I just re read my first post. I should have been more clear. For me to just say its a waste of money doesn't really help anyone if I don't say why. I'll use my friends system as an example. Its used for mostly theatre and some audio. He has a full Meridian 800 system and 8000 speakers for the 3 front and a pair of 7000 speakers for surrounds. (All this squeezed into a 650 sq ft NYC midtown apartment. He's the talk of building with this system.)
Here's why I think its a waste. You start off with a $20000 CD/DVD player that's used as a transport. When I say a transport, were not talking about a Teac unit like my Wadia has, but a CD Rom drive. From there, it goes to a $20000 processor. I'm not a theatre expert, but since the signal doesn't get converted to analog in the processor, it looks to me like its used more like a switching device than a processor. (Both the source and the processor does have DA converters, they just don't get used as part of a full Meridian system.). From the processor the digital signal is sent to each of the 5 active speakers for conversion and amplification. The front speakers go for 55k, half that for the center and the rears are around 30k. Again, I'm not an engineer, but the last place I would want a DAC is inside of a big active speaker.
That's why I say its a huge waste. You pay for all that stuff and you don't use it. I don't see why Meridian doesn't make a transport version of the DVD player and an option to get the speakers without the DAC's. Or maybe keep the DAC's in the speakers and make a less expensive switcher/processor. Not only that, you may think you can at least get away cheap on cables. Thats not the case. There's a price to be paid for putting DACs inside active speakers. $10000 to be exact. One $2000 Shunyata PC for each of the 5 speakers. You really have to get them because they do make a huge difference. To finish up you need 2 more PC's for the components, digital IC's and some good line conditioners.
