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

Just to clear up the price issue, there is a lot of misconception about the system. When it was first launched, this was the entry price that included source, control and storage pieces. Now, however, they have introduced several other components and control schemes that allow for much lower cost.

For those that may have been following more recent developments, you may have seen news about an Ensemble system that has just started shipping. Instead of $13K, that configuration is $7,900. It includes the 17" touchpanel and the Ensemble piece, which is a single box design that has 4-zones of output and a single HDD bay. Keep in mind though that you do not need to buy a hardware control piece from them. So, if you were content with using the web interface (including iPhone optimized version), you can buy just the Ensemble piece for $3500. The only other cost is the HDD, which you can buy from Sooloos or BYO (they do that on purpose as they know that HDD markups often get criticized).

What you need to know is that the Sooloos system is comprised of 3 elements - the Source, the Control and the Storage. They have multiple options for each with more coming out soon. Hereare the options and associated prices (which I think are current):

Source:
Source:one - single zone of audio output $4000
Source:five - 5 zones of audio output $5000
Ensemble: 4 zones of audio output and one HDD bay in a single box - $3500
Source:micro - Don't know if this one is still in development. It was supposed to be a source:one in a small form factor (like the Sonos ZP 120). Price unknown.

Control:
Control:one - 17" wired touchpanel with built-in CD slot for imports. $4400
Control:PC - desktop app for control, import (via local PC CD drive), import of existing ripped music, metadata tweaking, backup/restore on local HDD, export files to portable player, etc. Free
Control:Bridge - Allows the system to be interface with Crestron for complete 2-way control. Don't know the price on this one.
iPhone/iPod Touch web UI - Web playback control interface optimized for those devices. Free
Regular Web UI - Same as above but intended for use on any computer. Free
Control:Remote - 12" wireless rechargeable touchpanel. Coming in Q1 2009, est $2500.

Storage:
TwinStore - dual HDD bay storage unit, single chassis. $2500
Store:one - single HDD storage unit. Sold in pairs for redundancy. $4500
Store:two - Same as Store:one, but with 2 HDs in each. Also sold in pairs for redundancy. Not sure on price for this one and, to be honest, not 100% sure that they are still selling it with the TwinStore being launched.
Ensemble - Single HDD bay and 4 zones of audio output in one box. $3500

You can mix and match the various pieces as you like. So, cost of your config can vary greatly but, as I said, you can start with just the Ensemble piece for $3500 + HDD and control it with the web UI, PC app or iPhone web UI.

Jeff