I have had a number of issues with my AV40 which would prevent me from recommending anything to do with Arcam.

Issues aside, and solely focussing on sound quality, I came from a G61RSL/HD261 combination and went to an AV40 with the 271 and with regards to movies the AV40 isn't quite as good but not a million miles off if lacking somewhat in soundstage and presence. For music I find the Arcam absolutely terrible when compared to the Meridian. Fortunately I can bypass it with an MS600 for 2 channel sources but honestly it isn't even close and the Arcam is quite frankly embarrassing when compared to either the G61 or the MS600. I note that whenever I come across people extoling the sound quality of the Arcam they almost always seem to be coming from the mid to low ranges of brands like Denon and Marantz and not even from their higher end units.

Honestly if you aren't using higher channel counts than 5.1/7.1 I think you will strongly regret moving away from Meridian. If you do want the immersive formats and have something like a 218 for music then the move might well be worth it. I know that you mentioned a Trinnov is aspirational at this stage but personally if I were to do it again I would have stuck with a 7.1 Meridian setup and be saving for the Trinnov. The Arcam has failed as a stopgap for me and perversely has put me financially further away from the Trinnov then when I started.

Sources: MS600, Fidelity Audio Reference Oppo UHD-203, Roon/QNAP, AppleTV 4K
Processors: Arcam AV40, 271 x2, Lumagen 5348 with Keces P8
Speakers: DSP7200SE FL/FR, DSP5200SE VC, DSP3200 x11, DSP320.2 VOG, DSW x4
Display: JVC DLA-N7 with PK-EM2, Panamorph Phoenix Pro, 128" 2.37 Curved Silver Ticket AT Screen