Emotiva or Denon ... or ? Looking for opinions.

[highrez]

Hey guys, I'm soliciting opinions for an amp/receiver for my room. A little background: I have an odd shaped room. I'd post a pic but I don't have a high enough post count yet...

Because of this room, I'm looking for something that has all the bells and whistles that will adjust to my odd speaker placement and room configuration. It'll be driving 5 behringer 2030P. I have a Jamo Sub550 to go along.

I previously had a TX-NR807 for this setup - but its HDMI board went bad. Seems to be a common occurrence. The wife has authorized a budget of 1200 for a replacement - but with the stipulation no more Onkyo. I bought it refurbed with a 1 year warranty, and its out of warranty at this point.

So with this budget in mind a couple of options have popped into my mind - none actually fit in the budget, but I can stretch it a little bit.

First is the Emotiva UMC-1 and an Emotiva XPA-5. This seems like a great combination - but I'm not sure about Emoq? From what I've read, it seems like the bugs have been mostly worked out of the UMC-1 - but some of the parts may be dated at this point. I like the idea that I'd get a discount on the XMC-1 if it ever came out - but I need something that would do a good job right away. I believe that the XPA-5 would have no trouble driving my speakers, and is in fact probably overkill - so the real question for me is the UMC-1. This setup comes in right now at $1269 - which is only $69 over budget.

The second thing that came to mind was the Denon AVR-4311CI. A while ago Newegg had this for $1300 - which is a substantial discount from the going rate. I suspect that amp section of this thing wouldn't be able to touch the XPA-5 - but all of the processing in it seems to be up to par, and probably bests the UMC-1. Even still, this receiver may be overkill for me as I'm not driving large speakers?

Are there other options I should be looking at? Maybe go it cheaper with a Denon AVR-2112CI and upgrade a different component? Is there a Marantz or Yamaha option I should consider?

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Thanks,
Gus

 

[TheWarrior]

Get on the Emotiva bandwagon! With holiday pricing right now, its hard to justify anything else. The amp appears to be capable of surviving a nuclear war, which means only an occasional (5+ year) preamp upgrade for new tech. And you'll get a discount for trading in the UMC for the XMC. It'll cost an extra couple bucks, but won't be immediately necessary either.

If you don't already, get some power protection too and you'll be good to go!

 

[highrez]

Get on the Emotiva bandwagon! With holiday pricing right now, its hard to justify anything else. The amp appears to be capable of surviving a nuclear war, which means only an occasional (5+ year) preamp upgrade for new tech. And you'll get a discount for trading in the UMC for the XMC. It'll cost an extra couple bucks, but won't be immediately necessary either.

If you don't already, get some power protection too and you'll be good to go!

Thanks for the reply! I assume you've got UMC-1 too then? How happy are you with EmoQ? Does it do a good job at configuring levels for your room? My room is very tricky: http://bourg.net/20111214_123223.jpg

 

[lsiberian]

Separates are quite nice if you can swing it.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

While emotiva amps are top notch (for the money or even three times the cost)
I'd stay the hell away away from their UMC-1 processor, unless you like to be unpaid beta tester...

Read this thread:
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/amps-pre-pros-receivers/62205-loser-cinema-emotiva-umc-1-a.html

I'd get only a receiver or receiver plus amp if speaker and/or space

 

[Adam]

While emotiva amps are top notch (for the money or even three times the cost)

They even add in a bonus transformer hum at no cost.

Well, at least they used to. I don't know if they still have that deal running.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

They even add in a bonus transformer hum at no cost.

Well, at least they used to. I don't know if they still have that deal running.

Nah, POS models are long discontinued, now you get top of the line LOL models

 

[Adam]

Nah, POS models are long discontinued, now you get top of the line LOL models

Hopefully their POS customer service was discontinued to. I wonder if they have any sort of buy back program for their earlier failures.

 

[highrez]

Ouch. Not a lot of confidence in the emotiva solution. From what I read, I figured the firmware issues have been resolved in the UMC-1. Interesting that major hasn't provided his final thoughts post-upgrade. I read most of that thread, unfortunately the final review kept getting pushed until the final firmware was available.

If I were to go for an integrated solution - do you guys have any recommendations? I loved my TX-NR807 - but with all of the hdmi board problems Onkyo seems to have, and with the wife dictating don't buy from that company again - I'm certain I'll have to look elsewhere. If the UMC-1 doesn't perform at least as well as my 807 did, I'll certainly be beaten, possibly to death, by the wife - who doesn't like loud sounds anyways.

 

[TheWarrior]

Getting the XDA for stereo use, so I can't comment...

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Ouch. Not a lot of confidence in the emotiva solution. From what I read, I figured the firmware issues have been resolved in the UMC-1. Interesting that major hasn't provided his final thoughts post-upgrade. I read most of that thread, unfortunately the final review kept getting pushed until the final firmware was available.

If I were to go for an integrated solution - do you guys have any recommendations? I loved my TX-NR807 - but with all of the hdmi board problems Onkyo seems to have, and with the wife dictating don't buy from that company again - I'm certain I'll have to look elsewhere. If the UMC-1 doesn't perform at least as well as my 807 did, I'll certainly be beaten, possibly to death, by the wife - who doesn't like loud sounds anyways.

