EMOTIVA Thread Q&A [TECHNICAL TALK ONLY] - Page 492

Quote:

Originally Posted by RDHolmes 

The conversation seems to be getting a bit off track and somewhat personal.

I don't currently own an Emotiva product, but an Emotiva Amp is at the top of my list when I finally move from a 2.0 to a 5.1 set up.

You might say that I am an audiophile of sorts. I moved from Mono to Stereo in 1958 and haven't moved to surround yet.

I was very skeptical about Audyssey room correction and firmly believed in not using tone controls. My idea of "room correction" consisted of careful speaker and furniture placement.

Last year, looking forward to a 5.1 system I purchased an AVR that has Audyssey XT. When I set up the AVR I decided to give Audyssey a try. Boy! was I pleasantly surprised! Same source components, same speakers, same amplifier, same speaker and room arrangement and a tremendous improvement in sound quality. If someone had told me what I was going to hear I wouldn't have believed them.

Back on topic.

It is all to easy to underestimate the level of technical expertise required to design and implement an AVR or PrePro. There are several orders of complexity over and above a preamplifier or integrated amp. I have been using, programming and building computers for more than 50 years and there is no way that I would feel comfortable designing and writing firmware for an AVR.

While the UMC-1 may be a fine piece of Analog equipment with excellent digital to analog converters, I am forced to believe that Emotiva has been unable to make many of the promised digital domain features work as "promised." The release of the XMC-1 without some of the promised digital features should be a potential warning to early adopters.

When all is said and done, sound reproduction is a matter of personal preference and we should all let our own ears be the judge. However, it is always a good idea to listen to other systems from time to time. We should take the opportunity to listen to the systems of our friends and acquanteces whenever possible. A trip to your local dealer to listen can also be a worthwhile experience if we can keep a firm grip on our wallet.

I don't think that anyone on this forum is or has been drinking the koolaid. I woul appreciate it if the forum could be more on topic and less personal!

Excellent post. Well written, well reasoned and right on the money!

Seems no matter how often the basics of 'Audio 101' are 'reiterated' there's still a lot of people who still don't understand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MUDCAT45 

.... never heard a UMC.

If I heard one would hearing it fix the bugs?  Or make the bass management start to work? Or add in support for PLIIz?  Or make it 7.1? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by gurkey 

if i look at the Emotiva web site it looks to me as if this is a close out sale for the UMC-1.
So it seems pretty obvious, at least to me, that there is no further support or firmware coming now or in the future.
The product has been (probably) discontinued and what ever is left over in their warehouse is going to be sold (out) at the current reduced price.

It seems so. It's not had a FW update for about a year, so it looks as if that will be the last - which means that the current owners of the UMC-1 will be left with a bug-infested unit that doesn't fully work, with a fairly useless EmoQ room equalisation method/non-working bass management. All in all, I'd call it a disaster. Hopefully, the generous upgrade offer Emotiva has made for anyone moving up to an XMC-1 will compensate them in some way - IF the XMC-1 works as it should, of course. Being released in a form that is not 'fully finished' doesn't bode well though IMO.

Personally, I can't understand why some people try so fervently to defend the UMC-1 and seem blind to the obvious faults and problems inherent in the unit. I love my Emo amps but there is no way I’d want to consider the XMC-1 until it has been fully proven, in scientifically conducted independent tests. But the real deal breaker for me would be the lack of TACT if they are really going to release it without that (which beggars belief really IMO too). My room is not heavily treated so some form of good room EQ, such as XT32 or possibly TACT, is essential for me. A unit that lacks this is just no use at all to me, or indeed to anyone whose room is not extensively treated. Hopefully, the Emo implementation of TACT will be a good one and will be present on release of the unit or very soon after. But can you imagine anyone taking the risk of buying before TACT is implemented? They could wait months, even years before their units are brought up to spec - so I’d think that only those with perfect or well-treated rooms would take the chance and buy on release. We'll see soon enough I guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Mac 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kbarnes701 

But can you imagine anyone taking the risk of buying before TACT is implemented? They could wait months, even years before their units are brought up to spec - so I’d think that only those with perfect or well-treated rooms would take the chance and buy on release. We'll see soon enough I guess.

Keith,

I feel the same way that it is a risk to buy the XMC-1 without TacT fully implemented and the operation of the XMC-1 bug free. Emotiva is not known for meeting release expectations. So how can one honestly expect Emotiva to meet the claim of 1stQ of 2013 for the update for TacT? One is buying the XMC-1 with a 30 day return time frame without TacT onboard. Once TacT is available one will be well past the 30 day return period. So if TacT does not work as is expected or if one does not like the way TacT performs then you are out of luck.

Hopefully Emotiva will offer an open ended return period for those that buy the XMC-1 early on. Emotiva did this with the UMC-1 until the FW was at a point that many did not have issues. It looks like once again those that will be buying the XMC-1 early on will be beta testers whether they realize it or not. I went through this with the UMC-1 and the USP-1 and I'm not doing it again .

Bill

Hi Bill - yes, we are of the same mind, and for the same reasons. It is a real shame that this has happened, yet again, to Emotiva wrt to prepros. I understand their desire to want to offer a prepro but so far I think they have done themselves no good by doing so. You almost never read a damning remark about their amps (or speakers for that matter) yet the net is full of complaints about the prepro, and their long-time inability to *ever* rectify the problems really damages their credibility IMO. Not to mention all the time their team must be expending on problematic prepros, time which could be better spent elsewhere in all probability. 

I don't have the patience or mind set to go through what you and the others went through with the UMC-1 - if  something doesn’t work right it just drives me nuts and I have to get it 100% fixed or just get rid and pick something else. So for me, to even consider an XMC-1 I'd have to know it was AOK in every way. I can well understand you not wanting to go through the pain twice!

Quote:

Originally Posted by runnin' 

I came across this on the emotiva forum where discussion of Tact was occurring and one fellow let slip something that I've not heard before.

Link.

Poster "tip" says that Tact has been shuttered since the beginning of the year, and their email and phone number has been disconnected. I googled Tact and clicked on a tact audio link, and was immediately hit with a virus of some kind, so I'd be careful. My antivirus software shut it down, but this bit of news is bizarre. Tact was no doubt doing poorly for some time to have been on the verge of shutting down. Big Dan comes along and makes them an 'offer they can't refuse'. Normally a high end boutique brand would want to stay the hell away from an Emotiva, you would think. Anyway, I'm beginning to doubt the "official" story from Emotiva on why the XMC won't be released with Tact. They obviously kept this tidbit from the Emotiva faithful, who are mostly all still singing from the same hymn book, at least on that thread.

At any rate, I'd stay far, far away from the XMC until it proves itself with TACT and in customer's homes.

Wow. From the link you provided: "The members of the TacT Audio User Group (TAUG) on Yahoo thought that TacT Audio had gone out of business, since its email address and phone number have been disconnected and its dealers and distributors have not had any communication with TacT Audio."

It's possible that the tech guys from TacT could come onboard with Emo to finalise the implementation in the XMC-1 - but there could be all sorts of legal wrangles that might prevent that happening for some time.

You are right - the message is clear: stay well away from the XMC-1 until they have TacT and have been reviewed independently and scientifically.