Emotiva

[tonedeaf]

Hello all,any news or info on Emotivas UMC-1 release date?!

 

[j_garcia]

None that I have heard. I'm interested in this guy as well

 

[majorloser]

A little birdie whispered in my ear that it's not much longer.

 

[jvgillow]

Was the >5 week thing just hearsay? Hopefully.

 

[tn001d]

I think its kind of pathetic that Emotiva has been talking about releasing the UMC 1 for almost 2 years. Other manufactures have released 2 generations of products in that time. When the UMC comes out its really not going to offer that many more features than your mainstream receiver. Granted they are a small company without the resources of denon or sony, but dont talk about releasing a new product for 2 years before you actually do. I was interested in this pre/pro but lost interest months ago and got a Denon 2809 which i am very happy with now

 

[jostenmeat]

Other manufactures have released 2 generations of products in that time.

Probably more like 3.

When the UMC comes out its really not going to offer that many more features than your mainstream receiver. Granted they are a small company without the resources of denon or sony, but dont talk about releasing a new product for 2 years before you actually do. I was interested in this pre/pro but lost interest months ago and got a Denon 2809 which i am very happy with now

In their defense, the other popular ID electronics company, Outlaw, is suffering from the same kind of thing. And I bet Emotiva comes before Outlaw's. It doesn't make me think anything less of them. It's just how it goes for them.

While these new units might or might not have the feature set of modern receivers, it won't surprise me if they still sell like hotcakes when they do come out. I mean, wasn't Panasonic on their fourth or fifth generation bluray player by the time the Oppo 83 came out? (Sure, it has a better feature set, but OTOH the 83 is expensive and the UMC1 will be less compared to the competition).

 

[majorloser]

Here's what the owner and president of Emotiva, Mr. Dan Laufman, had to say on the issue of the UMC-1 on September 25th:


Dear Emotiva Family and friends,

I‘d like to take a moment to update you on the status of our eagerly anticipated UMC-1 Surround Sound Processor/Preamplifier…

As you all know, the UMC-1 is very close to full production release. We demonstrated fully operational UMC-1’s at Emofest earlier this month. We were able to show several hundred attendees UMC-1’s operating in a home theater setting and we were also able to walk them through the details of the complete set up, control options, and menu structure in our lab, in real time, with fully operational hardware. We also had several units on hand for all to see, examine, and generally play with first hand. The positive reaction from everyone attending and experiencing the demonstrations was overwhelming to us, to say the least. Thank you!

We completely understand how anxious you are to have this product released and shipped. We have had a tremendous amount of interest in it, and we have many units on pre-order. However, we cannot in clear conscience release it to you, our clients and friends, until it is completely debugged and operating in a 100% predictable and reliable manner. To do so is unprofessional on our part and would in the end, disappoint you, our clients and friends, and mar the reputation of our company and its products. Releasing it is a hasty manner It would only damage the image of what is in all other respects is going to be an unbelievably great product.

You have my word and assurances that we are putting all of our resources into the release of this product. We have very talented and capable teams on several continents putting 100% of their efforts into finishing up the last work on this product. You also have my word that we will only release the UMC-1 to you when it is completely solid and bug free.

We will post the production release date here and on the UMC-1 product page the moment it is ready to ship. I cannot give an exact date until I know for a fact that all operational issues are completely resolved and corrected.

In the meantime, thank you for your passionate support and continued loyalty. It is deeply appreciated by all of us at Emotiva.

Warmest regards,

Dan Laufman,
President
http://emotiva.com/news.shtm

 

[itschris]

WOW! I've been completely out of the loop for the past 2-3 months and haven't been able to visit much during that time. I remember first joining here in Jan 08 when I got back into HT and decided to build a new system. The very first piece of equipment I was really drawn to was Emotiva's pre/pro. Back in Jan, it was promised to be out in a month or so. After several "just a few more weeks" delays, I gave up after about 3-4 months and went with a Pioneer Elite.

So fast forward to present day and we're still being assured it'll be out "soon." I know there's a lot of people here who stand by Emotiva, but I'm a bit skeptical about any company who can so badly misjudge a flagship product so badly. I certainly doubt there are many, if any, legacy fans like myself still eagerly awaiting this pre/pro. I'd venture to say anyone who wanted this for the past two years has already gotten something else.

I'm sure, however, that folks new to the game or recently deciding to upgrade will still find this a very viable and worthwhile product though. I just really wanted to dig this company, but they let me down early on and it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[majorloser]

You notice you don't see them talking about any other future release items. I think they learned their lesson about letting the cat out of the bag that early. I'd also be surprised if they take pre-orders in advance anymore.

 

[jinjuku]

WOW! I've been completely out of the loop for the past 2-3 months and haven't been able to visit much during that time. I remember first joining here in Jan 08 when I got back into HT and decided to build a new system. The very first piece of equipment I was really drawn to was Emotiva's pre/pro. Back in Jan, it was promised to be out in a month or so. After several "just a few more weeks" delays, I gave up after about 3-4 months and went with a Pioneer Elite.

