Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Meridian comms. pin connections

I have Master DSP cables coming out of my ears and am short of a couple of slave cables. I note that the central pin on the master is connected so can anyone tell me which pin to connect to convert to a slave (if indeed that is all that's required)

thanks guys

Rod

Master and slave cables have one common and one different DIN plug...

"S lead" Master to slave have same pins - a "M lead" is different, it goes from speaker to component piece,(180 deg to 240 degree end connectors) - Master to slave speaker connectors are the same 180 degree ends - I was able to go to a music instrument store and get 5 pin din midi cables that worked perfectly (had all pins wired)for $25 for a 15 foot.They also had long runs of shielded coax that worked perfect for the digital input/out

Were those midi cables you got for the 180 style pins?

Midi cables as slave cables work sometimes but may not work in all situations and are far from ideal anyway. They are much heavier because they connect all pins. And they don't properly short the appropriate pins as the diagram clearly shows.

It's very easy to convert an M-Lead to an S-Lead or visa versa for a couple bucks and 20 minutes of labor.

I highly recommend using cables as they are wired above or you are just asking for trouble.

Yes the midis were 180 degree 5 pin dins - I purchased Midis with removable connector caps because I thought I might have to change the wiring - The midis were terminated just like the other Meridian cables I had and thats when I saw that all pins were wired also - they have worked perfectly for me and my budgetary constraints.

Just to confirm, as i am about 14 years to late to this conversation. I have an 861v4 with 2x Meridian Comm Ports on the stock 800-C00 board. Those ports are M5 Ports? I also have a 800-SL00 Patch Board with S5 Ports? I have to make/buy a Jumper Cable to go from the C00 board to the SL00 if i need to connect 7x DSP speakers in a surround configuration.

Do any DPS Speakers have an M5 port on them? I old grabbed a pair of DSP33 for bench testings and they only seem to have the S5 ports.

The comms ports on the C00 card accept M5 connectors. Legacy DSP speakers have S5 ports on them. A M5 Cable has a 240 degree pin configuration M connector and a 180 pin configuration S connector. A M5 cable would be used between your 861 and the master speaker A S5 cable has a 180 degree connector on each end. The S5 cable is used to connect speakers together or in the case of a slave patch or SLO card a S5 cable would be connected between the comms output of the master speaker and the slave patch. The rest of the speakers would then use S5cables to connect to the slave patch and then to each other to form a complete comms link. Digital cables then run from the OE12 card to each appropriate pair of speakers. 1/2 = left and right, 3/4= center and sub, 5/6=sides,7/8=rears.

Since this thread has been resurrected, I’d like to ask about BNC comms - since I’ve never fully understood why they did not become more widely used than they did. If I understand them correctly they are agnostic - no confusing 240/180 or M vs S cable. And no confusing pin orientations. Simply center conductor to center pin and shield to shell? Is there any equivalent to the 511 to patch BNC comms?

Yes, BNC is "agnostic" like that.

It would be pretty easy to make a BNC patch box with a little wire and some panel mount BNC connectors. Simply connect all the shields and center pins together.