218 Zone Controller
The Meridian 218 Zone Controller is the digital preamp of the family. It’s just 5cm high, weighs a mere 560 grams, and it has no controls on the front at all — you’ll be controlling it via an app on your smart device, so you don’t need it on show. It could sit, therefore, in a cupboard, or in a rack of smart-home equipment (as left).
Meridian even suggests bolting the 218 out of the way on the back of your TV, since it is compatible with the VESA mounting screw positions on TVs, and from there it can receive the TV’s optical output and then run to a pair of active speakers (see right), or to a power amp and passive speakers. So the 218 can be the control centre for a streaming and AV zone, while being entirely hidden away.
As a preamp it has other inputs — one analogue, one coaxial digital and the aforementioned optical digital, as well as Ethernet to your network for both streaming and IP control. You can take the output via analogue or coaxial digital, or through Meridian’s SpeakerLink RJ45 connectors (an additional bonus of which is their use of standard Ethernet cabling).
With an MQA-compatible DAC within, and Sooloos or Roon to control it from your smart device, it can bolt streaming onto an existing system or run straight to Meridian speakers.