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Meridian F80 Audio System
Introduction
I know I'm a bit of a loner on this one, at least here in America, but I have to confess that I'm a huge fan of Formula 1 racing. In fact, if you were to offer me a choice between free 50-yard line tickets to the next Super Bowl, or a pit pass to the Formula 1 race at Monaco, without hesitation I'd be on the next flight to Monte Carlo. And yes, I do watch and enjoy football too. I know that sounds weird since, if people here have even heard of Formula 1, I can almost guarantee that they don't know who's leading in points in the driver's championship so far this year. When names like Ferrari or McLaren get brought up in conversation every now and then, they tend to mean a bit more to me simply because I've most likely just watched Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen race Lewis Hamilton's McLaren within the last week or two. So, as you can imagine, when I got a call a few weeks ago asking if I'd like to review a Ferrari, my jaw just about hit the floor. After the initial shock, I quickly realized that I wasn't going to be driving a Ferrari any time soon, but the fact that I would still be reviewing a Ferrari-branded product at least made the revelation a little easier to take. While the product I ended up getting to review does have the Ferrari emblem proudly displayed on the front, it's actually the result of a collaboration between Ferrari and Meridian, a British company as renowned in the Hi-Fi audio industry as Ferrari is in racing. And this joining is called the F80. If you've never heard of Meridian, well, I hate to say it, but it's probably because you're just like me and can't afford to spend your entire annual income on a pair of loudspeakers. While I think it's safe to say that the F80 won't set you back that much, it's definitely not a cheap audio solution either. Let's take a closer look and see what kind of value the unit has to offer...   First Looks So what exactly is the F80? Well, at first glance it looks like a stylish, slightly larger-than-average clock radio, but that description alone doesn't nearly do it the justice it deserves. When you pick it up out of the box it certainly doesn't feel like the typical clock radio because, at over 14lbs, the F80 is one hefty little sound system. In fact, the dense materials used in the construction of this tiny beast are the main contributions Ferrari made to the design, which is a bit ironic considering how very light their cars are. In stark contrast to the racing world, in the realm of hi-fi, there is often a direct relationship between weight and performance since dense materials make better speaker enclosures. When I got some time to inspect the F80 out of the box, I began to realize that, while it is partly a clock radio, it's more like an all-in-one mini home theater audio solution. It can play standard audio CDs, mp3 and WMA discs, has multiple analog and optical audio inputs so you can even play your iPod through it, and, if you hook it up to your television via an S-video cable, it even plays DVDs. While the DVD player is a nice addition, it should definitely only be viewed as a nice little bonus feature because, in this day of 1080p high-def video, the antiquated S-video connection won't exactly look awe-inspiring on your big screen HDTV. [Ed: Given the F80's price tag, I'd say it's safe to assume anyone purchasing this has gone high-def, so the S-Video output is an odd inclusion.] Hook it up to a small TV in your bedroom, though, and you at least won't have to have a standalone DVD player just to watch an episode of The Office before bed.     The F80 controls seem to be a little unconventional at first --especially when the unit is turned off-- but the purpose of the thin row of smart buttons that sit just below the LCD display become evident as soon as the device is turned on. Each button simply adjusts whichever function is displayed directly above it on the LCD. The only thing not controlled by one of these buttons is volume, which has a dedicated knob on the right side of the unit. The disc drive is slot-fed at the very bottom of the F80, and all connections are on its backside, including dual external antennae and a semi-mysterious "dock" input, which is likely to be used for accessories such as an iPod at some point down the road. Of course, a product such as the F80 wouldn't be complete without a remote control, so Meridian included a small, no-frills remote as well. While the remote can control all major functions of the unit, it certainly won't be replacing your $20 Radio Shack universal remote any time soon. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't have any back-light or even glow-in-the-dark buttons, so finding it in a dark room would be quite a challenge. Considering that the remote is also black and very thin, it's just the kind of thing easily lost in couch cushions or between magazines on a coffee table.
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