Well- credit to Meridian USA. My dealer came out on Nov 9 to take out the electronics in the 8000 and they just installed the unit today Nov 21. So thats 12 days. Considering that there are 4 days of weekends in there and that the Nov 9 visit was at night so it did not ship until Nov 10 and that the part got to my dealer yesterday, thats like only 5 or 6 days at the mothership's Atlanta office. Impressive.
I believe the problem was diagnosed as the input somehow was blown- must have been all that Pink Floyd!
best regards,
Jerry