Re. Meridian customer service, if you hook up with a good dealer and service through them, it can work very well indeed. I also emailed M once, no reply, I eventually got through and they were very apologetic about missing the email.

BUT, don't buy M and expect too much customer service direct from M. I think most of us know this and just buy because it sounds right. I have D600s from 1989, I'm hoping the 8ks outlive me.