Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems F80 @ HOME

I'll do that tonight - if I remember. Will also check the alarm setting - it certainly survives a brief power off. [edit - its been off for over 1/2 hour and alarm and clock settings were still intact when I switched it back on]

However, I have never set the clock on the unit. When I received it, within a minute or so of turning it on, I went to set the clock and found it already set. It may have been set by RDS/DAB though.

On the topic of the alarm, you can set it to wake up to tone or radio. You can also set the volume. It would appear that turning on to CD is not an option.

Also just took a closer look at the CD. It certainly feels like a very nice drive unit - certainly not some cheap clunky slot loader. However, can't see how to eject a disc in an emergency.

As for setup. Its sounding very sweet, bery hifi but my placement is not ideal so my soundstage is not as filling as heard at the demos. It can certainly fill a room though. Its on a corner shelf and, if it makes any difference, from where I normally sit, I can not see the left side of the unit. So I have no qualms about this and was a choice I made when I placed it rather than being in more open position where access by my 3 year old was possible.

Having tinkered with settings, I am running 'Free' location, Width 4, tilt 1 and bass 0. Unfortunately, these settings cannot be adjusted by remote so its all tedious and hit and miss to get the right settings. I have just however set location to table and will try this for a while.

I have sorted my aerial issue and would appear to be getting a reasonably strong signal (for DAB in the 550-700's way above the 320 threshold) with the wire aerial on aerial 1. Apparently aerial 2 is recommended for DAB but I put the 'pigs tail' in that one and can't undo it by hand as its a bit fiddly as the thread is a little closer to the body of the unit and I need to reach over to do it so I will swap things over when I next move the unit.

Overall, its been totally glitch free in operation. Quality is certainly hifi quality (it resolves detail as you would expect) and far more flexible (DVD player and external inputs) than my previous stereo unit. But its not going to give me a sound stage compared to my G series / DSP33's - but it's only a fraction of the cost.

Its a second room / transportable system. Not a first system. Exactly as I believe it was designed as. But unlike my 1st system, this one is used on a daily basis as its far more convenient. Exactly as I intended - there was no way that I was going to get this quality into the dining room/kitchen area without a unit of this type. Looking forward to connecting it up to my music library either via iPod dock/cable or SB. Hopefully it won't be too long before I get the chance?

Whether a Bose or some other unit would have achieved the same I don't know. But its a nice looking unit (the wife fully approves), compact and from a company with a 'face' rather than a telephone number. I'm willing to pay a bit extra for this and keep my brand loyalty. And it was nice to get the personal touch from Meridian once again when I had a few questions.