I auditioned both the Meridian 861/800 version 4's and the Theta Casablanca III/Esoteric UX-1 combos in my system and feel the Meridian combo stood shoulders above the Casa III/UX-1 combination in my system and room. I tried the Meridian combo hooked-up two ways, both with their proprietary 3-cable direct digital transfer and with using the analogue outputs/inputs. I thought the Meridian sounded better hooked up either way (much better with the direct digital hook-up) as compared to the Casa III/UX-1 combo hooked-up with the analogue outputs/inputs. I think the Meridian 3-cable direct digital hook-up is tough to beat. If you don't want to spend a fortune, one good alternative you may want to consider is the Meridian G68/G98 combo. I auditioned this also with the above two combo's and feel it sounded very similar to slightly better as compared to the Casa III/UX-1 combo, especially and again with the direct digital connections on the G combo! Beleive me, the Casa III/UX-1 combo is no slouch as it sounded pretty fantastic and if I hadn't listened to it in a direct A/B comparison with the Meridian pieces in my home with my system, I could have easily went with the Casa III! Good luck!
Jim
Jim