Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Adding speakers to a "stereo" system?

Well...I've been passing emails back & forth to Robert with respect to the Reviver's and I think we have the signal paths/connections all figured out now. It's a little different than my first stab at it, but after reading more in the installation documents and Robert's explanation it makes sense now.

Here's what we came up with...



It's a good thing I was an electrical systems guy in the U.S. Air Force and understand signal flows and such. It all makes sense to me now, but initially my understanding was a bit different than it is now.

Any reason why you are not just using suitable baluns?

Well... I can't use the standard cables because I have a steel beam bisecting my room in the ceiling. All I have room for is the CAT6 lines (barely... and I thought I was going to break them as they were eased through) between the beam and some other structural supports.

I also am "intending" to start upgrading components over time... and the newer equipment is using RJ45 so I am only running cabling once. It only took me 2 days to run the front of room cabling

Take a look at cat5/BNC video spec baluns, they may do what you want for a fraction of the price. One at each end of a cat5 link and cheap enough to experiment with.

Maybe something like these but I'm sure you can source locally plus a phono/BNC adaptor. Comms can run over BNC as is.

With all due respect, Ian... why would I want to cheap out on the connection interfaces in a $100k+ A/V system?

Sure... eventually, I could get something to "work". But, how well? What kind of noise is going to be in the signal? And after how much effort will it work?

The Reviver's are plug & play, DESIGNED to do exactly what I'm doing and in the end are cheaper than an AC11 from Meridian (for my application).

With all due respects, your AV audio is likely to have already gone through baluns like these as they are extensively used in industry. They are cheap as they are well proven basic devices. You can buy the branded professional grade devices for a few $ more. Each to their own but others may not feel the need to over engineer the problem.

Now that's what I call plug and play!

Are you aware that the use of the 18bit DSP center will exclude use of the multichannel 96/24 soundtracks? The Dolby Digital/DTS alternatives will play fine.

I was aware of that... the DSP5000HC I got was too good to pass up. It was a demo unit in an A/V showroom, in as-new condition. I've been in "stereo" mode on this system for a long time and really missed my full theater.

The Dolby Digital/DTS soundtracks are fine by me (right now)... as I said, eventually over time I will start to upgrade individual components and once done I will have the full system capable of 96/24 playback.

Ian... I understand, but for me time is definitely money. I'm in the middle of recovering from a flood, have more things to do than I have time in the day JUST doing that. I don't need to add experimentation with the A/V system to make it work added to the mix. I still have a full-time job to do as well.

Do I have the skill-set to do it? Certainly... I'm NASA L5 certified for circuit repair, so I CAN do it. I just don't have the time.

Add to that that I'm also ripping my 800+ title Blu-Ray and HD-DVD collection to my NAS (in my "spare time" ) and you can see why throwing a little more money at this is not exactly a big concern for me right now.

The Reviver baluns are an easy and still relatively cheap solution to just plugging and playing. If they were more expensive than an AC11... then it would be a no-brainer, but they aren't. I don't have to make adapters cables... which I detest doing. I spent 10 years repairing systems on reconnaissance planes... repairing cables was a (nearly) daily task.

Consider running 4 channel, with phantom center setting, to take advantage of the high-def codecs(I think this should be possible).

See how that compares to the Dolby Digital with the 18 bit center. I ran a 561 processor that way with M60 fronts and Paradigm rears to great effect. Sounded better than 3 other setups in another room and house, fronted by Integra/Marantz processors and Anthem AVR, all with room correction run on them.

I don't know what you paid for the 18 bit, but 96/24 upgraded models are plentiful at $500 or less. Seems counterintuitive to accept 18 bitters with a 96/24 capable processor unless $ were a major concern. Probably where Ian was coming from.

Now I see you were in the great flood and just want to get it up and running. Had a tornado come through my living room once. I feel your pain. Hope the insurers are fair and generous.

I picked the DSP5000HC up for less than $250...like I said, a steal for something nearly new.

In the grand scheme of things... it wasn't a deal breaker, but we got a center channel for the system we were desperately needing. If I need to "downgrade" to Dolby Digital (which is what they use in the theaters anyway)...I'm not to sorry.

As for the insurance...I don't know where we are at that. FEMA is stepping in as well, so whatever insurance won't cover FEMA will.

I must admit...the Meridian systems are a new animal for me. There is so much to consider when upgrading/adding to these systems.