Meridian Audio 561-M Brochure

561M

Background

Collecting many awards for individual products and theatre systems, Meridian has built an unassailable reputation for innovative systems of the highest performance and quality that offer an ease of installation and flexibility that is second to none.

In addition Meridian now holds a unique position as the provider of the lossless technology for the new DVD-Audio format. This puts Meridian in the best position to anticipate the future of Surround Sound and make provisions for it in current products.

Meridian 561

A 561 combines controller functions into a surround processor – bringing many of the features of a 568 + 562V.2 combination to one box.

561 provides extensive audio and video inputs and outputs – including an analogue tape loop and support for Meridian 2-Room plus system.

The 561 allows you to take control of your system: You can switch audio and video adjust input level, create 16 user presets all with your own labels. It also features excellent on-screen display and extensive on-screen help for setup and calibration. These displays are available on the composite and S-video connections.

Best of all, the 561 uses some of the same powerful DSP algorithms as the highly acclaimed 861 Reference Surround Processor.

Meridian 561M

As part of their ongoing commitment to product development Meridian have introduced an expansion module to the 561 as an option. This can be added to any existing 561 or can now be bought factory fitted as the 561M.

Additional features of the 561M are as follows:

• Digital sources are routed through a jitter reduction circuit which will provide improved sound quality

• Meridian High Resolution (MHR) decryption for compatibility with copy protected output from 596 and 800 DVD players

• Analogue sources are available on the Tape and Room 2 outputs as well as the headphone jack

• Volume on these outputs is accessible with the Function Volume command from MSR

• All digital tape sources are copied directly to the digital tape output. PCM sources are converted to analogue signals and presented on the Tape, Room 2 and headphone sockets with volume control

• Improved display of input information

Registered trademarks: “THX” and “THX Cinema” Lucasfilm Ltd; “Dolby”, “Pro Logic” “Dolby Digital” and “AC-3” Dolby

Laboratories Licensing Corporation; “Ambisonic” Nimbus Records Ltd; “Trifield” Trifield Productions Ltd; “Meridian”,

“Boothroyd Stuart Meridian”, “MLP”, “Meridian Lossless”, “Meridian Lossless Packing”, “LipSync” and “Meridian Digital

Theatre” Meridian Audio Ltd; “DTS” Digital Theatre Systems Inc.; “DVD” DVD Forum.

Meridian Surround Controller

Sales information 5th February 2002

• Module enables 96kHz MHR

input

• Module can be fitted to any

existing 561

• Also improves digital input

sound quality

• Adds enhanced tape

functionality

• Oh, and a headphone output

• 561 now updated with THX EX

Meridian Audio Limited

Stonehill, Stukeley Meadows Huntingdon Cambridgeshire PE29 6EX

T +44 (0) 1480 445678 F +44 (0) 1480 445686

Meridian America Inc.

Suite 122, Building 2400 3800 Camp Creek Parkway Atlanta GA 30331

T (404) 344 7111 F (404) 346 7111

www.meridian-audio.com

Movie Formats

The Meridian 561 uses three powerful 60Mhz DSP processors to provide a host of film processing. Everything from traditional Dolby Pro Logic to the latest version of THX EX.

How does THX fir in?

THX Cinema has a huge amount to offer in the 5.1 era. The 561 has all the signal processing in place to comply with THX requirements for Dolby Digital, DTS and MPEG. The front channels carry re-equalisation; the surrounds use a new timbre-match curve and an updated de-correlation technique.

Music Formats

The 561 provides Meridian’s now-famous music-processing modes including Music, Trifield, Ambisonics, SuperStereo and Music Logic as well as twochannel, stereo bypass and mono plus a Party mode.

Bass management

The 5.1 signal has the potential to require a 12dB increase in bass power handling in a system. Not only can the LFE (Low Frequency Effects – i.e. 0.1) channel convey 10dB more bass, but the potential exists for that to happen as well as full bass level in the other five channels.

Although the Dolby Digital, MPEG and DTS encoders limit the total bass level to around +15dB, the resulting bass energy can still be incredibly demanding for even the very best systems – and equally important – may be disastrous for other, less capable, speakers.

The Meridian 561 incorporates a very sophisticated series of bass protection schemes for digital surround formats.

The overall amount of LFE added in can be controlled by the user. In addition, the 561 has a bass limiting function to control the total amount of bass passed to the system.

As well as the overall bass protection, the 561 can monitor all eight speaker outputs. If the signal demands more bass than the speaker can supply, a proprietary psycho-acoustically optimised limiting filter momentarily and elegantly reduces the load on that speaker. This unique protection method means you can get the most out of all the speakers in the room without any fear of damage or unpleasant overload noises.