Emotiva UMC-1 VS. Denon 591 etc. I have a question

[RaT]

I have been pondering buying a new receiver to replace my old Yamaha R9 from the early 80's. I would like HDMI switching as well as 5.1 for eventual use in my family room.
My question is, what would the Emotiva UMC-1 do that the Denon 591 etc type receivers won't do. I know the use of my Adcom amps (a 555 II and a GFA 6000 a 5 channel amp) may be beneficial and the lower priced AV receivers don't have preouts so I can't use them with those receivers. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks, Mark

 

[AVRat]

The Yammie 665 has pre-outs.

 

[egreen1976]

Well as it stands now, the UMC-1 just simply doesn't work well. I received one last week, latest firmware. There are so many freezes, bugs, lost audio, etc.. it's almost unbelievable. To be fair the UMC-1 had not been officially releases yet but if the unit i received last week was any indication, I would hold off for a WHILE! There are so many bugs I would be embarassed to use the unit in front of guests.

 

[darien87]

Well as it stands now, the UMC-1 just simply doesn't work well. I received one last week, latest firmware. There are so many freezes, bugs, lost audio, etc.. it's almost unbelievable. To be fair the UMC-1 had not been officially releases yet but if the unit i received last week was any indication, I would hold off for a WHILE! There are so many bugs I would be embarassed to use the unit in front of guests.

To be fair, the amount of problems people have been experiencing vary with the equipment they're using. I hardly ever use mine for watching regular TV and this is where the UMC-1 seems to have the most problems. The chipset in the UMC is set up to constantly check the audio stream. This is supposed to give it the ability to change audio codecs on the fly. For the life of me, I don't know why this is necessary but apparently video game makers and movie studios are supposed to be doing things in the future with audio that will make this a useful feature. But as it stands now, all this does is create headaches with all of the constant hand-shaking and resinking the unit has to do. Invariably errors come up and this causes the audio drop-outs that people are experiencing. I get them from time to time with my AT&T U-Verse DVR. But simply rewinding or fast forwarding brings the audio back most of the time.

But as I said, I hardly ever watch TV through my system, so I don't have this problem very often. I mostly use my UMC-1 when I am using my PS 3 for Blu-rays or video games, and for that it works great. The sound quality with movies and music is awesome and the unit is surprisingly flexible. The feature-set on the UMC-1 will absolutely SMOKE any budget receiver. But it does indeed have its quirks. How badly they will affect you will depend on what you are using it for.

 

[RaT]

Thanks, I anxiously awaited the Emotiva pre-processor hoping it would be what I wanted. After some research it looks like there are still some bugs that I certainly hope they work out. I am leaning towards something like the Yamaha 665 that has pre outs. The price is right and it should work OK as my processor. Can you tell me what a 12 V trigger is? Is it a means of telling other equipment so equipped to take such a signal to turn on? I have a Soundstream multiple outlet that takes a signal to turn on and was wondering if that was what triggered it. Thank You all for the comments.

 

[RaT]

The Yammie 665 has pre-outs.

So whats wrong with the Yamaha 665, its only $279 at Electronics Expo?

 

[rnatalli]

The UMC-1 is a brick basically. Emotiva makes wonderful amplifiers, but this is the second HT processor they've messed up. Go with a receiver that has preouts like the 665 a couple people mentioned, or an Onkyo 707 for a few bucks more.

 

[AVRat]

Nothing's wrong with the 665. They may be clearing inventory speculating on new model releases.

 

[darien87]

The UMC-1 is a brick basically. Emotiva makes wonderful amplifiers, but this is the second HT processor they've messed up. Go with a receiver that has preouts like the 665 a couple people mentioned, or an Onkyo 707 for a few bucks more.

That's one hell of a blanket statement. But I guess you speak from experience since you've owned one right?

I went from the Yamaha 661 to the UMC and I can tell you that the sound quality difference was night and day between the two. I kept the 661 so that I can use it to power my bedroom system. Yamaha makes great products and it won't have the quirks that the UMC has, but it not in near the same league as the UMC.

But if you can find it online for $279, that's a pretty damn good deal.

 

[darien87]

Thanks, I anxiously awaited the Emotiva pre-processor hoping it would be what I wanted. After some research it looks like there are still some bugs that I certainly hope they work out. I am leaning towards something like the Yamaha 665 that has pre outs. The price is right and it should work OK as my processor. Can you tell me what a 12 V trigger is? Is it a means of telling other equipment so equipped to take such a signal to turn on? I have a Soundstream multiple outlet that takes a signal to turn on and was wondering if that was what triggered it. Thank You all for the comments.

That's exactly what it is. If you have an external amp that you can put in standby mode that will accept a trigger input, then the receiver will send a trigger signal when it turns on that will turn your amp on for you. It's just a convenience feature so you don't have to get up and manually turn your amp on and off.

 

[rnatalli]

That's one hell of a blanket statement. But I guess you speak from experience since you've owned one right?

I've owned the LMC-1 and the DMR-1. Both had their issues, especially the LMC-1. It simply killed me that this high-end processor couldn't do things a $150 receiver could do. I've also messed with the UMC-1 (not mine). I can't understand why they didn't simply license Audyssey or something instead of trying to come up with their own system which isn't great even when it is working.

