Hi All,

You may or may not remember, but last September i had the Power supply changed in my 861 after it had failed for the second time over power issues and cutting out? I was pleased with Meridian's response and turn around times and happily watched my DVD's and listened to my music till Early January 08. Then it all went wrong....again :-(

The power starting tripping out again. I decided to try and eliminate the issue again of it being the 861 by changing all the leads around, trying different power conditioners etc... Eventually i ruled it to be the 861 yet again and as i am sure you will appreciate, i was not exactly happy at the prospect of having to drive 80 odd miles round trip to my dealer to get it sent off again. Let me add that my dealer has been wonderful and very supportive, but they too are getting fed up with the courier charges and time they have to spend sorting this out each time.

This time Meridian had the unit for nearly 1 month whilst they tested it and deduced that it was the power supply again and replaced it. Seeing as i have had MRC setup questions also, i asked my dealer if they would deliver the 861 back to me and assist in installing it again and setting up the MRC properly. they were very good and came out FOC and assisted....you cannot say fairer than that in IMHO. You can imagine my delight when after hours of setup i had my 861 back up and running and got to watch some DVD's i had left over from Christmas. Considering that the last time they fixed my 861, it lasted only 3 months or so, i was hopeful that 'This' time i should be safe until the summer at worst.......well how does 24 hours sound?!?!?!?!?!?

To say that i was furious is quite simply an understatement. After all the hassle i have gone through i had really hoped that this time things would be wrapped up for good. Don't get me wrong here - Meridian have been very helpful and so has my Dealer, but there comes a point when you simply lose all faith in something and just want out.
My dealer has contacted Meridian and they have come back with some of the strangest suggestions for the reason it could be failing i have ever come across: It could be a light facing the 861 in my room. Or it could be something interfering with the IR.
The flaw in this suggestion is that since i have owned this 861 i have not changed my setup in terms of lighting/IR in any shape or form. So the fact that 'all of a sudden' it is failing i do not buy there answer i am afraid. Secondly, i would be seriously amazed if Meridian would produce 'High End Reference' components that may fail if a 'Light/Lamp' is in your room/theater? Maybe i am being cynical here but it just sounds like an excuse/ clutching at straws here to me.

I had hoped that one of the following options may have been suggested to me:

A) Replacement 861
B) Meridian to come to my house to assist and rule out any issues.

Whilst i am appreciative that they have now come back and said to send it to them for yet more testing, i am feeling somewhat let down by the whole process. This coming weekend i will have to drive the 80 odd mile round trip to my dealer to drop it off again. I will be without my 861 for no doubt weeks again and will be 'assured' by Meridian as with each previous time, that they have resolved the power problem and that i am good to go again. I will then either have to get my dealer to come to me and re-install it or i will have to make the trip and do it all myself at my time/cost again.

People i know think i am simply mad to have paid so much money on my setup of Meridian/Chord amps/Audience/Valhalla....you name it stuff, as all the time parts of it go wrong. For example...When my Chord amp failed with one of the rear channels tripping out they replaced the two rear power amps inside, not one....but two....just to be on the safe side!!. It failed again, so they replaced the whole unit without question and i got an apology too. To me that is world class service.

Sorry to rant, but i know that some of you have had the same problem/s as me, and even though it may come across that i have had enough with Meridian, i have not. I love their kit and will always defend it to my friends when it goes wrong, because the gains of performance when it works had always outwayed the issues.....it is just that it has become a little bit beyond a joke now and i am feeling dispondant by the whole situation.

Something is fundamentally wrong with my 861 IMHO, as this is now the 4th or 5th time it will be going back for 'something' that has gone wrong. :-(

Thanks for reading,
G

861v8, 861v4, 596, HD621, F80, I80, Oppo BDP-105D, Chord SPM 1200E, Chord SPM 1900E, Audience Adept Response AR8, PS4, PS3, Sky+HD, Monitor Audio Platinum's all round, REL Studio iii, Panasonic ZT65 and Audience AU24SE cabling all round.