Meridian Plus System Instruction manual

MERIDIÅN TWO ROOMPLUS SYSTEM
Meridian Audio Ltd
14 Clifton Road
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire PE18 7EJ
England
Tel [phone]
Fax [phone]
Meridian America Inc
3800 Camp Creek Parkway
Building 2400 Suite 112
Atlanta GA 30331
USA
Tel [phone]
Fax [phone]
“Boothroyd|Stuart Meridian”, MERIDIÅN and
“Meridian Digital Theatre”are registered
trademarks of Meridian Audio Ltd
©Meridian Audio Ltd 1995

Two-Room Plus Guide
2

Two-Room Plus Guide
3
Meridian Two-Room plus System.
Meridian Two-Room plus is an easy to install system which gives listening and
control in two or more rooms. Only standard Meridian 500 Series components are
needed. This manual describes some systems and explains the options available.
The Main Room of an installation may be any Meridian system, from one based on a
551 Integrated Amplifier to a full Meridian Digital Theatre with a 562V Multimedia
Controller and 565 Digital Surround Processor. This room typically contains all the
sources of the system.
Other rooms, called secondary rooms in this manual, may comprise a 501 or 501V
Control Unit or a 551 and whatever additional amplification and speakers the
customer requires. The ‘control unit’ in a room is whatever 501/V, 562/V or 551 is in
that room.
The Meridian 500 Comms system allows an MSR handset to be used in any room to
control the source selection, volume and muting in that room. In addition the 551 or
501 in the secondary rooms display the track and preset selections on the CD player
and tuner to enable the customer to control the sources in the main room. For
example, if track 4 of the CD is to be programmed from the second room, on pressing
4followed by STORE, the control unit will display S. 4.

Two-Room Plus Guide
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All-Analogue Systems
A typical analogue Two-Room System is shown in figure 1.
• Audio for the second room is taken from the Tape Outputof the 501, via long
phono-phono leads, to the Tape 1 input of the 551.
• The communications connection needed is a long 500 Comms lead between the
Commssockets of the remote 551 and the main system. See Figure 5.
• The Comms connection to the other room may be made to any of the products in
the main room, as long as there are Comms leads connecting every product.
504
Comms
L
R
506
Comms
L
R
CD RD Comms
Tape
Out
501
Tape 1 Comms
551
MAIN ROOM
SECOND ROOM
Figure 1: ANALOGUE TWO-ROOM SYSTEM
500 COMMS LEAD
PHONO-PHONO LEAD
SPEAKER WIRE
555
TYPE 1 TYPE 7
TYPE 1
TYPE 1
To set up the 551 in the second room, simply follow the TYPE procedure outlined in
the User Manualand set it to TYPE 7. Because the second room is connected to the
tape output of the 501, the second room source can be changed with the COPYkey
on the 501. Alternatively, a 551 in both rooms or a 501/555 combination in both
rooms may be used. The control unit in the second room is set to TYPE 7.

Two-Room Plus Guide
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Additional rooms may be added as shown in figure 2.
504
Comms
L
R
506
Comms
L
R
CD RD Comms
Tape
Out
501
Tape 1
Comms 551
MAIN ROOM
SECOND ROOM
Figure 2: ANALOGUE TWO-ROOM PLUS SYSTEM
500 COMMS LEAD
PHONO-PHONO LEAD
SPEAKER WIRE
555
TYPE 1
TYPE 8
TYPE 1
TYPE 1
Tape 1 Comms
551
TYPE 8
THIRD ROOM
The Comms connection is ‘daisy-chained’ from room to room, while the audio for
each room is connected by a separate lead back to the Tape Outputof the control
unit in the main room.When three or more rooms are installed, the control units in the
secondary rooms are set to TYPE 8.
Since there is one tape loop in 500 series control units, the second and subsequent
rooms have to listen to the same source. However, 500 Comms allows them to turn
on/off and mute independently and have different volume levels. Meridian sources
may be controlled with the MSR from any room.
If, for example, you want to listen to the 504 in the third room and the main system is
turned off, press RD on the handset and select a preset using the NEXT/PREVkeys.
The control unit will then display the preset, e.g. P. 2. If someone in another room
selects Radio they will also be able to control the tuner.

