Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems No surround sound after settings update

2+2+2 gives you 6.0 audio for specially made recordings. This is for discrete sound to left/right fronts, side left/right and rear left/right only. No sub or center. I have a couple chesky DVD-Audio discs using this format. They sound amazing.

Actually officially the setting is as I said to change where the center and sub channels are output. If you had a 7.1 speaker setup you would have a 7.1 and "side" option. The side option would redirect the sub channel and center to the sides for the recordings like I mentioned.

2+2+2 should be set to off. Otherwise you have re-routing for C+Sub to other channels, and if you have nothing connected to these channels you never notice.

I thought that 2+2+2 included height in place of the centre/sub rather than additional surround channels?

No it re routes channel 3+4 to 2 other channels, those channels you select in the 2+2+2 setting. Most logically is to use the sides, as 2+2+2 needs 2 rear channels still.
The sides need to be placed above the main L + R for the playback of 2+2+2 sources

It sounds like you are describing height to me if they need to be placed above the main L+R ?

Hi all,

Thanks for your suggestions.

I have set 2+2+2 to "off" in the 568 and swithched the surround connection on the HD621 from 7/8 to 5/6-but still no surround or LFE. Incidentally, I originally ran the surround cable from 7/8 on the HD621 because that matches the labelling on the 568, where sides/sub are 5/6 and rears are 7/8-I assumed Meridian would have been consistent in that regard.

As the 568 is displaying MHR Mov 96K I assume all is well with the HD621 and I don't need to tinker with that in Mconfig? Equally, the BD player is set to output PCM so no changes seem to be needed there.

Is this now looking like a 568 fault?

Correct. The 2+2+2 format is for height. This format is supported by the compagny MDG and also Chesky.
With MDG the heights are like half the distance between Left and Right above the Left and Right speakers.
With chesky the heights are more outside at like 55 degrees.

Checky: 6.0 format explained

MDG: 2+2+2 explained in English

The funny thing is that there are perhaps 40 music tiles out with this audio format, and Meridian supported it since the beginning. The more usable Dolby prologic IIz for height informatie extraction for movies is not (yet) supported.

It still could be a player setting. Sorry I did not catch that you lost both LFE and Surrounds. That's a hint that it could still be player settings.

There are 3 modes a player can be in. Lossy 5.1, 6 Channels of PCM or 2 Channels of PCM. You might have the player set to 2 channels of PCM.

If the player is set to 2 Channels of PCM you should get good Dialog and Strong bass on your only two speakers. If you do, then it's probably a player settings.

If you hear weak vocals then it probably a problem after the player.

There are often a couple places that need to be set correctly in the player.

Thanks Fiddler,

Just checked all my BD player settings again-changed dynamic range control from auto to wide-have previously had it at off-no difference I'm afraid.

I have strong audio from my centre and the front mains are also clearly working.

Ok, if Center is working, that's a good sign. If Center works usually LFE works. LFE is not always active.

If it's displaying MOV6 PCM and Center works then that's good. Your 75% there I think and I believe it's still an issue between HD621 and 568.

I forget on 568, you have to make sure you have all channels mapped to that multichannel input. It's fairly flexibly on G68/861, not sure what could be set wrong on 568 side.

Hi all,

Still not resolved the lack of surround and LFE on BD.

I did spot that I had the sub wrongly shown as digital-changed it to analogue,stored settings, re-typed and no change!

I'm now really at a loss. My only other thought at present is whether I need to check the settings on the HD621; it's just back from the factory with a new board so I was hoping I wouldn't need to. What do you think?

Was it working before it was repaired?

Have you sent down a new config since you got it back?
If it's set for 8 Channels it could mess you up.

You know Center Channel has output on HD621 and you know the 568 Center works. Use that as a tool to narrow down where the Surrounds are failing.

So try swapping LFE/Center for the Surrounds on the Back of HD621.

If you get the Center Sound on the Surrounds then you know 568 is setup ok (for surrounds) and operating ok.
If center is now dead then that means nothing is coming out of HD621 for surrounds [on the channel you using anyway] (and your using what you know works on 568).

Keep in mind that surrounds might be rather quiet, but usually there is some ambience always present.

Don't move mains around for testing or that can really mess things up and confuse you. It sounds like those are working.

It could be the HD621 is defective. But you need to narrow down where the fault is.