The Emotiva Combo. A Different Thread.



Quote:
Originally Posted by intelonetwo /forum/post/0


I thought I would start this thread as a relief from the "other" Emotiva thread.

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Glad someone did. I f'n hate Drama, especially pointless finger pointing schoolyard drama and I was getting really sick of reading it in the other thread.


That being said...


I receive my LPA-1 on Tuesday (hopefully... fingers crossed)


I'm going to be using an Onkyo 804 as the processor. I'm also getting some Beta speakers to be driven by the LPA. 2 x B50's for the L/R, a c360 center, and 2 x B40's for surrounds. I'm still kicking around the notion of getting a second pair of 50's, a second pair of 40's, a pair of b20's, or a couple of the Bi/dipoles for a fully rounded 7.1. If I do the 7.1 I'm planning on running 5 channels of from the LPA and the 2 rears off from the 804. Anyone done a setup like this yet, or used Beta speakers with the LPA? How do the Betas sound on the LPA compared to a typical all in one Recvr, like the 804?


I should have mostly everything here and setup by next weekend, and being that it's a long weekend I'll have plenty of time to play around with it. Once I get a good feel of it I'll post my thoughts.

Congrats on the LPA-1.


In the past, and recently actually, I have explored the idea of using a reciever as a preamp. Sound quality aside, it seems that these days, receivers such as the your Onkyo 804, the Yamaha RX-V661, and others offer more features than a separate processor.


My only concern is output impedence of the receiver and its ability to drive the amplifier to its full potential.


I haven't heard the Infinity Beta's but I have high regard for them, since Infinity is owned by at last check, Harman International. Harman International also owns Revel speakers from which both the JBL line, and Infinity line receive trickle down technology.


I would not hesitate to purchase any of the mid-end Infinity or JBL products.


Have you read this Home Theater review of the Beta's?


or this AV review of the Beta's?


Getting back to the receiver, you most certainly could use the receiver to drive 2 channels but I suspect the LPA-1 would do it better. Also the timbre of the system would be preserved better with the use of a single voiced amplifier. But it is possible the way you have described it.


I'm personally partial to having dipole/bipoles on the side, and direct radiators in the rear, but your YMMV. The side dipole/bipoles create a good dispertion pattern for "connecting" the front to the rear on movies and don't sacifice much on music. The direct radiating rears do a good with music surround by creating a point source of reference to help imaging, soundstage, while doing a good job on movie soundtracks.


I currently have a 7.1 system, so I am biased and a bit spoiled. Spoiled because the 7.1 sounds so good. When you hear a good 7.1 setup you won't go back to 5.1. Unless (quite possibly) that is, until you've heard a really good 5.1 system.


Any rate what speakers are the Infinity's replacing?


Do you have plans to upgrade to a separate processor. Why not the LMC-1 to go along with the LPA-1? They look so good together.

I owned the combo for about a week. The sound quality was good, well worth the price. The quirks of the LMC weren't. This was coming from a Pioneer Elite receiver, circa 2002. I ended up returning the LMC-1 but keeping the LPA-1, as I definitely enjoyed the added headroom that it brought to my system the receiver alone. The Pioneer is serving prepro duty now, and I simply adore the LPA-1. I'm currently waiting with baited breath that Emo will release a new software patch for the LMC, then I might reorder or just wait until the LMC-2 is released sometime later this summer/fall.


This was my saga....


I use my AV rack for TV, movies, and music. I don't have the means for a seperate 'theater' room, so this is the system where we do our music listening, movie watching, but also where we just watch the news or what-not. The point is, it's got to "just work" for the whole family, and the pre-pro is always involved in the equation. I have Dish Network, and have the receiver connected via digital toslink to my receiver. So channel audio would be presented in one of three ways; digital PCM, DD2.0, or DD5.1. Digital PCM wasn't a problem. The LMC let me easily switch to DPLIIx (or whatever else) processing anytime. But whenever it received a DD signal, bring on the frustration. Anytime it received a 5.1 signal, then later (2 seconds, 10 minutes, 3 hours, whatever) received a DD2.0 signal, it wouldn't allow DPLII processing without first pausing the source, selecting DPLII from the system menu (because the DOLBY button didn't do anything), and then restarting the source. Sometimes it would get stuck in DPLII:Music, and require the stop-switch-restart switch routine. It might not sound like much, but it was annoying enough when switching between channels that I considered it unacceptable. It was unpredictable what mode it would choose to be 'stuck' in (DPL2:Virtual, DPL2:Matrix, etc), and so I couldn't even write a macro for my Harmony remote to counteract the quirkyness.


