After doing the PC setup (mostly logical, and still surprised when this kind of thing works w/minimal jiggering) late Wed. night, I've listened to my new 568.2mm/598 combo for exactly two hours and have the following authoritative impressions:

- Thank god the music has returned to my system. No offensive intended toward the nice guy from Denmark who bought my MC12B.

- I'm still pissed that there is no accomodation at the moment for multichannel SACD. I almost did not buy for this reason, much as I felt this was the only processor I listened to that sounded like music (didn't listen to significantly pricier stuff) Almost went backwards in convenience to the CD player/tube preamp/processor in the loop setup that the MC12 made me miss.

- Went to Tower Records in Manhattan (Upper West Side), which one would think to be toward the leading edge of hi-rez music retailers, and saw three small shelves (appx. 6' x 4 total') of SACD stuff and two (appx. 4'x4') of DVD-A material. With all the other shelf space in the store, that's not even a small postage stamp on a Pipedreams shipping carton.

- Yet I'm still pissed that the combo lacks SACD capability, and this seems mostly out of an arrogance for which we're paying too much. And, there were over 8' more sq. ft. of SACD's on display at Tower!!! Guess I'll have to go mail order.

- Though used to it in a way I'm nowhere near w/the combo, the Lex. appears to have a much cleaner, clearer interface, ergonomics and display. I'll withold too much judgement until more time is spent, but unexpected things happen when I hit some remote buttons and there seems little direct access to stuff. Perhaps some kind of British values/attitude on electronics/utility here.

- Unless I'm missing something, the lack of 12v triggers is a major oversight. I got very used to not having to flip on my amps. Some 2 ch. preamps even have this feature. Can't wait to explain the new power up routine to my wife.

- Don't have the time to be writing this now, but Thank God the Music is Back.