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Anybody fan or Meridian 3 ch stereo?

A long while back I was working for a shop selling Krell,Mc,B&W etc and guy ordered up B&W 803N as soon as it came out.But we also brought along a 800 series center.o my surpise there were no rears and this was a muisc only system.Then he turned on 3 channel music mode and it was great nothing like I had ever heard from a HT reciever or high end HT pre that had that option in past.He just said Meridian had figured out the steering logic better than anybody else.Then I rembered reading that durring 30's when Bell Labs was developing Stereo it was originally going to be a 3 speaker system with a "fill" or "Phantom" speaker as they called it.No sure if this would have led to difference in 78 groove tech but I think not.But marketting folks decided for economy a 2 speker system might not sound as good but be easier to sell.So wondering if anybody knows Meridian and listens in that mode and can commen on it.The new gear is a bit out of my league price wise but wondering if there is a decent sounding (568???) pre that would have well developed 3 channel music mode and 5.1 as bonus.Know they have sold the sound and video switching boxes sperately but I never liked idea wirring video through switching box anyway since I don't wan signal to be messed up for soem copying convenience anyway.Any Meridian fans out there "steer"(sorry about that) me in right direction.
Cheers
Chazzbo
chazzbo
5 responses Add your response
kennyt
1,226 posts
 
I beleive what you are talking about is 'Trifield', and while currently only in Meridian gear (and has been for a long time)_ it is actually not their invention. An articale came out a few months ago in Stereophile outlining this technique (which used to be in Yamaha receivers as well.

Does it work? Yes, sounds really good too but makes me feel guilty as though I am bastardizing the original recording. I do like it for some particularly older poorly mixed material as it brings it to life but you will need to experiment with it and as always YMMV.
thaluza's avatar
thaluza
280 posts
 
I have read on a Meridian board that the 568 is very close to the 861 in audio quality. Here is a link to the board: http://www.meridianunplugged.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi.

FWIW, I wholeheartedly endorse the Meridian 568 pre/pro. I have a 568.2mm that I use with a Proceed HPA-3 and Spendor S8e's (main) and C9e (center). I like both the Trifield mode and the plain old 2 channel Stereo mode. In both modes, music is very natural, with a non-edgy, glare-free sound. Imaging is excellent. Trifield makes the soundstage bigger compared to Stereo. With Trifield, there is an excellent sense of transparency. From my listening position, I can't tell if music is coming from the center channel speaker (or the left and right main speakers).

I previously owned a Lexicon MC-12, which was great for reproducing the movie theater experience, but it is not in the same league as Meridian for music listening. I enjoyed the Lexicon, especially with the detail it was able to extract, but the center channel seemed prominent when listening in multi-channel Music mode, even with careful setup.

The only drawback for me with the 569.2mm is the lack of video switching, but I am able to get around that by programming my Pronto remote to do the switching instead.

Hope this helps!
barrelchief
294 posts
 
Spread Spectrum Tech makes a Trinaural Processor http://www.ampzilla2000.com/index.html#Trinaural , which may also be what you are looking for.

There is a review here on agon http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rprea&1144721220&read&keyw&zztrinaural
kjweisner's avatar
kjweisner
293 posts
 
If you're looking to try this on even more of a budget, pick up a Meridian 565. It was the predecessor to the 568 and includes Trifield, as well as a couple other music oriented processing modes (Super Stereo and Music Logic). These can be had for under a grand and sound fantastic. I've owned one as the heart of a full Meridian digital theater (565, 562v, 518, 586.2 and DSP5000s) and as much as I like the new form factor of Meridian's G series, I can't justify replacing this setup. The 565 is a relative pain to setup since you have to use soft keys on the front panel (vs. using Meridian's Window-based setup software), but the results are well worth it.

Whenever I use that system for music (either straight audio or concert videos), I choose Trifield. It sounds very natural and "unprocessed." Ditto for Super Stereo. It's not at all gimmicky and doesn't fatigue the way some other soundfield processing does.
chazzbo OP
1,007 posts
 
That's great freinds.I think it might be just the ticket I am thinking of getting either a PS Audio GCPH or a Rhea for phono and that will cover my cartridge swapping with mono and polarity if Meridian does not have it.Would be nice to have polarity switch with digital but that's OK if only LP's.Thinking of replacing tube and horn in main room with Marin Logan's and using their center and good 5 channel power amp would do me for music and if I can afford it a Meridian with a 5.1 I'd be all set.Like I said the Trifield was really impressive.Hope I can put this system together and appreciate the input.
Cheers
Chazz
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