To contrast, my Pioneer automatically reverts to whatever sound mode I have it set up to do when it senses a DD2.0 signal (or DD5.1, or PCM, varies by source), and never 'locks me out' of particular modes for no reason (the LMC can only apply DTS:Neo processing to DTS Digital inputs, for instance - why not any signal input like my Pioneer?). It was that singular, annoying quirk that put me over the edge. Perhaps others have more patience than I, and I applaud you.


I also experienced a somewhat nasty speaker-pop/thump on power-down, a totally useless calibration tone for my sub, several instances of very loud 'SCHHHHHH' static for a half second or so when receiving a DTS stream (DVD), and a louder-than-acceptable amount of speaker hiss, though this was only during quiet passages of music at high volume levels.

Most of these annoyances I could work around or forgive all together, because the sound quality was quite good, I felt. SACD's and DVD-A's came alive, and added a real sense of spaciousness and detail to the soundstage. Sonically, it's a nice piece of kit for the price, and I miss that. The LMC/LPA combo looks great, and it all seems constructed well. Again, sonically, it's a winner - and some would argue that's all that matters. In the end, though, I decided that I'd rather not finance Emotiva's errors, and I feel I can wait-it-out for new software (which, BTW, is rumored to possibly be happening as early as this week), an LMC-2, or save up for the MMC.

Quote:
Originally Posted by intelonetwo /forum/post/0


I'm waiting on an Emotiva Ulta Theater LMC-1/LPA-1 combo and I can't hardly wait to receive it. I thought I would start this thread as a relief from the "other" Emotiva thread.


I'd like to discuss Ultra Theater (LMC-1, LPA-1) items, and new Emo products.


I'll start it off.


I have yet to receive my processor, but from what I've heard the sound quality is fabulous. I'm coming off a Onkyo receiver (lower end), and most recently an Acurus ACT III, and Elan amplifier in a 7.1 setup.


I'm hoping the combo sounds good.


How has the DPLIIx operation affected you? I've heard from some people that they've just worked around it, and from others that it absolutely drives them crazy.

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I have been using an LPA-1 with my pio 56TXi for a month now and it is outstanding. The SQ and headroom make this an amazing amp for the price. I am going to stick with my pio for pre/pro duties until I see some of Emo's HDMI 1.3 stuff.




-Eli



Quote:
Originally Posted by intelonetwo /forum/post/0


Any rate what speakers are the Infinity's replacing?

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Recently I had some flood damage in my basement that tanked 2, virtually new (less than 3 months) Primus 360's and my year and a half old Dayton 150 sub. I think I managed to save my c25 center, It works for now so we'll see.


So obviously a replacement or an upgrade was needed. I loved the sound of the 360's, but couldn't find any 360's at the close out prices I'd originally purchased them, which left the new model 362's, which I know are almost exactly the same, but the look of them really didn't appeal to me, So I eventually opted for a pair of Cherry 50's, which were close in price or cheaper than the 362's. Well after that, I knew I'd have to have a timbre matched center, so I splurged on the C360. I then pulled the trigger on the LPA, cause I knew my primus speakers were running out of headroom with just the recvr and I wanted to be sure the Betas had enough.


I managed to save my surrounds from the flood, since they were mounted off the floor. I was using 2 x primus 250's and 2 x primus 160's for the side and rear surrounds and was planning to use those as surrounds for the new beta fronts. Then I got bid happy on Beta 40. So hopefully I'll have 2 of those by the weekend as well. The remaining primuses are going to move to my computer room and get coupled with my old sony recvr for some nice surround sound gamin!


I ended up going with the Infinity SW 12 for my new sub. I'd heard good things about various other subs, but nothing really bad about the SW-12, plus I got it for around $500 and it'll match the rest of the new setup, so I figured, what the hell.

