Currently, I see two Meridian 565 listings. I recently purchased a used Meridian 565 for just about the same money. It is the most recent updated model, the 565 7.1 with the Z3 card. It is simply awesome, no yawning in my living room / home theater. A major upgrade from my Denon AVR-2700 and my buddies Yamaha DTS, dolby digital set up. The 565 7.1 gives very little to the 561 or 568 (local dealer) to my ear. One dealer is selling one new in the box for $2200. $1200 is a very good price for this multiaward winning, Stereophile Guide to Home Theater AAA rated product. It's only limitations, yes, it is clumsy to set up - but it offers huge flexibility and room speaker placement, size, customization, etc. (See Meridian's website). Also, the 565 has limited inputs if you want to use it as a preamp (hence the pairing with the 562 series of multi-inputs, digital and analog). I run my
Pioneer DV-05 into the 565 outputing into my front channel stereo system and piggyback it through the Dennon's inputs for center and rear channels from my Dennon's external processor inputs. Using the 565 as a DAC from my Meridian 508.20's digital outputs, the sound comes very close to this awesome CD players sound (I think the only difference is the 508 has fully balance outputs). Anyway, I don't think you could go wrong with the 565 if it's the 7.1, or upgraded to the equivalent. Offer a little less if you can.
Ron