I just sold my beloved 506.20 in order to get a used 586 dvd player, and everything great about the 506 carries over to the 586, and then some! As far as I can tell, the cd portion is built entirely the same as the 506, except the transport is supposedly a higher quality one...some even say the best meridian has ever built.

So what have I noticed in terms of differences? Not really a whole lot. The biggest difference is the bass. It a tad fuller, while the mids and highs seem unchanged. Perhaps a bit better sense of space and timing, although I could be imagining things. I really dig this player, and highly recommend it for those who are looking for a 508 quality player at a 506 level price =)

I honestly can't say too much about the dvd playback. I'm sure, considering it's a first gen dvd player (circa 1998?), most dvd players today would be better. However, the quality seems good enough, since the only tv I have is a 20" panasonic.

The only qualm I have about it is that it cannot read cd-r's, unlike the 506. Kinda sux, but most of my cd's are originals. Perhaps I'll try some different brands in hopes of finding one it can read.

Anyhow, if you have any questions, please ask...summer vacation is making my brain rot.

Welcome, Moo.........you found uS! What the hell took you so long?

hehe, I was just telling jude over icq that I feel so lost right now! I've been without internet access for several weeks now. Until today, I didn't even know headwize was down! Hopefully I'll have time over the next few days to soak in all this info and get caught up!

man, I just can believe all these changes happening over the course of the month I've been offline. Neruda, Ian, Vert...I'm lost!

don't worry moo, we'll help you out every step of the way. Provided we don't have to go through any cow fields...

MooGoesTheCow: My CDP also has problems with CDRs, but only if I burn them at faster than 2x. 2x or 1x and they work great every time. Maybe that's something you should try if you're currently burning at a higher speed?

How can those old chucky transport mechanism meridian developed be so great if they moved over to more or a less a bog standard CD-ROM drive in all their new player, all be it with modded firmware (which is apparently s**t).

The fact is that chucky mechanism does nothing a normal one does. A generic phils mechanism is just as good. They say that the disc vibrates and this chucky mechanism keeps it still with a glass/carbon puck etc etc. Hello!! Meridian, thats what error correction is for guys! Unless the error is so big that you miss out a huge chuck, but that isnt really whats happening in cheaper transports (and thus not what meridian is trying to overcome).

By the way, my sisters el cheapo SONY micro systems reads discs with errors on them whithout a glitch in the audio, whereas the meridian puts a glitch in every damn time.

They skimped on the error correction circuitry, even though they claim they put more emphasis on this. So why does the SONY cope and the Meridian not?!!!

The only good thing about the 506.20 (which i own) is the sound quality. The operating software is obismal, you can easily find the player has got itself in a muddle for no reason.

And also, MooGoesTheCow, did you find sometimes you ejected only to find the CD spinning vigourously?? The player does not always put the breaks on! For god sake meridian, write some decent software!

That includes the Firmware in your Top of the line 800DVD. This player has more quirks than anything they've ever built. It put glit ches in DVD playback. Again, the only good thing is the sound/picture.

Fact is meridian wouldnt be seen dead using a CD-ROM back then for fear of it Appearing downmarket. Of course, even a quad speed does the job perfectly well, and you can use its overhead speed to go round four times and check you have all the data off right. But no. A big chunky thang is what they did....