Lexicon DC-1 or Theta Casa Nova

SFBAYDUDE: I've been following this thread as a DC-1 owner, and was interested in your comments about the SMR message board. Please provide a bit of detail about what this is and where it is. I agree with some of the comments about there being better two channel options (even those which include HT capabilities). However, at the price you can get loaded, used 24 bit DC-1's for these days, they're tough to beat for HT applications, and the two channel listening isn't all that off the mark (although I agree with the comments about the MC-1 being quieter and smoother, and the Casablanca doing pure 2 channel audio better--not so sure about the EAD or Casanova, based on what I've heard.) Thanks for your response. Jeff

SFBAYDUDE: I've been following this thread as a DC-1 owner, and was interested in your comments about the SMR message board. Please provide a bit of detail about what this is and where it is. I agree with some of the comments about there being better two channel options (even those which include HT capabilities). However, at the price you can get loaded, used 24 bit DC-1's for these days, they're tough to beat for HT applications, and the two channel listening isn't all that off the mark (although I agree with the comments about the MC-1 being quieter and smoother, and the Casablanca doing pure 2 channel audio better--not so sure about the EAD or Casanova, based on what I've heard.) Thanks for your response. Jeff

AGA: We're in the same place, but I've got a DC-1. I assume you have Aragon Palladiums for the left and right channels which have only one input, either single ended or balanced, but not both. If you have an 8008BB the simple solution is to run two interconnects to it: one from the line pre-amp to the balanced inputs, and the other from MC-1 to the single ended one. I've never tried it, but I'm told this will work (obviously only running one preamp at a time). If you have Palladiums across the front (which I do), try a high quality stereo pre-amp for your CD or analog source, and run the L/R outputs from the MC-1 to one of the inputs on the stereo pre-amp. Someone referenced this earlier in this thread. Since the L/R from the home theater source will go through two rounds of preamplification, you'll need to carefully match the L/R levels to the rest of the HT system (via the volume control on stereo line pre-amp). You have also implicitly answered one of my questions, which is whether to invest in an MC-1 as an upgrade to the DC-1, if one of my goals is better 2 channel results. Sounds like you're still wrestling with the same dilemma, even with an MC-1. By the way, if you 2 channel source is purely digital, the MC-1 DACs are damn good, and there's not much signal processing (other than crossovers) which happens in the digital domain for 2 channel sound in the Lexicon. I'm not sure you'd do any better with a very good quality outboard DAC, and a high quality stereo line preamp, than you are doing with the MC-1 (unless you try something like the Wadia 270/27i combo, which includes it's own processor/volume control, etc). What would you propose to run as a DAC (or what preamp with a built-in DAC would you use) to improve on the MC-1 2 channel DAC?

AGA: Please let me know when you finally decide to do something on the two channel front and if you go the direction SFBAYDUDE and I were talking about. I'll eventually likely do something similar. In particular, I'd like to think about auditioning a tube preamp with a unity gain feature--if such an animal exists--for an analog source. SFBAYDUDE: thanks for the forum reference. I'll check it out.