"Do you use any Meridian components in your system, and if so which ones? I'm trying to figure out why your experience with Meridian hasn't been more positive."

I use a Meridian G68, and my experience with it is extremely positive. My experience with Meridian hasn't been negative. I just believe that the full Meridian system is not the only means of achieving the 8000's level of sound quality. In my experience you can match and exceed the 8000s with separates. In the case of surpassing them, the primary example that comes to mind would be the Magico Mini V2. The Magicos did indeed bury everything else I heard. They are the first speaker to be able to genuinely go beyond sounding excellent, to sounding 99.99% believably real. It was freakish.