Personally, I have not found the 990's highs to be harsh. On the contrary, I've found the system to be generally neutral. As with speakers, though, there are always some personal taste factors to consider. And of course, there's the TANSTAAFL principle ("there ain't no such thing as a free lunch") - the 990 costs $1100 while the Meridian retails for well over $10,000 (one 2004 review of the v.4 model listed the price at $16,000 to $20,000 depending on extra features included), and even with some large price inflation on Meridian's part figured in you have to sacrifice something to make that large a change in price. As much as I really enjoy my Model 990, I'd expect that there would be some aspects of its sound that will not be able to match the sound from a product with a retail price more than an order of magnitude greater. What I'm not sure about (and you are actually much better positioned to determine than I am) is just how much difference there is - we're inevitably going to be talking about diminishing returns to at least some degree, and possibly even a great degree.

I just did a quick check for what shipping would be from Outlaw to my location, and ground shipping was $40. According to the guarantee page , they pay the shipping back if you don't like it - all you'd be out is $40 and the time spent giving it a try.

I asked them about the shipping as well and they told me $40 only so I went for it. I don't expect the 990 to be equal to the Meridian but I want to come close. The meridian is also modular designed which adds alot to the cost. The Emotiva had a different sound than the Meridian. If the 990 has a similar sound then it might be a keeper. Trust me I want it to do well. The emotiva also gave me a headache at reference levels where the Meridian at reference levels was just WOW. I could have listened all day long that loud. One 15 minute scene with the Emotiva was unbearable at reference levels.

As much as I don't envy you the cabling woes of swapping out surround processors, I will be interested to hear how the 990 fares in your system and to your ears.

After swapping out over 15 processors and that many amps I have become very good at swapping and hooking up surround processors. I don't know why people think meridian is hard to setup and need a dealer, with a computer it is faster than anything. Besides I have never moved my rack into the final position because of this. I only have 2 sources and my sources are going directly to my CRT projector so I only swap out audio.

Gonk have you ever heard Parasound halo gear? If the 990 sounds like their gear then I will keep it as it does have the kind of sound I like.

I have not, sorry...

After I review the 990 I will post or start another thread with the proper title 990 vs or something to that nature.

I always read that the avm30 and 990 are hard to tell apart with sound quality but there are very small differences between the 2 but not worth the price difference. My question is what are the small differences? I like the small differences. The small diferences add up as you add more quality to the system(speaker upgrade Etc...).

MK, awesome, can't wait to see your review. Curious, have you thought about trying the newest Adcom pre-pro?

http://www.adcom.com/prod/shopdisplayproducts.asp?prodid=1150

Adcom's generally known for relatively low cost but very high fidelity components (they use high quality electronics for their price points). I believe the 800HD pre-pro retails in the low-mid 2k range IIRC.

For that price I would look elsewhere.