EMOTIVA Thread Q&A [TECHNICAL TALK ONLY] - Page 421

That's why I don't use them on the Bryston. I have Cardas plugs over them and use the XLRs.

IKWYM. Personally I've never had a problem with them, but I am extremely careful about the connectors on the leads themselves which vary enormously in quality and the way they fit on to the jacks. I also always use a gentle twisting movement when inserting or removing the leads, and also try to remove them as infrequently as possible when I have to move gear about (I leave the cable attached to the most expensive piece of equipment of the pair connected together). Of course, in an ideal world none of this should be necessary and we shouldn't have to be using a type of connector originally designed in the 1940s (by RCA of course) and which was never all that good in the first place (one of the main problems being that the 'hot' connection (the male pin) is in circuit before the 'cold' connection (the outer ring) makes contact and thus frequently permits a loud buzz until the connection is made secure. The buzz is not only annoying but has the potential to be damaging to equipment. Of course, one can see why the RCA connector has persisted in its popularity for 70 years - mainly because all the others have actually been worse! In Europe we have had the ridiculous SCART connector which is as big as half a pack of cigarettes and doesn't even have a proper standard for its internal wiring, not to mention the 5 pin DIN connector (now thankfully disappeared). The much vaunted XLR connections sometimes are better mechanically (if they have a locking device, which often they don't) but are quite large and may not fit on the rear panels of today's slimline gear. At least they exhibit low noise over very long runs. Then of course we have what is possibly the worst of all: HDMI. Mechanically, HDMI is a joke - it is fragile, it is easily disconnected accidentally, the 19 pins are very close together and it has suffered from confusing iterations on its journey to 1.4. If it was left to me, I'd have some form of easy to insert connector with a locking device and that had multiple signal capacity (another problem with the RCA - each signal demands its own connector).

I've broken at least one HDMI connector. I don't know of a connector without fault. But it seems bad practice to mount the connector directly to the circuit board with only solder holding it in place.

Very bad practice indeed. But almost every manufacturer seems to be guilty of it - even Bryston etc. It's obviously a cost-cutting decision - if the connector is mounted on the circuit board, it's one less thing that the AVR manufacturer has to do - they just buy in the circuit boards, complete with jacks, and as long as their back plate has holes in the right place, Robert is your father's brother.

But as I said earlier, with careful handing it is possible for the practice not to result in damage. The real no-no is to tug strongly on the cable to remove it, which runs the risk of also removing the socket as well!

I treated the bad one on my UPA-5 with kid gloves but its still hanging there loose. Used the twist on method too. I've read several other reports of this on the Emotiva Lounge.

Sure - twisting carefully isn't a guarantee they won't give problems. Is it still working or did it separate from the board? IIRC you are using the XLRs, no?

Its just loose, shorting out if its treated too roughly. I am only using the XLRs for my subs which are powered by an EP4000. I am very impressed by this impulse purchase I made.

Well, I called Emotiva today and spoke to the same tech as the first time. He apologized for the inconvenience and said they were emailing me a shipping label, so all I have to do is box it up and drop it off at a Fedex center and he will try to ensure that they take care of the issue ASAP.

Hopefully they can get this sorted quickly. It shouldn't be too difficult.

I suppose I can always try to look on the bright side. This will give me a unique opportunity (and motivation) to see how much of a difference there is between 2 amps with similar power outputs. I'm going to send the one faulty amp off to Emo, and power the left main with the P5000S while powering the right with the fixed XPA-1.


Max

+1

You any good with a soldering iron? It's probably a fairly simple fix.

Actually, despite an essential tremor, I am o.k. with a soldering iron. If it quits working altogether I will open it up and fix it. If I can't I have a spare amp (UPA-2) that I will substitute for that channel.

Way to go, Theresa.

If I can't I have a spare amp (UPA-2) that I will substitute for that channel.[/quote]

That's you and me both then - I bought a UPA-2 in their close-out sale to keep as a spare, or in case I ever get room to add two more channels (rear surrounds for example). The amp seemed like such amazing value that I just had to buy it even though I have no immediate use for it. And soon it will be gone for ever. I have an XPA-3 on my FR, C and FL and the two UPA-2s power the Heights and the Surrounds. Soon I will have a 5509 (yippee!!!) with XT32 and then it will be the Pro Kit I guess.... never EVER ends does it?

I bought mine last year, with all my other Emo gear, during the Halloween sale. It is/was a bargain. A good 140/185 watt per channel amp from anyone else costs a great deal more. I also have an ancient Sony basic amp sitting around. It too has a bad RCA jack, but someday I'll replace that too.
It doesn't seem to ever end. If it's not the pre-pro, its the t.v. or the BD player, or the speakers. I'm thinking of ordering another rack shelf so I can put my center speaker below the t.v. instead of above it. It will have to lay on it's side but I'll be able to compensate some with some changes to the miniDSP that is it's crossover.