Two-Room Plus Guide
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Mixed Analogue and Digital Systems
A more sophisticated system is shown in figure 3. In this case the main room is a
Meridian Digital Music System based on a pair of DSP5000 Digital Active
Loudspeakers. The control unit is a 562V Multimedia Controller with a 517 DAC
Module fitted. This provides the other rooms with analogue signals from any digital
sources connected, such as CD or Laser Disc.
504
Comms
L
R
500
Comms
Comms 501
Tape 1 Comms
551
SECOND ROOM
Figure 3: TWO-ROOM PLUS SYSTEM
500 COMMS LEAD
ANALOGUE PHONO LEAD
SPEAKER WIRE
555
CD RD
Comms
Tape
562
+517
DSP5000 DSP5000
Main
DIGITAL PHONO LEAD
M5 LEAD
S5 LEAD
Tape 1
Outputs
THIRD ROOM
TYPE 8
TYPE 8
TYPE 9
TYPE 1
TYPE 1
The other rooms may contain 501s or 551s. These should be set to TYPE 8 if three
or more rooms are needed. Follow the TYPE procedure outlined in the 501/V or 551
User Guide.
The Main room may be a full Home Theatre system with the addition of a 565 Digital
Surround Processor, or may be a simpler system with a 501, 501V or 551.

Two-Room Plus Guide
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An All Digital System
Figure 4 shows a system with two pairs of Digital Active Loudspeakers connected to
a 562. This system is very easy to install and provides exceptional sound quality.
The master DSP5000s are connected with M5 leads to the 562. The digital audio for
the main room is connected to the Maindigital output and the second room to the
Tape digital output. The slaves are connected as usual to their masters as shown in
the DSP5000 User Guide. DSP6000s may be used instead of DSP5000s in all these
systems.
504
Comms
L
R
500
Comms Figure 4: DIGITAL TWO-ROOM SYSTEM
500 COMMS LEAD
ANALOGUE PHONO LEAD
CD RD
Comms
562
DSP5000 DSP5000
Main
DIGITAL PHONO LEAD
M5 LEAD
S5 LEAD
TYPE 1
DSP5000 DSP5000
S5 LEAD
Tape
Dig Out
M5 LEAD
TYPE 1, SLAVE TYPE 1, MASTER TYPE 8, MASTER TYPE 8, SLAVE
TYPE 1
TYPE 1
The 562 contains one analogue to digital converter, so only one analogue source
may be listened to at any one time. Otherwise the functionality is the same as any
other Two-Room system.

Two-Room Plus Guide
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Distributing Video
If the control unit in the main room is a 501V or a 562V, AV installations may also
have composite video routed to other rooms. Selecting a source in a secondary room
will then select the picture as well as the sound. The composite VCR outputsof the
main room control unit should be wired along with the comms and audio connections
so that pictures from the VCR or Laser Disc in the main room may be viewed
elsewhere in the house.
Connecting Recording Equipment
Customers with Two-Room systems and recording equipment such as cassette and
VCR will need additional tape outputs not provided by the control unit in the main
room. In this case, a Y-style phono-phono lead is needed which connects several
wires to one pair of phono plugs.
Sources in Other Rooms
Sources may be installed in other rooms. For example, an additional CD player may
be required for listening in the second room only of figure 1. It can be connected to
the CD input of the 551 in that room. The 551 will have to be configured to know
about this source. See ‘Configuring the sources’ in the 551 User Guide.
If it is desirable that the CD in the second room can be listened to in the main room,
a second pair of long phono-phono cables is required. These should connect the
Tape Outputof the second room to the Tape 1 input of the control unit in the main
room. This control unit must then also be configured to know about this source.
Extension Eyes
Any Meridian control unit may be placed out of sight. A 512 IR Sensor should be
plugged into one of its Commssockets. The 512 may then be placed discreetly in a
good position for receiving commands from the handset.

Two-Room Plus Guide
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System Requirements
All 500 series components are compatible with Meridian Two-Room plus. Minimum
software requirements are shown in the table below. All units should have at least
the version shown in whichever room they are. Software version is shown when the
Displaykey is pressed in Standby.
562/V 501/V 551 DSP6000 DSP5000 CDs 504
2 rooms 1.3 1.3 1.3 2.3 2.3 1.6 1.3
3 or more 1.3 1.4 1.4 2.3 2.3 1.6 1.3
Recommended cables
Long phono-phono
Low screen resistance twin screened, such as RS part no. 369-955. Use one
cable per channel. Connect the screen and one core together to ground at
both ends of the cable.
Composite Video
Low loss 75Ωcoaxial cable such as RS 822-917.
Comms
100pF/m twin screened such as RS 367-527, with 5-pin 240°DIN plug at each
end wired as in Figure 5.
M5 and S5 leads are available from Meridian.
DMS 30 January 1995.