The Meridian 861 sits at the heart of the ultimate movie system, linking all your audio sources such as Blu-ray disc players, at the highest quality. Truly the brains of your home theatre operation, the 861 represents the most advanced example of our ground-breaking DSP control and processing system for the very highest-quality audio and video performance.
Regularly revised since launch, the 861 skilfully combines award-winning performance with the very latest technology. Featuring our patented filter which makes standard resolution sources sound like high-resolution, the 861 also adds extensive connectivity including the award-winning Meridian Sooloos. Its modular approach means that as new technologies develop, the 861 can be easily upgraded, maintaining its world-leading performance levels as well as its value. There is simply no better way to the get the very highest audio quality from high definition sources.
Room shape, size, furnishing and loudspeaker positions all influence the sound of any system. The result is often uneven sound - low frequencies are too loud in some places and too quiet in others. Meridian's Room Correction system uses powerful DSP to smooth out uneven room resonances for clearer sound and better imaging.
Traditional audio systems often require large, expensive cables to maintain their performance. Meridian's SpeakerLink uses an “Ethernet style” cable that delivers pristine digital sound and control down a single cable between Meridian components. The result is simple, unobtrusive, and cost-effective cables that are easy to install.
Each sample of a digital recording must remain evenly spaced in time. Unfortunately, timing can vary, especially when reading discs. This is “jitter”, degrading music's sense of space and diminishing realism. Meridian's multiple “First In, First Out” buffering system minimises jitter, ensuring perfect timing and improved clarity. You enjoy a clearer feeling of the instruments and their interrelationship.
MHR was the first approved encryption method for transferring high definition digital audio between components. Previously, it had to be in the analogue domain, reducing quality. MHR allows secure movement of high resolution digital audio within a Meridian system, without compromise, improving quality by reducing cyclic repetition.
Music, movies and other sources each need their own settings to play correctly. Usually you have to select the right settings yourself. A Meridian system, however, analyses the incoming content and automatically selects the correct group of settings – we call them presets – for the source. You just sit back and enjoy the experience.
Filters are critical in digital audio. Commonly they introduce distortion and harshness because of "pre-ringing". Early digital recordings suffer from harshness too, due to primitive filters. After painstaking research, Meridian developed a special filter that avoids pre-ringing, so it can be steeper, cleaning up the effects of early filters. The result: a better, cleaner sound from recordings old and new.
Meridian invented the digital surround controller, and Meridian's 861 Reference Surround Controller represents the pinnacle of the company's achievement in the real of surround sound, where it delivers the ultimate realism from multichannel music and movies alike.
V
861 supports a large number and wide variety of audio sources to ensure that every option is possible. Based around a set of core elements, the 861 can be customised in many ways simply by adding additional cards to build a surround sound controller that provides all the capabilities you need - multiple sources and multiple destinations, driving up to eight loudspeakers.
861 is able to select the right settings for a source automatically, so that you always hear the best. The same player, for example, might deliver stereo sound from a CD or multichannel high-resolution audio from Blu-ray Disc®. 861 selects the correct settings without the need to press a button.
Style, elegance and quality are once again key elements in the 861. The sleek cabinet is attractive enough to be free-standing, but in addition it can be rack-mounted and hidden away.
AVAILABLE IN OVER 270 COLOURS:
861 is available in Piano Lacquer Black as standard. Meridian Select, our bespoke colour service, provides a choice of over 270 additional colours and shades to help your Meridian system achieve an ideal match – or striking standout look – within its surroundings.
The heart of the ultimate surround sound system, 861v8 links all your audio sources at the very highest quality, with advanced DSP algorithms and loudspeaker management.
Each 861 is individually built for its owner, with optional cards allowing inclusion of specific features to suit the individual installation.
DIMENSIONS - 480mm (18.9in) x 175mm (6.9in) x 411mm (16.2in) (WHD)
V
WEIGHT - Weight as standard – 13.5kg (30lbs)
V
If fitted with optional Sooloos and analogue output cards – 14kg (31lbs)