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In Reply to: New to HT and seeking opinions on Processor & Power Amp posted by Mike the Fish on June 12, 2003 at 23:24:12:
My meridian 565/562v just blew up (they are about 7 years old and they went out with a loud fizzle and a small puff of smoke the other night) and although I'm going to repair them at some point, I decided to look at getting a cheap receiver as an intermediary. Well, I went to a shop and saw a demo of the 1066 going for about $850 and decided to give it a try because it has component switching, all the recent DD and DTS es modes, etc. I couldn't be happier with it -- the sound is much better than the Meridian (I don't use it for music listening since this is just for HT...the music system is separate) and it has all of the conveniences that the Meridian didn't have (1066 is easy to set-up while the 565 is a real pain in the behind) and it includes features such as the component switching (my old meridian gear lacks component input/output and can't be upgraded although I understand the new 562v does have this option and I think that the 568 also does).In my other home (I commute between two cities) I have my full HT including all Krell gear (HTS processor and Krell amps) and I would argue that the 1066 equals my HTS. Now again, I can't say how the two compare on music listening...but I would guess it competes very nicely and for a fraction of the cost.
Take a listen to it before you commit to a more expensive unit like the Lex or Merid.
Good luck.
Follow Ups:
That the Meridian kicked the Rotel's butt.
As I cautioned, I didn't use either for music only listening (I run 2 channel analog with Verdier-Lamm-Gamut-Graham-Lyra Parnassus with Kharma Ceramique 1.0 speakers). However, for HT soundtracks (same system as above but with addition of Genesis center channel and Definitive BP2000 as rear surrounds and Meridian amps for center and surrounds) I've found the Rotel to be every bit as good as the 565/562v. Do keep in mind that my 565/562v were getting on in age although I did have the most recent eprom chip in the 565. The advantage of the Meridian is probably best experienced with straight music listening. For the HT realm, I actually prefer the integration of sound (remember, I'm using somewhat different speakers all around so integration is an issue) and ease of use from the Rotel to the Meridian. I didn't expect this at all nor was I terribly happy at having gear costing about $5K underperforming the relatively inexpensive Rotel unit but such is life. Go figure.As everyone says, your mileage may vary. Let's face it, this stuff is VERY idiosyncratic to one's specific system and room acoustics (and personal listening biases).
By the way, don't misinterpret my comments about the Meridian equip -- I think it is excellent gear and I've found folks at Meridian to be VERY helpful about inquiries. I just think that the Rotel is perhaps one of those occasional items that is more reasonably priced having excellent performance.
And Meridian's Trifield mode alone, in many people's opinion, is worth the price. Check out AHC's review of the 861/800 in TAS, where he said the 800 player could output 5ch directly on its own, but he would opt to get the 861 just for its Trifield capability. That's poppling an extra $20k+ just for that feature.
I hadn't thought about the 565 for music and HT (as I mentioned, I use separate systems). It may depend upon the type of listening (format and music style) as well. The rotel does a 5 channel pass-through for sacd/dvd-a while the 565 doesn't so this is a disadvantage. For analog, the 565 doesn't do a passive pass-through (perhaps the new model does?) but I'm not sure the rotel does either. Finally, for music type, I listen to a great deal of jazz much of which is mono recording so something like the Meridian trifield hinders more than helps.Sure is complicated, isn't it?
Chris,Thanks! I will check out the Rotel.
Mike
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