Hi George,

Sorry perhaps I wasn;t too clear. Yes I agree that both 808 and 808i can drive a power amp directly using the volume control. I also agree that the only difference appears to be the inputs.

I emailed Meridian re upgrading the 808 to 808i. They said it could NOT be done frown

I guess what I am getting at is the pre-amp quality of the 808 and whether it is worth the extra money. Long term it would seem nice to have that in case one wishes to dump one's pre-amp. Or is the pre-amp so bad that no-one (except unless you go direct to Meridian's DSP speakers) would go direct to a normal power amp so you are in effect, paying one thousdand pounds for a digital / analogue input.....

If someone uses the 808i direct to power amp and is happy with it, I guess that would make the 808i more tempting since you can not upgrade the 808 to 808i later on (which I find very disappointing because it is surely very easy to do????)

howiebrou

Avid Acutus, SME V, Benz Micro LP / Van den Hul Colibri XGP, Audio Research Ref 2 Phono
Meridian Sooloos C15 + MD600
CH Precision C1 DAC
Constellation Audio Virgo and Centaur Monoblocks
Sonus Faber Aida