[falb]

Wow! What an awesome opportunity.

[Gadget]

Originally Posted by falb

Wow! What an awesome opportunity.

You going to fly over then

[zippycar]

Lawrence, thanks for the kind invite.

Unfortunately your advert doesn't actually say what date the Monaco GP is on!!

Googled it anyway and your kind offer is now in my diary.

Back to the original thrust of the thread and the Meridian system - the more I listen to it, the greater my disappointment.

Not your fault, of course, but it falls well short of a premium ICE setup.

My little Abarth sound better and the whole car was only three times what IRIS costs.

My biggest gripe is that you need to adjust the balance for every track (not even album) that you play and my source material is top notch.

Fingers crossed it is a software fix, although I now have my doubts.

How can any bespoke system not handle all of the base that you throw at it.

Surely any purpose designed system, especially at this level, should never distort when max base has been selected?

[Gadget]

Originally Posted by zippycar

Lawrence, thanks for the kind invite.

Unfortunately your advert doesn't actually say what date the Monaco GP is on!!

Googled it anyway and your kind offer is now in my diary.

Date now added to the flyer

Meridian are very much like McLaren and will want it to be perfect. Are you running non compressed files?

[6th element]

Originally Posted by Gadget

Date now added to the flyer

Meridian are very much like McLaren and will want it to be perfect. Are you running non compressed files?

Do you think it will, at a minimum, sound decent with AAC 256kbps song files? This is the format that iTunes uses when you purchase and download music. I have some tolerance for loading higher quality files into the system (especially if the hard drive is large and the UI is sufferable), but most people have extensive iTunes libraries, without access to original CDs.

Again, I know the system has potential because some of my music sounds incredibly good. But, is it so difficult to make a high fidelity system that can also dumb itself down to expand compressed files and make them sound great, too, just like on any other car stereo?

[falb]

Last time I checked this was a 40w per channel system. All in the name of lightness I assume. All systems will reach a point of distortion, that is when you turn it down a notch. I have built 2,000w systems that are set to distort at max, if you don't hear the distortion level then you know you can go louder and you want the system levels set so you know.

[zippycar]

Originally Posted by Gadget

Date now added to the flyer

Meridian are very much like McLaren and will want it to be perfect. Are you running non compressed files?

Yep lossless @ around 900kbps. Have the Floyd Immersion Dark Side of the Moon at 2900kbps, but ITouch doesn't want to play it!

Whilst I always rip to highest possible quality, i.e lossless or straight wav, many people like 6E have 256kbps files, particularly if they downloaded them from Apple and the system should be able to cater for the majority.

[Syd]

Originally Posted by 6th element

Hi Syd,

I am using a USB card reader/writer (see photo). The SD card is a Lexar Professional brand SD HC 8GB 133x Speed. It does seem to recognize the card, most of the time, although sometimes it takes a while to recognize the song files before playing. I had some quite decent results, today, with WAV files (44.1 kHz, 16 bit) and the following settings on the Meridian:

Bass +10
Treble -10
Balance -01 Right (I find takes some of the sound "slap" out of your face)
Rear Level +10
AVC MAX
ATC ON
DRC OFF

The sound was definitely loud and distortion-free. Still not perfect, in terms of separation and immersion, but liveable.

The funny thing is, I've also had some of the compressed MP3 files on my iPhone sound excellent. Usually the electronic genre music. So, I'm not sure if it is worth going through the trouble copying WAV format to disk, or just picking and choosing the music that sounds best, in the mean time.

I can certainly continue to test with classical, if you have a particular track(s) in mind. I suppose we should have the exact same file, though, to make any relevant comparisons. So, we'd probably have to use some sort of file sharing website.

Thanks for all your hard work. I finally dug out an old SD card and adaptor and have decided that simply put it's a case of "rubbish in - rubbish out"! It seems like anything less than WAV @ 1411kbps is rather flat. I suppose it is possible that certain music genres will tolerate the compression better than others but with SD cards now so cheap (say £8 for 16Gb = 30 albums approximately) there is no real need for compression. Now I need to go to my attic and dig out all the CD's that I carefully ripped onto my iTunes library using AAC compression (to match the iTunes purchased items) and create a new library of uncompressed music. I even already found my copy of Dark Side of the Moon so this has been tried and sounds much better at full WAV.

My Classical test piece is Jacqueline du Pre playing Elgars Cello Concerto (EMI Classics recording) with the LSO. This has a broad range dynamically and with the purity of the single stringed instrument quickly shows up any lack of fidelity. Even this sounds immeasurably better with WAV.

All of this still begs the question as to what size of storage will be in Doris when she eventually shows up. I fear that it may not be so big given that McLaren will have gone for the lowest weight option and this would be a Solid State Drive (SSD) rather than a conventional disk drive. Trouble is SSD's cost a lot more than disks of the same size, so it is unlikely to be huge.

Anyway, I am happy enough with the SD cards for the moment and to be honest it is relatively unimportant compared with the pleasure of driving the car. All we need now is some better weather and even I can't blame that on McLaren.....

[6th element]

Originally Posted by Syd

Thanks for all your hard work. I finally dug out an old SD card and adaptor and have decided that simply put it's a case of "rubbish in - rubbish out"! It seems like anything less than WAV @ 1411kbps is rather flat. I suppose it is possible that certain music genres will tolerate the compression better than others but with SD cards now so cheap (say £8 for 16Gb = 30 albums approximately) there is no real need for compression. Now I need to go to my attic and dig out all the CD's that I carefully ripped onto my iTunes library using AAC compression (to match the iTunes purchased items) and create a new library of uncompressed music. I even already found my copy of Dark Side of the Moon so this has been tried and sounds much better at full WAV.

