Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Re: Message from Meridian concerning Firmware (including Supplementary update)

I think there is a difference in expectation of customer communications and support dependent on the area of the market you deal in. Meridian is a high end company with expensive products. It would not be unreasonable to expect a high level of support as is usual for luxury brands either direct or via a dealer network.

Fitcaz also raises the difference between bug fixes and improved features. When you buy a piece of kit which is advertised with certain features, you would expect it to work "as advertised" or be fixed free of charge. It is not unreasonable to pay for feature improvements but Meridian have merged these two areas in the past by giving no cost updates to existing users. There was no "right" to improved features but they were provided along with the fixes.

Very interesting. I likewise was promised an e-mail by M, but no reply yet. In fairness I was told it would take a week...

Also as my "phantom" "local dealer" is stuck with a crazy Canadian price list I thought I might build a relationship with the dealer who was kind enough to put on HH2.5 and I asked them to e-mail me a price at the event, but I have heard nothing as yet.

Fortunately another HH'er gave me a lead in England that is looking interesting.

Aloha,

Keep in mind your 861v6 is already apodising so removing it from the 800 doesn't remove apodising filter.

Ron

Ron I have to add a better description here.
There are 3 different sounds.
Before the apodising FW in the 800 appear,

the choice was except upsampling in the DSP

a)upsample in the 800 and no apodising in the v6
b)native rate from the 800 and apodise/upsample in the v6
c) apodising/upsample in 800

So finally i prefer b) over a) as the sound is better smoother more natural,
and b) in SUMMARY over c) (reasons posted before)

So take the "power" from a) and the best traits/features from b) and c)
then we should get
d) M apodising (hopefully)

But a),b) and c) have no real big differences, but if you know your favorite sound, you want to have that allways.


Robert

I agree! Use what sounds the best! I don't have the options you have but with it in my 568 it sounds fabulous top to bottom.

Cheers,

Ron

Fully agree! On-line social neworking is a disruptive technology, and manufacturers are struggling with how best to react: leverage, ignore, or something in between. In this regard, Meridian is not unique. Frankly, I'd think Meridian would have to privately be chuffed that this community is as active and passionate as it is - other than Lumagen, none of the other manufacturers equipment I own have such a robust community - even if, occassionally, they are horrified by its manifestations.

My day job is as a manufacturing consultant, and I tell clients all the time that they simply cannot ignore on-line communities - and in the long run, they do so at their peril. Just the other day I heard a radio commercial for a company who defends reputations from slanderous or grossly incorrect online content - it's a brave new world.

At the same time Meridian are retreating from direct consumer interactions, many businesses and manufacturing industry segments are looking for way to go 'direct-to-consumer' - partly as a way to combat private lable brands, but also to leverage the growing 'self-help/self-service' element. I've mentionned before, but it bears repeating, that the hiend audio/video specialty retailer is an increasingly endangered species, and reliance on such a network is becomming problematic. I, for example, live in the Northeastern part of the US but use a dealer in California because there is simply nobody useful in my area.

Yet, I do think it is unfair to suggest that Meridian do not recognize some of these trends. Later this week I plan to attend a customer night in NYC, which they don't have to do, and am most curious to hear what they have to say. I think part of the issue with these kinds of events, and with show-related Q&A threads, has been a mis-match between what they'd like to do and what they can do - Meridian is, after all, a small company with limited resources.

I, for one, await the announcement of firmware updates to 'over a dozen' products with eagerness. I hope the 800 gets an official apodizing update, although at this point its getting a bit long-in-the-tooth and may not support a pratical update. We'll see.

This is not the case. DSP speakers have separate filters for upsampling and bandlimiting for each unit. It is also logical to keep that separated, because upsampling is not necessary if the incoming signal is already hi-res.

I've locked this thread now, as all that needed to be said (and some that didn't) has been.

The forum has given everyone the time and opportunity to have their say. However, it is now time for the forum to re-build bridges with Meridian and vice versa of course..

Update from Duncs: I asked for this thread to be locked as it is time to move on, we have a clear direction from Bob to speak to the Dealers regarding the firmware updates for current products. If anyone has an issue pls contact me directly.

Regards,
Carl