Quote:
Do you have plans to upgrade to a separate processor. Why not the LMC-1 to go along with the LPA-1? They look so good together.

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I might have if I knew anything about separates and Emotiva back in feb when I purchased the Onkyo. I could still go that route, but I couldn't justify spending the money on the LMC after having spent $800 on the 804 just a few months ago. On top of that I now have two Recvrs already (granted the sony isn't anything to write home about) and I just can't justify using an $800 recvr in my computer room.

Intelonetwo, Here is my suggestion for when your LMC-1/LPA-1 combo arrives. Setup your OSD through component inputs. When in doubt about which sound format you are using, always adjust the source and sound format through the OSD.


For some reason, when watching movies, DD EX is the sound format for 5.1 surround. DD seems to mean A-3 only and does not include the surround channels and the sub. The DD EX setting shows 3+2 and LFE effects channel for the subwoofer.


Yes, the sound formats do change rarely for no reason. Once the firmware update is released hopefully all of this will be corrected.


Again, the soundstage is crisp and clear. Channel separation is outstanding. I replaced my Denon AVR-3801 won many awards for it's time and is no match for the LMC-1/LPA-1 combo.


There is no receiver for $900 that can come close to the LMC-1/LPA-1 combo. I doubt that the Outlaw 950 pre/pro can touch the performance of the LMC-1. Granted the firmware flaws can be very annoying to some and an inconvenience for most everyone else. If Emotiva fixes the firmware correctly, the LMC-1 will certainly be something special for the price.

phtnhappy,

Your input is welcome, thank you. We would do ourselves a great service to respect all our fellow audiophiles. No matter their previous indictments.


I appeal to your kinder, gentler, intelligent self, how about we move to be less sensitive to individuals posting their views about products in other theads, and more understanding of each others idiosyncrasies. We are all entitled to an opinion of products, that's what makes this place a better........well place.


Exploring each of our own positive and negative experiences with a certain product will only serve to help us all to better understand those same products. And that is a good thing, would'nt you agree? Thanks.


Hans,

Thank you for the advice, I will take that into account when operating my unit. Thanks again. To your point, I think I've heard somewhere that using the OSD is one the best ways to ensure the surround mode you've choosen is actually the one selected for a given input.


josephmckinney,

Funny thing you should bring that up. While I started the thread, I did not want to exclude anyone. I did think about encompassing Ultra Theater owners specifically, since I own an Ultra Theater combo. Maybe the idea should be explored further, to have another thread started for LMC-1/LPA-1 owners specifically. Called possibly:


Emotiva LMC-1/LPA-1 Owners Thread - The Next Grilleration, I mean Generation.

Sorry for the George Foreman pun, I couldn't resist.


HarBlar,

Sorry to hear about the flood. Hope everything is cool now. I guess the positive side, of that story is that you were able to get new speakers out of the deal. If that can be seen as a positive.


Again, the Infinity's are great speakers.


I hear what you saying about not wanting to buy another processor, right after you paid good money for that find Onkyo 804. It will serve as a fine processor until all this HDMI 1.3, Room Correction, etc., get sorted out with Emotiva.


The new top of the line processor for Emotiva ithe DMC-2 is supposed to retail at $1500, and is what I'm looking at when they become available in December or around the turn of the new year. It should be a world beater for a few years until something else comes out.


TJEli,

Nice system.Man that LPA-1 looks sweet sitting there in the rack, I can't wait to get mine. Jeepers, golly!


Is that a Velodyne SMS-1 I see on the rack? How do you like it? I was thinking about getting one, still am.


BigStig,

Sir, I understand how you feel. The DPIIx is an issue I will have to experience to gauge my sensitivity to. It may or may not drive me crazy. All depends.


I run a Comcast HDTV DVR box via coax digital cable so I think I will have to deal with those same issues. I'll see if I can work around them. I am hopeful, but we'll see. The proof is in the pudding.


I don't plan to put the LMC-1 through its paces. I plan to use the unit, listen, and be in bliss now that I can own a separates based system. With a 40% discount on future processors no doubt.