You don't have a lot of luck with RCA jacks do you?


IKWYM. I don't feel any need to change my BD player though - there is so little difference in 1080p/24 picture quality that so long as the player is working I am happy. I have a Kuro and will hang on to it until it either breaks beyond repair or something as good comes out. I'd love a PJ but just can't accommodate one in my small HT room. Now I have my amps (and soon my 5509) I think it will be a long time before I need to make any changes there. So it's just speakers that can command my upgradeitis tendencies in the (relatively near) future. But for now I am totally happy with my current speakers, so I am hoping that I won't change much for some time now. But I will get the Audyssey Pro kit, I know

How much is the Audyssey Pro Kit? I am satisfied with every thing I have now too, crossed fingers for luck, but usually when I say that another purchase is around the corner. The additional shelf is a utilitarian item and will make my room look so much better.
The Sony amp is ancient, over ten years old, perhaps a great deal more as it even has wood side panels, and the RCA jack just sort of disintegrated when I was removing a cable. That was the first RCA jack I've ever had break. So I guess it was then that my bad luck with RCA jacks started. I bought my first Emo amp to replace that one.

Every cloud....

Not sure exactly how much the Pro kit is - I think it is about 600 bucks including the licence, but I am not sure. Someone in the Audyssey thread will know the precise cost.

It will be interesting to see what XT32 does for me. I currently have XT32 for the bass (via the EQ1) and XT for everything else but I am very happy with the sound quality I achieve. I can't imagine how much of an improvement XT32 will be, nor how much better yet Pro would make it. But I won't rest until I have done all I can and, to date, that is not the case. I am expecting my 5509 to arrive from Germany in the next 10 days or so, so I will, of course, report back my findings in the Audyssey and/or the 5508 thread.

Yes, I was looking up the price when you responded. Too pricey for me as I can always use REW with the calibrated mic I already have. With the speakers I have now very little equalization (other than from the miniDSP crossovers) is required.

REW and the AudysseyPro kit are nowhere near being equivalent. REW measures and suggests filters but you cannot input them to MultEQ. The AP kit enhances MultEQ but will not let you do independent measurements. That said, the current MultEQ XT32 is so good that the incremental enhancement of the Pro kit is minor (in most cases).

Thanks for the info, Kal. I do realize their different.
So am I destined to have trouble with my 5508?

I would say no. Think positive and hopefully you will not have any issues with your 5508.

Bill

No good for me to hear. I was all set with my 886 and XT but now the 'ole upgraditis bug might be back.

Bill

Bill,

My experience with the Pro kit has been that the most significant benefits are seen in better channel integration with multi channel music. To me, it made a noticeable (subjective) improvement. For other source material, I'm with Kal - the differences are subtle and I'm not sure I would be able to identify the Pro cal vs. base XT32 in a proper test.

Can't speak to anyone else's environment, but IMO, if you listen to a lot of multichannel music and/or concerts, it might be worth the investment.

Ben

FYI. Emotiva started their holiday sale.

Thanks for pointing out the sale. It looks like there are some bargains.

The Audyssey Pro kit itself is $550, the device licensee charge, is $150 per device.

By 'other' material, do you include movies in that? I am about to take delivery of a 5509 pre-pro and one of the main influencing factors in my choice is that the unit is Pro-ready. Do you think that, for movies only, I will find little to no difference with a Pro calibration?

Thanks. So, $700 then. And now I am worried that the difference it makes may be negligible for movies. I use my system for movies only (well, and some casual music listening) - my music system is a separate one in a different room.

Keith,

I'm kind of reluctant to turn my experience into any kind of blanket statement, so want to be sure to preface this by reiterating that my only point of reference is my own gear.

That said, while it's very hard for me to compare them in a way that isn't entirely subjective, I didn't find the Pro cal to make the same kind of noticeable difference for movies that it did for music. Perhaps due to the nature of the two sources and the distribution of sound across multiple speakers in music being more identifiable/noticeable than for movies?

But you know at some point, you're going to go for it I'm sure it does improve movies and who wants to pass up anything is this hobby for even incremental improvement.

I got really lucky - when I went to my local B&M to ask about pricing, one of the sales staff was looking to sell his as he had move off of the Audyssey platform. The deal he offered was good enough to push me over the purchasing threshold, which for me, doesn't take more than a gentle nudge anyway...

Ben

You might find you do a lot more multichannel music listening post Pro cal. Blu Ray based concerts in one of the lossless formats are becoming more common.

My comments can be presumed to be based on music unless otherwise stated, fwiw.


"Might" is the operative word, I think. To buy the Pro kit before trying/using XT32 is analogous to sending a new CD player to a "mod" shop without listening to it first.