see the following thread please:
http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/005842.html

As a Meridian 568 owner I would like to introduce a tangential question. If the audio quality of the 568 is considered very very close or identical to the 861 by some, and then let's say identical to the MC12 and the existing number of channels and DSP soundfields is considered not lacking by the owner, then does the 568 owner even need to worry about not having an 861 or MC12?
More specifically, how many "audiophiles" would set up a system with more than 7.1 channels? With the 568 I've taken it one step further with a 8.1 set up by doing the Meridian
three fronts, 2 sides, 2 rears, one LFE sub(.1) and using a circle surround decoder from Smart Devices, a rear center channel derived from the rear stereo surround channels. Now that's 8 speakers, 8 channels of amplification, so what that I can't have 12 channels like the MC12 or 16 channels from the 861!! 4 or 8 more speakers and 4 or 8 more channels of amplification plus all that extra cabling that it involves, let alone the lack of space to place these extra channels in an ideal radial pattern! And would anyone really tell whether all their channels are played back at 48khz or upsampled to 96khz? The deficiency of DSP power which won't allow DPLII playback of AC-3 2.0 may be an issue for some and the planned hardware upgrade for the 568 to occur after the 861 upgrade(when and how many thousands of $$$?) is something the owner has to decide if it's worth it. i haven't even done my free DPLII upgrade as I enjoy the other 7.1 multichannel DSP modes already present and usable for AC3-2.0 sources as well as regular PCM 44/1 and 48.0Khz sources.
So more with same quality may not be an issue and the enbedded hardware driven processors like the 568 may be true highend multichannel playback already!