50k worth of product using standard ethernet cables.<ul><li><a href="http://uk.cinenow.com/videos/1435-meridian-808-signature-reference-cd-player-dsp7200-speakers-sound-vision-bristol-show-2008">http://uk.cinenow.com/videos/1435-meridian-808-signature-reference-cd-player-dsp7200-speakers-sound-vision-

I guess the cheap is whats stopping it. It means the interconnect busness goes out the window.

Hairstyle isn't the only thing he has in common with John Major. Some of his products have impressed me enormously. His digital speakers aren't one of them.

Cat5 is a fine carrier of digital information. Some digital carriers can create a different sonic character than others (many ingredients; capacitance, inductance, resistance, interference). Some audiophiles take the time to seek out which character suits their system best.
Some claim it's a waste of time as the differences in character from one recording to another are much greater.
Others claim digital is digital and there can be nothing in a cable to make transfer any better/different than another cable.

I made a recent comparison of a Rotel 1069S and my Meridian G68ADV. At normal background music to moderate levels of say 95 db there was not much difference between the 2. At THX reference levels the Rotel was unlistenable(I couldn't make it past 100 db because of the harshness) while the Meridian sounded very clean and natural.

The original (Lindsey Buckingham - 'Out Of The Cradle') CD has appeared to decompose over the (16) years. It's changed color (it's now a gold-ish color instead of the original silver) and if you hold it up to the light you can see very small pin-holes in the disc, although I don't know if they were there when I first bought it or not. The biggest problem with it is, despite there being no visible scratches or marks of the discs (maybe it's the holes) the disc jumps about all over the place during playback. I did a straight rip of the disc on my PC in 44.1/16BiT and the copy plays perfectly, so because it's not skipping it sounds better!

I've not done much in the way of comparisons, but with doing direct copies without compression I can't say I've heard a difference between an original (in good shape) and a copy.

Most tweaks are worth trying unless they are costly.

Most cost-effective sound-improving tweaks for me have been (in no particular order);
A. Getting my ears syringed
B. Listening late at night when the national grid isn't so strained
C. Removing all cables/wires/power cords every year, cleaning all contacts thoroughly with cleaner of choice (I use Kontak Cleaner) and then putting the cables etc back in place!
D. Dialing-in the speakers whenever something major is moved in the room.
E. Raising the speaker wire off the floor (I use tidy bits of wood rather than the expensive lifters sold at Music Direct etc). This hasn't worked with all speaker wire I've used, but with some, it has made an immediately noticeable difference. It depends a lot on how much FRI is in the carpet and how much RFI your cables are picking-up.

It sounded very boring and very sterile.
I heard the same Meridian CD player a short while later attached to a Sugden A21a Class A integrated amplifier and a pair of ProAc Response 1SC speakers and it sounded wonderful. Fortunately it was a smallish room as the Sugden isn't hugely powerful.

I don't have much faith in wireless connections with audio.

I do not know.

: )

See if you can stay awake through this discussion with Bob on their DSP speakers. There is not alot you can agrue about as I'm concerned about his reasoning.

I have yet to meet or run into a person on the internet who has gone from Proac, Revel, or B&amp;W to Meridian speakers who has been disappointed with the change. I have 5 DSP5200s along with 2 SW5500 subwoofers that will be replacing all my B&amp;W(I used to have Proac before also)and Krell amplifiers so I let you know if I am disappointed.<ul><li><a href="http://uk.cinenow.com/videos/318-meridian-bob-stuart-on-digital-dsp-loudspeakers">http://uk.cinenow.com/videos/318-meridian-bob-stuart-on-digital-dsp-loudspeakers</a</li></ul>

There are plenty of other audio component designers who do things quite differently to Bob Stuart, most of whom can probably make a really good case for their design theories.

Audio gear done right is all about getting components, rooms and ears to gel with each other. It's as simple as that.

Coloration is going to happen no matter what. It's only a small part of what affects the overall sound of a set-up.

I'm interested to hear what you make of your set-up in it's next guise. If an all Meridian set-up floats your boat I'll be pleased to hear it. There are plenty of people out there who's senses are also stimulated by such things. We all hear things differently and all audiophiles know what type of sound they like. There is no one perfect system (although at one point I was pretty much convinced I'd heard it, but that's another story..)

Few things in an audio hobby are more satisfying than changing your set-up one way or another and achieving a more desirable sound.

I'm always interested in new gear by quality manufacturers, and Meridian are no exception. Many of their products have had me enjoying music enormously. And what Meridian have done for music reproduction in the home over the last 25 or so years has been well above average; MLP, 24 BiT CD players, super-DACs, stunning pre-amps....remember the Meridian 'Module'?

to what qualities your music reproduction system should have. I have never and will never like any electrostatic speakers because I played drums for 10 years and have never heard an electrostatic speaker including the Martin Logan Statements which reproduce a snare drum impact accurately.

This reminds me of the discussions I've had with my nephews why turning the color up all the way on their TV set until Sponge Bob has a fluorescent glow isn't necessarily what Nickelodeon had in mind.

I hope I'm going to be happy. They wanted to ship me a pair of speakers and if I wasn't happy they would take them back. I have been thinking about making this change for over a year now but have never heard anyone complain of Meridian speakers until today(you).

Like I said above I compared the Meridian processor and was impressed with the perfomance, and have compared my Meridian disc player to the Oppo player and I never even made it to a music test because the Meridian player had a very noticeable improvement in video quality on my 102" diag projection screen.

I will be sure to post my thoughts after I receive and setup the system.