What would you do???

Watch out for those reviews. I listened to a Marantz and an Arcam player (both raved about in the reviews). I compared them directly to the Meridian 588 and there was NO comparison. The Meridian was in a whole other league. The Audio Aero should trounce the Marantz in Redbook and the setup should sound much better going direct as long as the player has enough gain. However, I preferred going through a pre-amp vs going straight through my player which is supposed to have enough gain to go straight to the amp. Of course, it helps when you a have a great pre-amp to go through (the LS17 is good, but far from great).

I third the AA Capitole MKII recommendation. And I'm an owner of the fabulous player! Marantz???? Not even in the same league .......... by really far too!

Audio Aero. No competition. The latest version has analog passthru so you can run your tuner through it, too, I run my DVD player through my Capitole via coax and Satellite with toslink. This is my preamp.

Thank you for all your posts. Capitole it is.

What would be a fair price for a used Capitole?