I 'll test again tonight the Serge and Victor's option, directly MDA in the 1201s, because this morning , before going at work, I've listened to this setup and I was blown away!
Jmajma, in all honesty, when you start pushing the outer limits of performance, everything in the system has to be optimized and requires careful listening. First, never base your decision on one or even a few CD's/LP's, you have to listen to many different CDs/LP's. Professional reviewers evaluate components for months. What sounds like an improvement on one CD may actually manifest itself as a negative in another, due to differences in recordings and musical content itself, that's why many people jump into buying speakers and gear after a brief audition only to find they are dissatisfied in the long term due to components or speakers being a poor match to each other and personal listening preference.
Second, proper speaker positioning in the room is a must to be able to extract the maximum potential of a particular system to begin with and often new components require a speaker repositioning to benefit from the advantages they offer. When I installed the MCD1000 into my system, right away I noticed the difference in bass as compared to the MCD201. After a week of listening, the deeper bass response of the MCD1000 required me to reposition my speakers once again to sound their best as the new found bass was exciting a room mode that I have not noticed before and I have monitor speakers capable of only upper 30Hz. Often times, especially when dealing with serious high end components, the performance advantage may be very small but in the eyes or "ears" I should say of a critical listener, it makes a huge difference, much like an F1 car that was able to shave a few tenths of a second from each lap due to a tweak in the aerodynamics/down force, meaning a difference between first place and a distant second at the finish.
One suggestion I have for you after looking at the pictures of your great listening room is to pull those speakers out from behind the fireplace further out into the room and spreading them out a little further, you will gain much in the imaging and soundstage depth and width as well as getting better "definition" in the bass although it may sound like you have less bass due to less coupling to the walls and the fireplace itself. Try to create an equilateral triangle if possible and get the measuring tape out, the speakers should be within a few millimeters of each other from the center of the listening position and the speakers. My speakers are within 1/8" from the front and side walls as well as from the listening position, the focus is beyond words. The soundstage extends from one side of the room to the other on certain recordings. Try it sometimes, you will like it. :thmbsp: Whether you can keep them there is probably up to your wife.
Getting back to the C1000, I trust Victor's opinion, I have talked to him many times and over the past year and a half I've figured out we have similar listening preferences as well as Victor having many years in the hobby and exposure to different gear, he does setups for a local dealer so he has heard and seen many different gear and rooms. If Victor says the C1000 in the chain is a marginal improvement over the MDA straight into amps, I believe him 100%. That marginal improvement may not be worth it to many and completely worth it to others, that is only up to you to decide. Good luck with your quest! :thmbsp:
