Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Huge Meridian News today - Acquisition of Sooloos!

Hello All. I woke up to find this in my email this morning. I have used the Sooloos, and think this is great news for Meridian.

Meridian Audio Acquires Sooloos

New York City, USA and Cambridge, England - December 4, 2008

Meridian Audio Ltd - British manufacturer of the finest digital audio and video systems has announced its acquisition of US company Sooloos LLC, the innovative media-server manufacturer. The closing which took place today was for an undisclosed amount.

According to Meridian CEO Tim Ireland, Meridian supplies the very finest audio and video installations. As the market evolves toward download and streaming content and more sophisticated forms of control, we have been seeking the right partner to widen our scope and enable us to further excite our customers. Combining Meridian and Sooloos takes both over many hurdles; the two companies share striking similarities in culture, product philosophy, pursuit of excellence and market approach.

The admiration is entirely mutual. Peter Wellikoff, Sooloos COO and a three-decade veteran of high-end consumer electronics says, We`ve successfully established Sooloos as the most technically advanced and sophisticated innovator in this still very young media-server and systems sphere. Now, under the Meridian corporate umbrella, we gain advantages in global market access, as well as a network of engineering and technology resources that are unequalled anywhere.

Meridian`s culture of innovation and shaping new technologies dates to its inception in the early 1980s, when founders Bob Stuart and Allen Boothroyd launched the world`s first audiophile CD player, effectively creating, and then proving, the concept of high-end digital audio. Meridian has since led the way in audio with its unequalled compact disc and digital-
loudspeaker designs, audio processing, reference projection systems and high-resolution multichannel audio. Numerous other world firsts include the first audiophile and videophile iPod� docking solution, and integrated tabletop CD/DVD, AM/FM/DAB home entertainment sound systems of unprecedented performance.

Bob Stuart, Meridian`s Chairman and CTO is very enthusiastic about the Sooloos acquisition. Our two companies have been following one another`s success for some time, says Stuart. We share very similar philosophies and passions for music and total design excellence. There`s also a powerful synergy between the skills and experience of our respective teams, which will enable us to build together outstanding and efinitive high-end digital entertainment systems.

Sooloos was founded to give people an experience, to put the fun back into listening to music, says Enno Vandermeer, Sooloos founder and CEO. By joining the Meridian and
Sooloos teams, that experience grows exponentially. Now the most fun, interactive and social way to access your music, photos, and video is also the best-sounding and most visually
stunning digital media system on the market.

In the immediate future, Sooloos and Meridian operations will proceed with only modest changes. Sooloos will retain offices in New York City. The R&D teams are already working closely together. Sooloos founders Enno Vandermeer and Danny Dulai plus key executives including Peter Wellikoff and Sandro Pugliese are excited to remain with the company. Our goal is one excellent enterprise.

The Sooloos products, fully retaining the Sooloos brand and identity, will be distributed in the US by Meridian America Inc. in Atlanta. The UK market will be coordinated through Meridian Audio in England. The international sales teams will work together to continue the development of an unrivalled network of distributors serving specialist resellers and custom integrators around the world.

Looking ahead together the company plans new products, bringing the world entirely new levels of sonic experience, ergonomic elegance and system interoperability.

Sooloos and Meridian will be exhibiting together at CES 2009 in the Venetian (Suite 31-105)

Wow! I attended the last Cedia and fell in love with the Sooloos system. The interface is a real step above everything else on the market. You have to use it yourself to appreciate how extraordinary it is. I guess we now know what kind of music server Meridian will have! This news should also end the doomsday thread on Meridian's future. This is not a company about to go away.

At last! Now just add video...

Kaleidoloos

Maclcolm:

They were showing a video product at CEDIA. The details escape me

Wouah!

Will it be as flourishing as the Faroudja rapprochement?

j

Faroudja was a tie-up which I'm pretty sure didn't work that well. This is a full-blown acquisition.

I'm very pleasantly surprised. Sooloos is at the top of the market. Elegantly designed and implemented. It belongs in the same stable with Meridian. Bravo!

Sorry don't get it, Basic scolar english here. Not idiomatic, does it...

j

This is great news for Meridian.

Take two... Meridian entered into a business partnership with Genesis Microchip, owner of the Faroudja brand. Meridian (still) manufactures Faroudja products and, supposedly, was to benefit from video processing research at Genesis. However, given that the Faroudja products are now seriously out of date and that Meridian is using Marvell chips in its showpiece video processor, I've come to my own conclusions.

On the other hand, Meridian has bought Sooloos and, hopefully, will integrate the two product ranges well.

The Question: Is Sooloos just an overpriced Logitech/Sonos? The sound must naturally be the same (it�s all digital), but are there other benefits design wise or in better user friendliness?

I'm not impressed by the 1TB (2TB with backup) limit on the NAS - why oh why? I have nearly used up my 2TB (also main drive + additional backup drive), and I suspect the customer group - as me - have a lot of huge 24/96 files downloaded/bought from the net or ripped from DVDA (which is possible now with DVDAExplorer - hurray!). And it does not seem to support higher rez than 16/44.1

iPhone/iPod Touch software is nice, though.

BTW: Meridian.co.uk is down. Coincidence?

Hello,


thats sound not bad if M have money to buy.
Also the long promised server from M come in sight.
That generally good news.

But looking at the homepage Sooloos have no hires storage and output ?
Do i miss something here?
If that, iam absolute no interest,
download lossless192/24 records are up to date-not standart redbook.
And what about MHR to avoid jitter on the SPDIF output?
The only "hires" is MPG3 with 192kHz.

So if M extend that system to hires/MHR/Multichannel iam with them.

Can somebody confirm the hires status?

Robert