M-Uk sell cards and know that the "might have problems" and "have no experience"
M-Uk dont know where to place the cards and the terminators or even the amount none,one or two(have all the M-Uk suggestions here)
M-Uk have EXTREM slow response time for customer needs
M-Uk cannot guaranty the function of his own equipment when additional cards get addet
M-Uk have not the idea to offer a swap for the faulty equipment or cards**
M-UK have hidden information and dont tell the customer what is possible or not
M-Uk is unfair to the customer (they take the money but you get NOTHING for that except problems)

3)Misaligned connectors misaligned glas plate on brandnew equipment

This shows like the "no failure history" the quality control of the M-Uk production.
How could that happened that connectors are misaligned and bent independent that they have alignment pins ? To install this in that manner, a " no technical skills" person can do it even better as he is using his brain.
So together with my distributor the connectors get loosend, get correct aligned and tighten up.
The top glas plate is glowed/stucked misaligned.
The official M-Uk answer-what I only heared-newer dit see a mail about that-
is "we have the priority on production and therefore we cannot deliver a top cover"
Who believes that, that a part is not available and can be shipped to the customer in SEVEN MONTHS ??

Conclusion:
M-UK have no quality production line
M-Uk have no quality control
M-Uk cannot organize a spare part in seven months
M-Uk ignores the customer needs
M-Uk have no or open communication to the customer

4)PS and drives

As this happend continuosly since TEN years-replacing drives and PS on 800 and 861-
at least five times for EACH !! -

here is my conclusion
M-UK have no quality production line
M-Uk have no quality control
M-Uk ignores the customer needs means a NON FAULTY equipment

So speaking with my (ex) distributor about that and asking how to handle all that and give him suggestions to excahnge the equipment to finally soleve the problems MULTIPLE TIMES, nothing changed-can allways wait.
Also mailed M-Uk direct also mail to Bob Stuart-no reaction.

So I dit still trust in M and bought the new V6-
what happened-
same story again.
My target was alos to buy the Sooloos last year/beginning of that year-
WHY should I do that ?

There is no official help no offer to exchange so what can I do?

So I ask here in public M-Uk for help to solve my problems,
I am still optimistic that all that can be solved very fast when M have a respectably interest on the customer.

Sorry to make that puplic-but how long should I wait?

Robert