Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Understanding digital volume control in M Systems

I am trying to understand digital volume control to better understand the role of comms-connections for this control.

I have a rather complex multizone system in which I have a MC200 as Sooloos core. This MC200 is also used as audio endpoint for Sooloos (in my third zone).
I can control the volume of all my Sooloos audio endpoints through my iPad (Sooloos App). The volune of my first zone I can control through an MSR and vMSR. The volume of my second zone I can control through through an MSR via 512 connected to DSP33.

My questions are:

1. What is the difference of a master speaker compared to the slave speakers in digital volume control?
2. Is there a difference in the mechanism of volume control by Sooloos compared to 512 and to souns processors (i.e. 861)?
3. What is the role of the MC200 as a core and as an audio endpoint in volume control?
4. What is the role of any other audio endpoint (i.e. MS200) in volume control?
5. Does the MC200 as a core have to be comms-connected to the rest of my system?
6. Does the MC200 (as an audio endpoint connected to DSP33) still have to be comms-connected to the rest of the system (if no other sources are shared)?

I will also be happy with references where I can find answers on these questions myself.

Pieter

I can't say definitively for all the questions but digital volume control is a bit of a red-herring.
Meridian use a hybrid approach of analogue and digital volume control. Anything with a variable analogue output (including DSP speakers) will be responsible for varying the gain in both analogue and digital domains.

So:
1. Master DSPs act as the reference point for the other speakers in the DSP setup, so your slave speaker(s) are set relative to the Master for volume control.

2. If your M setup is done properly, no changes are made to the digital volume until it reaches a DAC.

3. If correctly configured, the device set as 'Controller' instructs all other devices over comms as to the volume they should set (if they can). This gets confusing with the surround processors and DSP speakers, as you have a Master speaker and a processor as Controller.

4. That would depend on the configuration.

5&6. I would say a MC200 as just a Core doesn't need to be Comms'd to a system connected to the MS200. A MC200 used as as endpoint, connected to say DSP33s, would need to be in order to control the volume using the Control app.