I went from the Yamaha 661 to the UMC and I can tell you that the sound quality difference was night and day between the two. I kept the 661 so that I can use it to power my bedroom system. Yamaha makes great products and it won't have the quirks that the UMC has, but it not in near the same league as the UMC.

Without DBT and measurements, this statement is subjective and your experience is subject to psychoacoustics. Having owned Emotiva gear and countless others, I find differences between receivers and so-called high-end preamps to be minimal at best (EQ and processing aside). This of course is my subjective experience also subject to psychoacoustics. However, I recall Home Theather Magazine measured a $400 Onkyo receiver vs an Arcam and Rotel and found the Onkyo beat them both in the preamp section; so much for high-end. All that said, I do qualify for the 40% discount so I wouldn't hesitate to consider the UMC-1 if they get the software working properly as it wouldn't cost me any more than a typical receiver with preouts.

 

[oppman99]

I have to agree with darien on this one. I also have a UMC and will be the first to admit there are still issues that need to be addressed, but the SQ in my opinion is leagues above the Yamaha 661. Yes it is subjective. I had a 661 for about a week before I took it back because the SQ was significantly worse than the RXV-596 I was replacing.

I believe there should be another update for the UMC tomorrow. I'm hoping most of the major issues will be taken care of. Even if there are still a couple of kinks, the better SQ is worth it to me.

 

[dws123]

I have had my UMC-1 for about 2 weeks and the sound is great in stereo or surround sound. I think the surround steering is much more accurate then my old denon 3801. It still has some bugs but they are working to get then right.
Dave

 

[darien87]

I've owned the LMC-1 and the DMR-1. Both had their issues, especially the LMC-1. It simply killed me that this high-end processor couldn't do things a $150 receiver could do. I've also messed with the UMC-1 (not mine). I can't understand why they didn't simply license Audyssey or something instead of trying to come up with their own system which isn't great even when it is working.


Without DBT and measurements, this statement is subjective and your experience is subject to psychoacoustics. Having owned Emotiva gear and countless others, I find differences between receivers and so-called high-end preamps to be minimal at best (EQ and processing aside). This of course is my subjective experience also subject to psychoacoustics. However, I recall Home Theather Magazine measured a $400 Onkyo receiver vs an Arcam and Rotel and found the Onkyo beat them both in the preamp section; so much for high-end. All that said, I do qualify for the 40% discount so I wouldn't hesitate to consider the UMC-1 if they get the software working properly as it wouldn't cost me any more than a typical receiver with preouts.

Well, I've never bothered with Audyssey or Yamaha's YPAO or any other type of room correction software because I just don't trust them. So I haven't even tried to use Emo-Q. I was a BIG Yamaha fan as I've had a few of their receivers over the years and always really liked them. The UMC-1 was my first forage into separate pre-pro's and I wasn't expecting much of a difference. But I was shocked when I listened to music through it for the first time. I'm not an "audiophile" and I think it's pretty silly when I read reviews where people talk about esoteric concepts like "pace". It's kind of hard for me to describe the differences I heard, but one thing I noticed is that music seemed to be coming from the sides and above my speakers. There was one track off of the Ghost in the Shell soundtrack where I heard sounds coming from to the right of me. I had to put my ear up to my surrounds to make sure I hadn't accidentally turned some type of surround mode on.

As I said, I wasn't expecting there to be much of a difference between the UMC and my 661, but there really was. I never really noticed how much hiss the 661 was introducing to my system until it wasn't part of the chain. With the UMC-1, I can crank up the volume up as loud as it will go and all I get is the very low hum that is coming from the amp, not the UMC.

Things like this make me willing to live with the UMC's little quirks for now. I watched Fringe through my system last night and didn't get a single audio drop out. If Emotiva ends up getting all the bugs worked out, I will just be that much happier.

 

[egreen1976]

. I watched Fringe through my system last night and didn't get a single audio drop out. If Emotiva ends up getting all the bugs worked out, I will just be that much happier.

Is the bar set this low? One whole show!

The UMC-1's problems are more than little quirks. It amazes me that this product is getting so much forgiveness. It simply does not work properly. I can get through 2 hours without it displaying it's "quirks". If they get it working it's a hit, but it is way far from working at any kind of acceptable level.

 

[son-yah-tive]

Is the bar set this low? One whole show!

The UMC-1's problems are more than little quirks. It amazes me that this product is getting so much forgiveness. It simply does not work properly. I can get through 2 hours without it displaying it's "quirks". If they get it working it's a hit, but it is way far from working at any kind of acceptable level.

I agree there are issues with the UMC-1, but I know they'll get it worked out. That's the reason I'm waiting for the Final Code to go into the unit before I order one. And, the company is PRO ACTIVE working to recitfy problems. Being a customer oriented company they're right there to help if you have any problem with any piece of equipment. I don't know of any other company that is that customer friendly. I guess that's one reason they derserve some forgiveness. They're open about the problems, and not making excuses. I wish it was different, I would have bought one 6 months ago. When I call, they're right there answering any question that I have, even about things that have nothing to do with their equipment. Yeah, I think there is room to forgive.