Meridian 56?

[Madge]

Had a listen to a 568 recently and I was very impressed with it's abilities. However at nearly £4K it will be a while before I could get a new one. The dealer kindly suggested that a 561 was almost as good, as long as you didn't buy a 598 and then want MHR. This got me thinking about the older 565 model, which can be had for less than the price of a 2nd hand Lexicon MC-1 these days. So, my question is, is the 565 a good buy, should I go for a 561, wait for a 568, or is the something else out there that offers the kind of performance I'm after for the same money?



THX in Advance (no that's not a new certification, though it probably will be soon enough :D~:-D~:grin:)

[Bomb_Squad]

I'd try and get a 568 Mudge.



It is right @ the top of the pile as a digital processor.

Offers great allround processing for 2 & Multichannel audio.



The 565's & 561's are nice units, but the 568 is the guvnor.

I cant see the worth in getting the 561/565's (personal view)

Also, there seems to be a rumour, that Meridian maybe working on a new processor which sits beneath the 568.

But, that's a whisper only. (Dunno what to make of that)



Naturally, due to the 568.2 you may see original 568's appear on the market, as some people prefer to offload their units, rather than upgrade to .2 (with some going upto 861)



I've had a few issues with Meridian's customer support, but their 568.2 is a class act, no doubt.



It's better (in the long run) to try and attain a 568.





Ace



Bomb_Squad

[Madge]

I'd heard about a new Processor too, but then they released the 561M, which supposedly supports MHR from a 598 or 800.



Suffice to say I'm very confused!

[Bomb_Squad]

Mudge, i actually wasn't aware of the 561M :roll:



I just feel that the majority of the technical advances & future plans will be pushed, firstly at the 800 series, and secondly, at the 568.2 platform.



It's difficult to see into the Meridan "Crystal ball"



It will be interesting to see what will happen when a standardised digital transmission link is introduced..



Will Meridian keep their proprietry MHR or will they replace/add the new standard?



I cant see them ever introducing a multichannel analogue input to the 568.2 (no space on the back for a start)



They do appear to leave us in the dark somewhat, i couldn't see any stuff on the upgrade from 596/568Mk1 to 598/568.2 spec on their website, and that offer has been in motion for a while yet, infact, the 596 > 598 spec upgrade may have had it's timeframe elapsed now.





Ace



Bomb_Squad

[Madge]

Update:

I popped into PJ in Guildford, who were kind enough to explain exactly what the 561M does.

It has a two channel MHR input. So with a Stereo DVD-A in a 598 or 800, it can accept a digital signal for processing in the player - Trifield on DVD-A anyone? :D~:-D~:grin: It won't accept multichannel though.

[nicolasb]

Extract from an old email from Des Ford, of Meridian, follows. (Note that this was back in September of last year, so it may not be up-to-date).



<table border="0" align="center" width="90%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td class="SmallText">Quote:</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">
Here's a comparison of the two processors; 561 and 568.



561 is a combination of pre-amp, video-switcher and surround processor. The 568 does not feature video-switching and it has fewer analogue inputs (2 vs.7). To provide a similar level of connectivity as a 561, the 568 must be used in combination with the 562V.3 controller.



568 uses a FIFO buffer system that produces better jitter performance than 561's phase-lock-loop (sorry, some techno-babble is inevitable in an explanation like this!). This results in higher sound-quality.



568 is able to perform upsampling, a DSP technique that uses higher sampling rates to squeeze better performance from DACs. This applies whether using the DACs that are internal to the processor or passing digital signals to DSP speakers. Again, this leads to higher sound quality from the 568.



The 568 can accept the optional multi-channel digital input module. This provides the receiving end of the&quot;MHR Smart-Link&quot; interface. This enables digital signals from DVD-Audio discs to be passed from a suitably equipped 598 DVD Player at sampling rates of up to 96 kHz. At present, this is the only such method that has approved in regard to copy-protection. There are no plans to introduce &quot;MHR Smart-Link&quot; to the 561.