My Humble 2 cents are:
You should look to improve speakers and/or sub as these will affect 90% of the sound quality. It is nice to have convenient AVR, but you must realize what are you paying for clearly.

I think you should wait a bit and grab Yamaha A800 next time it'll be on sale - $300 to 350
| Decide

 

[agarwalro]

Getting an AVR/ Seperates costing more than your speakers and sub does not make sense. Further, the the 2030p speaker is not particularly tough to drive. This makes a dedicated amp completely unnecessary.

IMO, get the lowest cost AVR with pre-outs (in case you upgrade the 2030p soon) and use the difference to add another sub in the mix.

 

[highrez]

Awesome feedback guys, thanks for the input. I think the take away for me is the emotiva is way overkill for my speakers. Thus, I believe that I should:

1) Spend less on my receiver, as my current speakers are easy to drive.

2) Use the left over to upgrade sub or speakers - this will have a more dramatic improvement.

3) If I end purchasing speakers in the future that my new amp can't drive, I'll always be able to use an external amp (behringer a500?) to drive them - as long as I choose an amp with pre-outs.

I really like the idea of going with the yamaha a800 - it seems cost effective and has pre-outs. I noticed most receivers in this price range do not have preouts. My only reservation is ypao. I really liked the way audyssey setup my speakers previously. Is it fair to say that yapo does as good of a job as MultEQ?

 

[timoteo]

Ive posted this similar response before but here is my experience with the different calibration systems.

Ive had HarmanKardons ezEQ, Denons Auddessey, Pioneers MCACC & now Yamahas YPAO.

Auddessey is by far the largest & most experience calibration company i can think of. Their calibration does a great job of dialing in a system, specially for someone who wants to run it & let it be. However!! YPAO, in real world use, sounds JUST as good & in my opinion, i like how my surrounds sound better with it than i did with Auddessey. MCACC & ezEQ were also good in their own right but i did have to manually adjust a little more to get just right.

I have even heard Auddesseys new XT32 & was not any more impressed than the previous MultEQ. Im sure its better but not by much.

I will not choose a receiver based on its EQ system. They all do a good job in getting you started in the right direction but with an SPL meter & some test tones you can do much better manually.

My recommendation is find an AVR that has everything you need, like pre-outs, in your price range & go for it. Yamaha makes one of the most dependable avrs on the market & i love their feature sets. The A800 is such a great buy that is what i think you should get.

Definately upgrade your sub. Have AT LEAST $500 to put towards a Rythmik FV-12. There are other great & better options but $500-$1000 will improve your system with jaw dropping results!!!

A new receiver is needed in your case but dont expect a huge improvement in audio quality. Instead you'll have a great product that will last you a long time & does what it should without worry!!!

 

[dad311]

While emotiva amps are top notch (for the money or even three times the cost)
I'd stay the hell away away from their UMC-1 processor, unless you like to be unpaid beta tester...

Read this thread:
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/amps-pre-pros-receivers/62205-loser-cinema-emotiva-umc-1-a.html

I'd get only a receiver or receiver plus amp if speaker and/or space

Wow, that post is old. A lot has changed since then.

 

[robc1976]

I woukd get a 4311Ci and a emotiva XPA-5 and run the front soundstage off the XPA-5 and surrounds off the 4311Ci.

 

[adwilk]

I woukd get a 4311Ci and a emotiva XPA-5 and run the front soundstage off the XPA-5 and surrounds off the 4311Ci.

Yeah, I would probably go way over budget and then just not use two of the channels on the amp I just bought... #facepalm...

 

[robc1976]

Yeah, I would probably go way over budget and then just not use two of the channels on the amp I just bought... #facepalm...

When you use all the cahnnels on amp you only get 1/2 the wattage (probally less) that it states...so a 4311 with a 140 per cahnnel is probally getting about 60-70 watts if that per channel....hook a XPA-5 via preouts to your fronts, center, wides and you just freed up a ton of power for your surrounds/heights wich more than likey likely do not need as much power as your mains/center/wides (wich the 200 watt per channel XPA-5 is now powering) and you have a MUCH better system instead of a power drained 9 cahnnel amp with 60-70 watts if that, now youyr surrounds/heights have about 100+ watts and your others have 200 watts with a lot of headroom depending on speaker sensetivity of course

 

[robc1976]

I have a 9.2 system and have heights/surrounds powered off the 4311Ci and the XPA-5 powers my wides/fronts/center and it was the single best upgrade I have done.

 

[adwilk]

When you use all the cahnnels on amp you only get 1/2 the wattage (probally less) that it states...so a 4311 with a 140 per cahnnel is probally getting about 60-70 watts if that per channel....hook a XPA-5 via preouts to your fronts, center, wides and you just freed up a ton of power for your surrounds/heights wich more than likey likely do not need as much power as your mains/center/wides (wich the 200 watt per channel XPA-5 is now powering) and you have a MUCH better system instead of a power drained 9 cahnnel amp with 60-70 watts if that, now youyr surrounds/heights have about 100+ watts and your others have 200 watts with a lot of headroom depending on speaker sensetivity of course

My fault for starting something... But, you should have read the thread. He has 5 speakers. Why buy an XPA-5 and hook up the surrounds to the AVR? Either way, its moot... his budget is around 1300. Like I said, my fault.