Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming 210 setup. Moved from 218

Hi,

I'll leave this in ...


I'm not suggesting that you put an audio signal into the G65 _ I'm only talking about the comms.

In "old school amplifier" terms, with the 218 you were plugging the L&R outputs from a surround processor (G65) into another (stereo) amplifier (218). The problem then is that the 218 will only control those channels, so you need a way to pass information (not audio) back to the G65 to control the surround and centre channels.

Brian

Unfortunately, you can't do that or you lose MQA by passing it through the processor. For MQA, you need G65 > 210 > 218 > DSP's. Presumably anything downstream of the G65 is 'secure' with regard to MQA. As the 218 involves some additional delay on the front speakers, the speaker distances need to be adjusted to compensate.

I don't know if the 210 causes any additional delays (if that's in 'series') but there has been no mention of this, so I suspect not, but I'd need someone who knows a lot more than I do to confirm!

I'd wondered if the recent 3.16(?) firmware on the speakers, would allow MQA into the coax input on the speakers in which case you could run the two in parallel (i.e. effectively two systems _ G65 > DSP's SL* inputs and 210 > 218 > DSP's Coax* input) but I'm not sure if the 210 and 218 output MQA on their coax outputs.

(*or other way around).

Brian

Not sure if the 'Only Left Speaker' bit has been fixed but perhaps just check the correct 'Master' connections have been made, when I first added my 218 I initially made this small error with them the wrong way around and had a similar result.

Regarding the 210, 218 etc. Another option to try which is very similar to what I do is to not have the 210 connected to the G65 at all. Go G65 -> 218 - SE's (via SpeakerLink). Connect the 210 to the 218 via Digital Coax and configure the 218 to switch inputs based on your selection on the G65. This works good for me and keeps the streamer 2 channel MQA stuff away from the processor however since I dont have a 5 channel setup Im not sure how the combination of the speakerlink in the 218 works alongside the other speakerlink outputs from the G65. Id assume it 'should' work but you'd have to test.

Good luck.

I found that speaker distances couldn't adequately compensate, so purchased a Felston DD740 for additional 20 ms. to rear channels.

What is to be gained going 210 to 218 to DSPs rather than just g65 210 dsps?

Hi, I was only using the example that was given (i.e. with both a 210 and 218) but I presume you could go with either on it's own.
Brian

If you are going g65>210> DSP speakers over speakerlink you will need a comms return from the master speaker back to the g65 for the other speakers to be controlled. Going 210>g65>DSPs avoids this but as mentioned previously your speakers won't get unmolested MQA. It is a trade off. Doing the first example gives you the best MQA. If you like Trifield, use the coax digital out of the 210 to feed a input on the g65.

Thanks Bruce,

I mentioned earlier about the need to adjust the delay times if using a 218 after the processor.
Does the same apply to the 210, or does just act as a "pass thru"?

Brian

I have seen nothing official about that but I would assume the same will apply to the 210. I will ask for verification.

Hi Brian

Your SE front speakers introduce delay if you have EBA enabled, which is why I put an outboard SPDIF delay unit between surround processor and rears.

Is the delay at all frequencies or (as the acronym EBA implies) just the lower frequencies? Can EBA (or not just EBA) be applied to rears, for example by adjusting distances in MConfig? How many milliseconds are we talking about?

Hi,

As far as I’m aware, EBA is something that’s “applied” at, in or to the speaker. The advice from Meridian to turn it off when using surround sound.
When the 218 was introduced, there was some discussion about the effects of having the 218 (between the processor and the DSP speakers) and adding some delay (presumably applying to all frequencies) to the FL & FR speakers.
My question was to ask if the use of a 210 in the place of the 218, would also adds some delay if used in a similar situation.
My own impression was that the 210 just acts as another source component and won’t add any delay to the speakers, but I was just after some confirmation from someone who might know better.

It may be that adding a 210 is a better choice than adding a 218, just to add MQA to a system with an upstream processor.

Brian