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

This chap http://www.wolfbane.com/ tells you more than you ever wanted to know about what signals are broadcast from where at what strength in the UK.

Any update on the wonder of F80? How has the tweaking been going?

Ian,

Can you do me a favour.....
Can you swith off the F80 at the power switch and see what the clock / alarm settings do after an hour, just to see if there is a battery backup hidden inside.

Thanks.......Ian

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.

F80 in white. Originally wanted silver version but this was further delayed and TBH, I probably prefer it in white now.

As you can see, not ideal spacing. The mains cable was too fat to push down side of unit so I will cut the euro version and pass it down the back.

The Didgeridoo acts as a bass tube Yes, I can play it - well use to be able to.

When sitting at table off to left, left speaker is visually occluded.

The telescopic aerial is sitting on the shelf - space for iPod dock or SB. 'Pigs tail' and wire aerial can be seen originating from back. It has of course got an internal aerial but its marginal for DAB use for me.



The feature I like best about the remote, is that it is magnetic so I can attach it to my work light and not loose it amongst my 'work' on my desk. And it feels nice and soft too.

The unit has been unplugged at the mains for over 5 hours. Just plugged it back in and the display immediately showed the correct time and alarm settings.

It also kept my settings, but I would have expected that.

Bought a cheap 3.5mm stereo lead this afternoon and connected iPod to analogue input Aux 1 - now designated iPod - can't honestly remember changing this label but unless there is some magic going on somewhere, I must have.

Anyhow, my iPod has never sounded so good. Maybe the F80 has some of the functionality of the Meridian MP221 media player?

Roll on the Meridian lead/dock (I personally would prefer a lead that would connect to my own dock rather than an all new dock like the video dock) that would add charge and remote control capabilities.

Ian,

Many thanks for the results of the power test,

Regards.......Ian

OK. I take back my comment about my iPod not sounding so good as on my F80. Listening here to Crowded House off the pod via F80 and its not sounding good. I would have heard these tracks through my SB onto G68/DSP33's and the 'fuzz' that I am hearing is new to me. Just put on another album, same thing, some 'fuzz' to the playback.

Running off iPod Photo ripped in MP3 at IIRC 192k sitting on an Apple iPod dock. SB would have had an identical source file.

The iPod was recharged overnight. Maybe i'm hearing a loose connection now its been replaced on the dock. The purchased 3.5mm jack lead should be adequate for the job. Never tried iPod through G68 - always used SB for that. Im sure the iPod is the weak link - maybe its another SB instead of the Meridian iPod link.

Given that the iPod's tunes come from the pc anyway, I'd have thought an SB into the F80 would be the choice. Of course, if you take the F80 on holiday with you then it's t'other way 'round.

If you are talking about a mini-jack that connects from the iPod headphone jack, then the prob is with the iPod amplifier. Apple has done an absolutely atrocious job of sound quality in the ipods. the new shuffle has newer amp tech in it and sounds better! But all the rest (larger ipods) plainly suck. I single search in google of "iPod" and "distortion" will give you all the info you need on this ridiculous problem.

For what its worth, 'What Hi-Fi' give the F80 a huge thumbs up review.

Cheers, Chris