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.