Meridian America Meridian 518 manual Overview as Resolution Enhancement Processor Type

Overview of 518 10

Overview as Resolution Enhancement Processor (Type 1)

There are a wide number of applications for this mode of 518: three examples are described.

CD or LaserDisc playback improvement

Many installations use the 2-box CD player format of CD transport + DAC. The CD transport provides a digital output, and of course may be a normal CD player where the digital output is used to drive an outboard DAC to improve the quality.

This CD playback system may then have its analogue output connected to a preamp or integrated amplifier in the usual way.

CD Player

LaserDisc

518

Analogue inputs

DAC Preamp

Using 518 as part of CD playback

The diagram above illustrates how 518 is added to such a system. The picture shows that the source could be a CD transport, a LaserDisc player or both.3

The 518 provides two resolution enhancement methods: de-jittering via the twin PLL and DAC optimisation through DSP. These are explained in 'Overview of Resolution Enhancement'–page 49.

The de-jittering element is of great importance to some CD players, and of enormous significance to any LaserDisc player as they tend to have relatively high-jitter output. If you want to use a LaserDisc player for serious CD listening, then the de-jittering in 518 is absolutely necessary.

The DSP DAC optimisation uses the techniques described in Appendix 4. One function the 518 provides is matching the wordlength of the source to the capability of the DAC, so for example, it can match LaserDisc or CD (both 16 bits) to an 18 or 20 bit DAC.

Normally in this mode, the 518 is not used as a volume control. Optimum performance for a disc will come, either from using unity-gain (i.e. 0dB gain) or possibly a few dB boost to optimise the disc.

Meridian DSP speaker improvement

The Meridian DSP loudspeakers, provide the most advanced performance and highest-resolution sound available today. The DSP speakers only accept a digital input and in order to use analogue sources a Meridian 562 or 562V is often added. The 562 provides input handling for up to seven analogue signals using its in-built 16 bit delta-sigma analogue-to-digital converter (ADC).

3Setup details: set 518 to Type 1. Adjust Out to match DAC.

518 User Guide