moving on from Emotiva UMC-200 pre/processor

It doesn't get much better than the Ayre C-5xeMP. If I didn't already have an expensive Wadia, I would own one myself. I'm curious to see how much better your JC-2 is with the mods. After you've had a chance to listen to it, can you post your opinions on it?

WAIT WAIT WAAAAIIIITTT!!! You guys mean to tell me that an expensive hi end preamp inserted in between the All mighty Oppo sounds better than direct bypass to the amps from the Oppo analog outs??!!! NO WAY!!! How's this possible?!!! After all, should totally be another unnecessary window in the chain, to mess up the purity of the sound, having the active preamp in the signal, yes???
Well I'm jus all confuse ed now!. ..was already to go pick up that unflappable Oppo... but just got derailed!!
Back to the drawing board, I say

"08-17-14: Avgoround
WAIT WAIT WAAAAIIIITTT!!! You guys mean to tell me that an expensive hi end preamp inserted in between the All mighty Oppo sounds better than direct bypass to the amps from the Oppo analog outs??!!! NO WAY!!! How's this possible?!!! After all, should totally be another unnecessary window in the chain, to mess up the purity of the sound, having the active preamp in the signal, yes???
Well I'm jus all confuse ed now!. ..was already to go pick up that unflappable Oppo... but just got derailed!!
Back to the drawing board, I say"

Don't you get tired of making a complete jackass of yourself every time you post? You make everything up and get mad when no one goes along with your false delusions. I'll prove yet again. Close your eyes and pretend you don't see the next few lines.

"07-20-14: Avgoround
As much as I LOATH ZD542, I kinda concur. :-) If you're going "music speakers", and focusing on improving 2 ch, then you should go dedicated 2 ch amp/pre and maybe separate the two systems for maximum."

Now that you didn't see that, you can start off with something like: no, no, NO, NO, NOOOOOO!!!!

The by-pass mod Parasound does to the JC-2 lets you set any or all channels to unity gain and takes the JC-2 volume control out of the loop for a by-passed channel. Kal Rubinson claims the pass through is completely transparent as far as he could tell.

In my application, stereo from an Oppo BDP-105 goes through the JC-2 whereas the surround channels go directly to Proceed HPA amps. Setting the input the Oppo uses to by-pass means only the Oppo volume control that controls all the Oppo output channels is active. I had marked the JC-2 for unity gain with the Oppo, but too often failed to reset it after using the Ayre or Thorens. So I didn't expect any change in sound quality with the mod -- but Pete Seeger is again singing in my room now that the C-5xeMP - JC-2 chain is back.

db

Zd542-
Not worth my time or anyone else's to write here under "false pretenses". Not even sure what you mean by that, and no wish or need to argue and restate what's already been written.

All-
Thanks to everyone for helping me get back into the fray. I think what I got most from this thread is that there's a lot of enthusiasm for multi-channel audio/HT, there's a lot of enthusiasm for Oppo products (I'll be keeping my eyes open the next time I need a new piece for my system), and there seems to be quite a few audiogoners out there using pieces of their multi-channel system strictly for music listening. I'm still not sure what my system will look like down the road, but this all helps to get me up n runnin again after so many years. Thanks!