I just sold my beloved it 950 and hoping to upgrade to 990 soon. My 950 sold fairly quickly so right now I am using my old first generation DD/DTS processor from Technics. Even my wife thinks this processor needs upgrade soon. I was about to order the 990 but I saw the Meridian 565 7.1/Z3 6.2 for sale for about the same price. This unit just got factory-upgraded for upto date installation. Does anybody has any experience with this Meridian unit? I heard lots of good things about Meridian 500's series but never had a chance to listen one. I know this unit is 7 or 8 years ago when first introduced but it is factory upgraded to today's processing capabilities according to current owner. I would appreciate anybody's experience with this Meridian. Thanks.

Before you buy, look at the interface for the Meridian. It's a great unit, but some people find them daunting to operate.

Thanks for the reply PodBoy. Do you mean complex installation and everyday usage or different types of cabling requirement to other units?

I just downloaded Meridian 565 manual from their website and read it. It may be a great unit sound wise but I need lots more connection flexbility than what IT alone offers. I guess Outlaw 990 is top of my list again for my next upgrade.

Funster:

I guess I'm talking more about the every-day use rather than the installation. I know a number of people who just found the remote and the menus a bit too complex, but I guess YMMV.

Thanks for your input, PodBoy. Ease of use is important as well since my other family members are enjoying the system without me as well.

Since when is anything produced by Meridian affordable? Last time I investigated their gear, you could buy a luxury car for what a full-blown Meridian theater system cost.....

The Meridian in this case is a used unit - the 565 was new back in the late 90's. Based on what the seller has indicated, it has been upgraded to support newer processing modes. Two questions: what processing modes are now included, and what is the state of the warranty on it (is it under warranty at all and is it transferrable)?

This particular Meridian was listed under Audiogon classified section. I know Meridian is out of my price range as new but this was older unit like Gonk said with updated newer processing modes. The seller was asking less than $1200 for it. But before I had any chance to ask any specific questions, it was sold already anyway. Since I knew almost nothing about the Meridian units other than it is very expensive as new, I was seeking any members' experience with it. Anyway, like I said earlier post, due to lack of connections flexibility, it will not work for me regardless of how it is updated. I have no idea whether this unit has any transferable warranty if at all but seller did said the unit just came from factory upgrade installed couple months ago.

One of my good friends wound up with a (disgustingly annoying) windfall profit when his company IPO'ed during the dot.com days. A couple of years ago, he bought a Meridian system that I think cost approximately $75-100k at the time. It sounded pretty good, but not 10-15 TIMES as good as my Outlaw-based system. To be honest, I'm not even convinced it sounded better. It did have all kinds of fancy controls and you could interface it with your pc, etc. The last time I checked, he'd become quite disillusioned with Meridian due to support issues.

The interesting thing about it was that all the pieces were connected with cabling similar to ethernet (or perhaps firewire).

If I had a ridiculous budget for home theater gear today, I'd opt for a full boat from TACT. That gets you up into the 4-5 TIMES the price of an equivalent Outlaw system, but it absolutely sounds better and the room correction features are state of the art (making it mostly unimportant where you place your speakers). That said, you can see by my signature where I think the true value in home theater systems lies these days. 8-)

Cheers,