Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Meridian 218 Zone Controller Announced!

Tom/John/Lars

I'll answer your questions, then tell you of a spanner in the works.

1. On my Sooloos app the volume control works fine (actually don't think I've ever previously used it, I just by habit used the MSR!)

So If I'm listening in MQA mode, the 218 NET light is on(showing the music is being streamed in via the network port) as is the blue MQA light. The Sooloos app volume controls work and the speakers keep in sync. If I switch to say Radio using the MSR the 218 NET and MQA lights go off, the 218 SL light goes on to show that the radio is being sourced via SL from the 861. At the same time the Sooloos app of course stops the current track and a nice feature is that the app volume controls still work. At all stages the MSR volume controls can be used interchangeably with the Sooloos app, everything keeps beautifully in sync.

2. the 861 is the controller, on the 218 setup app I've had (by default) the "IR mode" radial selected, which means by definition the two radials "Controller" and "Not Controller" are not selected. Having said that the radial "IR receiver is currently:" shows OFF (again the default). So my take is that the 861 processor is in charge of everything but keeping the 218 synced correctly, be it volume or the lights showing Audio input.

3. I never typed the speakers at any point, so they are presumably set as recommended for an installation involving a processor (can't remember what that would be).

NOW HERE'S THE BAD NEWS

When I 'proved' earlier that when switching from MQA to another source like TV brought all the other speakers into operation (because of the legacy comms cable), exactly as I had wanted, what I didn't twig was that the unfortunately in MQA mode these speakers are also active when they should not be i.e. the 861 is blissfully unaware of the presence of the 218 and the SL outputs from for the centre, rears etc get fed with whatever signals the 861 deems appropriate.

In effect I've got the SE master speaker showing MQA 192K whatever while surround style signals are also prevailing elsewhere.

I'll do some more experimenting tomorrow with the controller options on the 218 (e.g. making it master as well as the 861?) to see if that makes any difference.

Watch this space