Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Meridian / Arcam / Denon !!!!!!

You'll find from reading my comments elsewhere that I have real issues with the G95 in terms of its limited feature set. Given limited living-room space I really wanted to replace my existing kit with one box (and I may still end up buying one when all is said and done).

Not only does the G95 not have DVD-A, on the movie DSP's you are limited to 'Cinema' and 'DPLII Movie, and on the music side to 'Trifield' - and stereo. That's a lot of money to spend for not a lot of features. However, it sounds fantastic and drives loudspeakers really hard. The sample I auditioned, though, ran very warm - almost hot enough to fry an egg on (the Arcam Solo Movie sitting alongside the G95 ran as cool as Meridian's quoted expectations for their own product).

Now, the Arcam FMJ DV139 is the best all-round disc spinner currently on the market - and will play DVD-A and SACD, for �1,795. The matching FMJ AV9 features five HDMI inputs and offers more DSP surround pre-sets than anything Meridian can offer. If you're keeping to 5.1 rather than 7.1, the partnering FMJ P7 spare two-channels can be used to bi-amplifiy your front left-right channels. Although I'd buy the DV139 new there's some good ex-dem prices to be had for the AV9 and P7. Moroever, unlike the G95, you can swap and change individual components as and when new products and technology appear. Likewise, unlike Meridian, Arcam actually provide upgrades for their high-end FMJ kit (in addition to software updates). For example, the previous AV8 can be physically upgraded to an AV9 for �750 - something G-Series owners can only dream about.

However, I've read on another forum how one AV9/P7 owner was selling his kit because although it was a mighty fine surround system it wasn't a very satisfying two-channel music system. Then again, once you hear Trifield on a G95 subsequent stereo playback is less than satisfying.