Eyeball - Have you tried CaptureOne for color? I find it has the best color of all the different RAW processors with the least amount of fuss. This is probably due to the quality of there camera profiles that ship with the program - nothing extra needed. While the DNG editor in ACR/LR most likely improves things quite a bit, it's still basically a profile edit on top of the camera profile built into those programs. That's one way to do it, but not the best, in my experience, but since it's an Adobe product, that's enough for a lot of folks.
I know Capture One does a really nice job but I haven't updated it since v4. When Adobe made the improvements to the noise reduction and sharpening in LR/ACR combined with the ability to do a custom profile with the Profile Editor, it was enough to make me comfortable with a total Adobe workflow.
If I was in the "biz" or consistently doing large prints, I would certainly give C1 renewed consideration.
Chuck.....although I admire your knowledge and willingness to help.......I have learned a lot from some of your posts....I have to go with Peter on this one. One of the traits of a good teacher is to try and read into the question the ability level of the asker. Then keeping the answer at the level of the asker as not to over complicate it and loose the askers attention. This is what separates a good teacher from someone that wants to show the world how much they know. Please don`t take offense from this Chuck.......it is not meant to be offensive. Your knowledge is great......but many times it goes right over peoples head and thus is of no use. If you keep your answers at the OP`s level (as he says he is just getting into large format printing) he will learn quickly and be back to ask you more complicated questions in the future........JMO.....