I am using a dCS Network Bridge with a Meridian 818v3, and need to get everything the Meridian extension reputedly offers (volume and Roon-only source selection).
I know I need a rpi but beyond that am worse than clueless.
I take it the smallest possible rpi is fine? And I’ll be using a usb-serial adapter too?
What do I install where and how? (I have Win and Mac machines on hand for setup.)
(@Hectorson just in case)
Hi Ludwig,
My suggestion is to get a pi and install DietPi. DietPi has a quick and easy method to install the Roon Extension manager. Once installed, then the Pi can sit anywhere on your network, you go into Roon Settings/Extensions and begin. Now if the meridian extension needs anything more or something special I cannot speak to that.
That is what I used to use. I had to put my Pi in storage for some reason and then I took to running DietPi in a VM on a Windows box. Works fine other than I have to keep it up all the time. But, that is also an option, certainly would let you try it out prior to investing in a Pi.
Cheers.
Very interested also in a Dummy guide to getting Meridian control with Rasperry pi. My initial attempt was a failure. Got response in extension to the effect that no Meridian devices were found. Ultimately I would love to use my phone to airplay to my Meridian devices and control volume from phone like I can do through ROON.
How small a Pi will work?
I used a pi 3
For the above mentioned DietPi approach you need a Pi 2, 3 or 4, the new Pi Zero 2 should work as well.
Sorry for hi-jacking this thread, but I’m curious about your use of the DCS network bridge with the 818v3. Is this to support DSD playback or for something else? I understand you output AES to Speakerlink. How is the sound compared to using Roon streaming to the ID41?
Several things. I wanted to move to Roon protocol for all zones, for the obvious reasons, but also because I was never able to get my ID41/818v3 to be stable on the network. By a process of deduction it became clear that the ID41 was somehow making other bits of the network unstable too. (There is a big thread with Roon support about this here.) Maybe it was a faulty card, I don’t know, but I sure as damnit was fed up with it.
I went over to the Meridian 210, which is a good piece of kit, but I found the sound quality had suffered relative to the ID41.
I tried the dCS Network Bridge and it was totally stable, and (blissfully) my whole network too. And the sound went back to at least what I had before, perhaps even marginally better. So I stuck with it.
It is discontinued now.
To go back to the Meridian control question, which I really need to sort out to stay sane… Why is it not possible just to use a LAN-Serial converter and speak to the 818 that way? Much cheaper (and I have two unused) and isn’t another active computer in the room.
(It worked for vMSR.)
I have bought the bits to do this with an RPi.
Any recommendations, for the USB-Serial dongle? I have an old Keyspan but I want to keep that around for general use, and also want one integrated into the Serial plug to cut down on the cable count.
Perhaps, these days, they all simply work?
I used this with an Rpi4 for m volume control to a pair of DSP 33. Kept having connection issues until I contacted the creator of the extension app.
I have got as far as getting Extensions Manager running on the RPi, and visible in Roon. I have downloaded the extension from Github but can’t for the life of me work out where to put it for Extensions Manager to see it. Can someone help? It should be so simple…
Late reply (I was looking for something else, found your post, and realized I could help), but if you’re still stuck on this issue, you need to install the extension via the Roon-extension-manager settings in Roon Settings → Extensions
There you’ll find different lists exposing available extensions and another one for the associated actions (install/update/start/restart etc.)
Extensions are organized in categories to ease discovery and management.
For your use case, I’ve attached a screenshot of where you should find what you’re looking for:
Once installed, the Extension will have it’s dedicating entry in the Extensions page of Roon settings where you’ll be able to set it directly (don’t forget also to allow the extension from Roon settings first)
