About £3900... That's all you'll have to find in your pockets to buy yourself a nice G91 DVD player from Meridian Audio. Well, I already feel better since Meridian is going democratic. The entire G series is indeed more affordable than their usual production. Says Meridian chairman and chief designer Bob Stuart “The G Series designs mark an important payoff on the promise of ‘digital theatre’ we’ve been working toward for nearly a decade.”
The "Gs" is a family of newly designed machines. It is a family with variations, four around the theme of optical disc -CD and CD/DVD player/controller/transport devices, of which two are equipped with pre-amplifier capacity. Four components that comprise a two-channel receiver, a surround processor/tuner, and preamplifiers.
It all starts with the design, which continues well respected Meridian black glass traditions, but the "Gs" all have a look and feel of their own. They are metallic -not only looking, that's what they're made of- black or silver gray, access through a remote or the front panel. RS-232 is present for communication with other in-house written applications (Windows) for setup, customization etc. This precision configuration eliminates the risk of inappropriate command disorder. IR is present as well, and all Meridian communication ports allow for compatibility with Meridian and/or third party systems.
The G disk players sub-group (four in total) includes the G07 CD, the G08 up-sampling CD, the G98 CD/DVD transport and the G91DVD Audio Player/Controller. All come with sophisticated control, navigation and error correction software written by Meridian, as well as a powerful FIFO RAM re-clocking to eliminate jitter. They all read almost every disc format available on the market. The G08 differs from the G07 only through the presence of balance (XLR) analogue outputs and its Meridian up-sampling capability.The G08, G91 and G98 are capable to up-sample CD standard PCM to 24-bit, 176.4/192 kHz, and you can hear the difference...
If you're already the proud and rich owner of the G68 controller, you will enjoy the same benefits in case you play Dolby Digital /DTS multichannel stuff. To achieve this, encrypted digital connection is permitted between multi-channel sources and Meridian production such as the G68, thanks to the MHR Smart Link functionality.
The G91 is a fully integrated system in itself that includes audio/video disc player, AM/FM RDS RDBS tuner, and a stereo digital amplifier. This, on one machine, and it is not your X-Mas promotion at Asda...! Adding a Meridian G series amplifier, OR a pair of Digital Loudspeakers (or active speakers) sets up a all-inclusive two-channel A/V system.
In reality the G91 works like the centerpiece of a full, multi-channel Home Theatre system using the MHR Smart Link, if you connect it to a G68 or even directly to the company's DSP loudspeakers. It includes outputs like component video and HDMI (with scalable video output), as well as a crowd of video inputs; in addition, external A/V or audio source can be accomodated via digital and analogue inputs. Option: DVI adapter. The European market gets the SCART plug. The G98 DVD is similar, it can be configured through MHR Smart Link etc... or with a six-channel analogue output configuration to use with other systems. It can read up to 576p analogue component and HDMI -equally DVI capable- up to 1080i. The G98 then becomes a part of a full video, as well as audio, system.
The Meridian G family
THX Ultra2 is one of the keywords defining the The modular G68 Surround Controller. It's an upgradeable THX Ultra2 machine that operates both as a digital or analogue A/V surround preamplifier-processor -with, again, an RDS/RDBS tuner. It accepts Meridian MHR Smart Link (from compatible Meridian players) thanks to two 6-channel digital inputs. The G68 improves sound quality through upscaling. Stereo (digital and analogue) inputs are present and a balanced out analogue option is available. Video configurations include multiple S- and component video inputs/outputs.
But there's more: the room correction system eliminates resonance and improves stereo and surround. A set of 750 MIPS (Million of Instructions Per Second) capable 5 processor design reflects Meridian's expertise in this field; This layout is in use for the full monty of stereo and surround: Dolby Digital, THX, Ambisonics, MPEG, and the in-house Trifield system, etc.
The "G" series comprise three amplifiers (two stereo, one five-channels: G56, G57, G55 5-channels) which all are a development of the DSP8000 loudspeaker technology. The G56 is 100 Watts/channel, the G57 200 Watts, the G55 delivers 5X100 Watts.
Last, the remote of each component of the G family is capable of learning, thus can command a vast selection of equipment from various manufacturers.