Video Asylum

Posted by Bob Wanamaker on March 18, 2000 at 13:27:18:

In Reply to: Thanks Bob ..... posted by John C.-Aussie on March 18, 2000 at 13:05:21:

John, what I've done in the past: take the Front R+L pre-out from surround processor, and run into Source 3 (or whatever) on the 2 channel. CD/DAC out goes into 2 channel. That way, when you listen to music, the HT pre/pro is bypyassed. The following comments are based on limited demoing at my friend's store; I've played with these, watched snippets of movies, etc, but have never brought them into the house for an extended demo. I'm also basing the comments soley on performance with movies; like you, I have a separate 2 channel pre-amp.

I think Lex is great; the DC-1 is superb on Dolby Digital/DTS. It's big drawback was two channel performance. The MC-1 improves, but, IMO, the improvement is not worth the extra $$$$ when you can find a used DC-1 for $1500 if you look around. The DC-2 uses the same chassis as the DC-1; that's why Lex did the trade-in thing.

The Meridian will equal the sound of the Lex. The Meridian does give you way more setup flexibility for big custom installs.

The expensive Krell sounds fantastic, but is very pricey. If you have balanced inputs on your amps, it might be worthwhile. =>I<= haven't heard anything that sounds better.

Theta comes in with excellent sound at an attractive pricepoint with their "lower-end" model.

Honestly, if I was buying today, I'd find a used DC-1. YMMV.