Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems G95 delivery

You got to me, Frank!

I spent the whole of Saturday afternoon auditioning the G95 through B&W and then Mission bookshelf loudspeakers, plus a Panasonic 37" Plasma (similar to mine). The excellent B&W PV-1 sub was used throughout. The Mission's won over the B&W's. I still experience a 'nasal' quality with the B&W's, unfortunately.

The previous day, I had auditioned the Naim n-vi - but discovered that it's DVI output won't handshake with Panasonic plasmas (but will with Pioneer panels) - so, that's out the window.

When Meridian state that the G95 runs cool I'd hate to touch it when it gets hot. After four hours watching and listening it was very warm (located in an open media stand).

The unit, as used, exhibited a couple of alarming foibles. For one, and for no apparent reason, the G95 dropped the front two channels - leaving the centre and rears still functioning. Switching-off and on again was the only way to solve this problem. More problematic, during one concert disc, the audio menu was changed from Dolby 2.0 to DTS 5.1. Although everything was fine initially (background music playing in menu setting) as soon as the concert started again there was very loud and high-pitched feedback through all channels. Again, the problem was only solved by switching-off and on.

I'm told that a sister dealership managed to 'blow-up' the centre channel ampification. Also, a few faulty G95's have apparently been returned to Meridian.

Picture quality nonetheless was as excellent as one would expect - with none of the yellow-ish skintones that Trumper reported. Even with 85db sensitivity B&W's, the volume of the G95 is loud (no need for extra amplification here). With the Mission's it went even louder (90db sensitivity).

Listening in stereo becomes unsatisfactory once you experience Trifield - but I still maintain that lack of PLII Music is a serious oversight by Meridian, especially when it is available on the Naim n-vi and Arcam solo. This DSP preset is available on the 568 and the G68. This would facilitate finer focus and steering of the music. Trying PLII Movie on music material, for me, was also unsatisfactory.

The G95 clearly shines with DTS 5.1 material. Take it from me, there is no need whatsover to use 'full-range' passive floorstanders with the G95. The integration of the Mission bookshelf loudspeakers and the B&W PV-1 is remarkable. You would be wasting your money otherwise. Subsequently, I won't now be buying the Linn Komponent 110's.

Will I buy the G95, though? It's quirks and glitches are a real concern. I would have expected a perfect product to have been released by Meridian (especially since a number of units from my neck-of-the-woods have exhibited problems). We shall have to wait and see.