My Classical test piece is Jacqueline du Pre playing Elgars Cello Concerto (EMI Classics recording) with the LSO. This has a broad range dynamically and with the purity of the single stringed instrument quickly shows up any lack of fidelity. Even this sounds immeasurably better with WAV.

All of this still begs the question as to what size of storage will be in Doris when she eventually shows up. I fear that it may not be so big given that McLaren will have gone for the lowest weight option and this would be a Solid State Drive (SSD) rather than a conventional disk drive. Trouble is SSD's cost a lot more than disks of the same size, so it is unlikely to be huge.

Anyway, I am happy enough with the SD cards for the moment and to be honest it is relatively unimportant compared with the pleasure of driving the car. All we need now is some better weather and even I can't blame that on McLaren.....

Thanks for the follow up, Syd. Is WAV at 1411kbps the native format of CD music? Or, will you be using a conversion program of some kind? I haven't seen 1411 kbps in iTunes preferences or any of my ripping software.

Sounds like I need to dig up a copy of Dark Side of the Moon; I will also look for your classical selection next time I visit the music store.

I hadn't thought about the type of hard drive that IRIS will have. SSD might be preferable for its durability in a vibration-heavy setting and quick start-up time, too?

[Gadget]

One thing to say is I sell high end home audio systems and it has always been the case of the better the system the worse it will make bad recordings sound.

So it will be rubbish in rubbish out I am afraid.

Meridian make a system called Sooloos http://www.meridian-audio.com/sooloo...experience.php which is classed as the best music server on the planet. When we got it I started to put all my music on it including dragging my iTunes over to it. After listening to it I ended up deleting them as they sounded terrible although OK for back ground listening.

The best format is the standard ripping format on the Sooloos which is Flac and these you struggle to hear the difference between that and CD.

[roundincircles]

Originally Posted by Gadget

One thing to say is I sell high end home audio systems and it has always been the case of the better the system the worse it will make bad recordings sound.

So it will be rubbish in rubbish out I am afraid.

Meridian make a system called Sooloos http://www.meridian-audio.com/sooloo...experience.php which is classed as the best music server on the planet. When we got it I started to put all my music on it including dragging my iTunes over to it. After listening to it I ended up deleting them as they sounded terrible although OK for back ground listening.

The best format is the standard ripping format on the Sooloos which is Flac and these you struggle to hear the difference between that and CD.

Gadget. Can I load my CD's into Windows Music and instruct it to use Flac? iF so what is the procedure? Thank's.

[zippycar]

As an experiment I tried playing FLAC and WAV files on IRIS via a memory stick. System didn’t recognise FLAC and sounded no different in WAV, when compared to my usual Apple lossless rips via iTouch.

The more I hear this system, the greater my disappointment.

One track I played yesterday had rear bias set to 10 (max) and it still sounded front loaded.

[cardan]

I own a numer of cars that I feed with Ipods. For instance my Audi S8 has a B&O system that sounds penomenal with my regular I pod and 256k files.
Also system in my Aston V8 Vantage is producing great solid bass even when listened very loudly.
I set my system at high bass and high rear (as suggested by many here). But the result is still disappointing.

BTW: Both settings are usually used on cheap, incapable systems to at least get somewhat reasonable sounds.

If the speakers are good enough, it could be a simple amplifier issue. I am by no means an expert, but the sound system is a big weakness of the MP4-12C.

Also, the FM reception quality is just HORRIBLE, DREADFUL, DISTORTED and traffic messages come in from anywhere, really UNUSABLE. And I can safely say that as I have various systems in various cars, driving through the same area, but this system is even worse than in my old 993 Porsche....
I still wonder, why there is no digital radio receiver available...

So, if this system wants to be at par with the otherwise absolutely fantastic car, this needs some serious tweaking here.

Originally Posted by notascooby

Hi All,
My first posting so forgive any waffling.

Just got my 12C, all stealthy black and am loving the car but noted the Meridian was initially disappointing. I have investigated this with the help of Alastair in London and a local Meridian showroom he recommended, Lounge Lizards in Kings Road.

Between them they explained what some of you already have found out!
IT's THE SOURCE NOT THE SPEAKERS!

Ipod's compress the music soooo darn much to get more on them that it is only a tenth of what is really downloaded or rip'd from your CD. Windows Media player on my laptop have set the system to rip at full rate and then tried the same two songs in the car from a big capacity but portable hard drive. The first was ipod capacity, then the full rate from CD. The difference is staggering and the Meridian actually sounds like you would imagine - Awesome

Helps alot to also tweak the Meridian equaliser to higher on the bass (+9), lower on the treble (-7/8) and a lot of rear biase (-7) so that it really does have a perfect surround sound.

Pretty sure that McLaren will sort out the internal Doris harddrive so when that comes we can all download uncompressed music and get the best out of the dear 'ol bird.....

I am now going to for a blast whilst deafining myself with the volume set to 90!!!

Hope this helps with any who are having any similar concerns.

[Gadget]

Originally Posted by roundincircles

Gadget. Can I load my CD's into Windows Music and instruct it to use Flac? iF so what is the procedure? Thank's.

I will come back to you on that as I am a MAC man. Also I will confirm if this system can play back Flac as it looks like it may not

In the meantime save them as WAV files

[jarjared]

Hi, having just received my car I am trying to establish the right way / format of putting music onto the very nice portable hard drive that McLaren London gave me. Most of my files are either FLAC or apple lossless (m4a). I seems that FLAC isn't supported but is m4a of suitable quality to get the best from the Meridian system?

Appreciate help.