This really is a fantastic forum. Thank you so much for the suggestions to date. I am really new to this and am trying to feel my way toward assembling a decent system.
With respect to the Adcom, as far as I can tell it only has an RCA (coax) input. Would someone recommend a toslink to RCA converter? The CO2? Chris Own of Ack! suggested a Monarchy DIP. Would that make a real difference over using the CO2 (which costs approx. $150 less)? With respect to the output, there's one for sale on this site that says that it has a digital ouput(?) Must be a modification(?)
With respect to the Denon, the reviews are really all over the map, with suggestions about poor build quality. Have you had any problems in that regard?
With respect to the Musical Fidelity, this is a fascinating product, and may be just what I need, although it may also be just out of my price range.
Would any of you recommend pairing any of the foregoing with a Decware Zen Triode? I'm really intrigued by this product. Nonetheless, being so new to this, I wonder whether I would be better served trying out a few used integrated solid state amplifiers to see whether my ears are good enough to tell the difference (and maybe the Zen doesn't have the power I would need).