Lexicon DC-1 or Theta Casa Nova

What I find totally amazing is the Lexicon loyalty. Go to the SMR message board for some awesome battles. I jist speak from experience, as it all depends on one's own listening. I think there's some good suggestions here. I think Dan just overwhelms with facetiousness, but I would never do that ;) The Classe suggestion is interesting. I've only auditioned the ssp50; it's replaced by the 75, which I've not heard. McIntosh amplification... hehehehehehehe.

Now I know why there's duplicate posts. Sorry people.

Goose, DACs Shmacks. The Lexicon units will never put out high end stereo. The Casanova will get you closer. But the Casablanca will give you the music. The CasaB is due to go to version II real soon. You can pick up a used CasaB here with most options in the 3500-5000 range. Search Theta. Your other option is to get a high end preamp with a unity gain or HT passthrough. My opinion is that it's a pain in the ass to go that way. Want the best in audio? Go for a Krell HTS. The real problem answering questions like you posed is that you don't say anything about your current equipment. Say you get a Krell HTS and have lousy amps and speakers, then you'd be screwed. Plus you'd have to get better cables. If you have a lousy DVD player then you have a problem too. Consider a Theta David transport in the Theta system. The Dreadnaught amp which I'm listening to right now is awesome. Though its going for Krell amps. Big difference. You have to audition at dealers or friends. It takes a lot of time, IMHO, like everything I've said. Good luck.

Jdtuner: For interesting Lexicon chat you get to the SMR forum (#3) via . Other forums are useful too. Kgb540: Welcome to hi end audio. We don't need to flame each other. Mac amps are fine if you like the sound of them. Most of us are here to share experience, knowledge, guesses, whatever. The gerbil comment was really unwarranted. I've grown rather bored of those outside the sf bay area that think everyone here is gay. It expresses tremendous ignorance.

Aga's on the right path. I had a dealer that wanted to sell me an MC1 and a SimAudio pre that had the HT passthrough. Here's a post from another board explaining connections: Posted by Michael on November 05, 1999 at 07:45:21: In Reply to: Re: Need Help:How can I connect a pre to Theta Casanova posted by Joly on November 04, 1999 at 22:11:12: Joly, Are you attempting to add a dedicated 2 channel preamp where you would use the that unit for music and the CasaNova for HT? If that is the case, then it is not really not that hard to accomplish. You can do this in several different ways. One of the easiest ways is to purchase a 2 channel preamp that has a unity gain feature. A unity gain is essentially a pass through where the incoming signal is passed directly through without being affected by the gain of the preamp. Take the front L&R preamp outputs, from the CasaNova, and connect them to an input on the 2 channel preamp. Connect the preamp L&R outputs, from the 2 channel preamp, to your amp as usual. If the 2 channel preamp does not have a unity gain feature, then you could use the tape monitor capability and if all else fails, simply use any available input on the 2 channel preamp. In the last case, you will have to set the 2 channel preamp volume knob to a known position, which should be as high as possible, whenever you want to use the CasaNova, for HT. Also, keep in mind to calibrate the front L&R speaker levels, through the CasaNova, noting the volume knob position on the 2 channel preamp. I hope this helps. The url I posted for the smr forums didn't come through the message. I'll try again: http://www.smr-home-theatre.org

Aga's on the right path. I had a dealer that wanted to sell me an MC1 and a SimAudio pre that had the HT passthrough. Here's a post from another board explaining connections: Posted by Michael on November 05, 1999 at 07:45:21: In Reply to: Re: Need Help:How can I connect a pre to Theta Casanova posted by Joly on November 04, 1999 at 22:11:12: Joly, Are you attempting to add a dedicated 2 channel preamp where you would use the that unit for music and the CasaNova for HT? If that is the case, then it is not really not that hard to accomplish. You can do this in several different ways. One of the easiest ways is to purchase a 2 channel preamp that has a unity gain feature. A unity gain is essentially a pass through where the incoming signal is passed directly through without being affected by the gain of the preamp. Take the front L&R preamp outputs, from the CasaNova, and connect them to an input on the 2 channel preamp. Connect the preamp L&R outputs, from the 2 channel preamp, to your amp as usual. If the 2 channel preamp does not have a unity gain feature, then you could use the tape monitor capability and if all else fails, simply use any available input on the 2 channel preamp. In the last case, you will have to set the 2 channel preamp volume knob to a known position, which should be as high as possible, whenever you want to use the CasaNova, for HT. Also, keep in mind to calibrate the front L&R speaker levels, through the CasaNova, noting the volume knob position on the 2 channel preamp. I hope this helps. The url I posted for the smr forums didn't come through the message. I'll try again: http://www.smr-home-theatre.org

Kgb540: Accepted. I actually like the look of the OLD Mac equipment. Chromed with the tube glow... nice. I had a room mate while an undergrad at UCSD with an all Mac system that he got when he served in Nam. I did like the sound. I've just been in a different audio place for many years (decades?). I do have a preference in Mac... the computer variety.