Daniel J SaitA well-attended event witnessed over 50 dealers spend the whole day and some of the evening getting to grips with the range of options Meridian can now offer the smart home installer.
The main theme of the day at the company’s Huntingdon HQ was to experience and learn more about Hi Res Audio by attending three separate workshops, each underlining how the technology behind Hi Res Audio can be applied in different install scenarios.
Meridian CTO Richard Hollinshead gave a fascinating insight into the science behind Hi Res Audio and why humans perceive it to be superior to lower resolution audio.
The appreciation of more nuanced and detailed audio goes right back to hunter gather days when the ability to hear the difference between sounds was not just for pleasure; it could mean life or death.
Richard’s explanations here also gave a positive endorsement to the idea that humans can appreciate the difference between good quality and indifferent quality audio, even if they think they can’t; once experienced most never want to go back.
Richard used a number of music and audio recordings to demonstrate the difference between Hi Res and low res audio and explained how a Meridian solution maintains the resolution across an audio ecosystem.
Meridian’s recently upgraded home theatre set up was the perfect platform for Barry Sheldrick, director of sales, to enthusiastically demonstrate the impact of Hi Res Audio on this sector.
Using a range of musical performances and clips from movies, with perhaps the most effective being a live stadium performance from Muse, Barry wanted to show that Hi Res Audio doesn’t just give more power to loud, bombastic moments, but provides greater nuance and depth for quieter, subtler moments, giving a much richer audio experience.
Simon Williams of Olive AV complimented the experience, saying: “It was great to hear the full potential of Hi Res audio for cinema and music at the Meridian demonstration facility. Meridian’s unique approach (maintaining the highest possible resolution from source to each individual drive unit) made for a highly detailed and involving experience.”
Dealers were also given the chance to learn more about Meridian’s recently introduced complimentary Design and Specification Service and how it can help them integrate Hi Res Audio into residential projects.
Matt Holland, business relationship manager and Hugo Fitzjohn, international sales consultant, demonstrated how the service can be a valuable tool for installers, providing them with a clear design of the layout, including positioning of the products to achieve the best possible system.
Matt and Hugo also looked at how Meridian Sooloos maintains the audio resolution across the ecosystem, which is important in order to achieve a strong Hi Res Audio experience.
Meridian’s mantra with Sooloos is not just about quality however, as the system is also billed as easy to specify, install and scale up, with a wide range of storage options and the inbuilt flexibility that makes it simple to add more zones.
Daniel Lee of Media Max said: “We are increasingly using Sooloos on our projects and it’s great to see how easy it is to add zones and additional storage. The Design and Specification Service also looks like a really useful service, as it could help customers understand their system better and why we have made decisions about certain products.”
A very popular experience – not excluding the excellent street food and local beer served at lunchtime – was the chance to experience what the company has been up to in the automotive world with its relationship with Jaguar Land Rover.
Mark Truman of JLR’s Special Vehicle Operations unit showed how these two British brands have worked together to create a high quality in-car audio experience, recently rated best on the market by Automobile Magazine.
Visitors also got a chance to sit in some of the cars and experience the audio systems.
Although there are no plans as yet, but Ce Pro Eu could not help thinking, with the company’s abilities in the home and in-car, can it be too long before the company looks to join the two together?
For example, imagine you are enjoying a track on your way home, you exit the car before it finished, the end of the track is playing when you walk through the door – sounds feasible – but we will have to wait and see…
Jason Chadda of furniture manufacturer Silverlining Furniture, with whom Meridian recently signed a new partnership, displayed a number of finishes that can be applied to Meridian’s speakers.
Silverlining can provide installers with bespoke, hand-crafted, luxury cabinet finishes across Meridian’s free-standing loudspeaker range, so that they can blend in with any interior design aesthetic.
All in all it was a very positive day, with the company getting across its core competences really well.
Ce Pro Eu was particularly fascinated by Richard Hollinshead’s presentation on the science of sound, so look out for a more in-depth article on this in the future.