So fast forward to present day and we're still being assured it'll be out "soon." I know there's a lot of people here who stand by Emotiva, but I'm a bit skeptical about any company who can so badly misjudge a flagship product so badly. I certainly doubt there are many, if any, legacy fans like myself still eagerly awaiting this pre/pro. I'd venture to say anyone who wanted this for the past two years has already gotten something else.

I'm sure, however, that folks new to the game or recently deciding to upgrade will still find this a very viable and worthwhile product though. I just really wanted to dig this company, but they let me down early on and it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Holy cow, you're back.

 

[itschris]

Holy cow, you're back.

Yeah... sorda... not to hijack the thread, but I left a message for you guys in the mod section. It's been a nightmare few months, but things are hopefully easing off a bit and I can actually have some fun time doing some things I actually like to do. The only problem is, I'm so out of the loop I gotta get caught up.

I should be around a little more. Besides, you didn't think I'd let you have free reign in the Steam Vent did you?

 

[njedpx3]

Yes Noticed you were back - Chris GREAT!

Yeah... sorda... not to hijack the thread, but I left a message for you guys in the mod section. It's been a nightmare few months, but things are hopefully easing off a bit and I can actually have some fun time doing some things I actually like to do. The only problem is, I'm so out of the loop I gotta get caught up.

I should be around a little more. Besides, you didn't think I'd let you have free reign in the Steam Vent did you?

Great to see you again Chris --we need to talk some more about Bar-B-Queing and look forward to your financial insight.

OP - I think Emotiva are great Amps, but I tend to favor the Berhinger EP2500 (or McIntosh is you have big $$ ). If your looking for an Emotiva Pre-pro, don't hold your breath, they have been saying for at least a year and a half that the UMC-1 is just about to be released .... and they keep saying that ... I am not sure they have a Alpha version avaialble, much less a Beta or GA version.

 

[MinusTheBear]

I am not in the camp of hyping products in development. Its tough enough to develop a product let alone on budget and on time. I wish ID companies would stop doing this, it just leads to letdown and bad feelings in the long run.

 

[TLS Guy]

WOW! I've been completely out of the loop for the past 2-3 months and haven't been able to visit much during that time. I remember first joining here in Jan 08 when I got back into HT and decided to build a new system. The very first piece of equipment I was really drawn to was Emotiva's pre/pro. Back in Jan, it was promised to be out in a month or so. After several "just a few more weeks" delays, I gave up after about 3-4 months and went with a Pioneer Elite.

So fast forward to present day and we're still being assured it'll be out "soon." I know there's a lot of people here who stand by Emotiva, but I'm a bit skeptical about any company who can so badly misjudge a flagship product so badly. I certainly doubt there are many, if any, legacy fans like myself still eagerly awaiting this pre/pro. I'd venture to say anyone who wanted this for the past two years has already gotten something else.

I'm sure, however, that folks new to the game or recently deciding to upgrade will still find this a very viable and worthwhile product though. I just really wanted to dig this company, but they let me down early on and it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

I don't think that is an excessive development time for a major product at all. There is far too much junk pushed to market.

Peter Walker of Quad spent 10 years developing the Quad ESL 57 and 16 years developing the ESL 63. His amps also had years of lead time. But just look what people will pay for them on eBay now.

How many speaker designs over fifty years on command this sort of money?

And this ESL 63. Design started 1963, introduced to market 1979.

Or this set, about 10 years in gestation. Peter wanted his first solid state amp to be a winner, after everyone else had made such a hash of them. 1969 saw the introduction of this set. The buyer got unbeatable value.

 

[itschris]

The 2 year wait hasn't been development time... it's delay time. I'm sure they did a lot of development during that, but this was supposed to be out a long long time ago. I think a lot of folks forgot they even changed the name of it. You can say they want it to be perfect and all that, and I guess I find it odd that it's such a big special thing to put out a fault free piece of equipment, but the fact remains that they overshot a highly touted piece of equipment by almost 2 years.

Either way, it's still not out yet... and I think anyone would be foolish to hold their breath because we've been down this road quite a few times before with this same product. I'm sure they'll get it out at some point, and I'm even more sure it'll be a good value, but there's more to earning my business than that.

 

[TLS Guy]

The 2 year wait hasn't been development time... it's delay time. I'm sure they did a lot of development during that, but this was supposed to be out a long long time ago. I think a lot of folks forgot they even changed the name of it. You can say they want it to be perfect and all that, and I guess I find it odd that it's such a big special thing to put out a fault free piece of equipment, but the fact remains that they overshot a highly touted piece of equipment by almost 2 years.

Either way, it's still not out yet... and I think anyone would be foolish to hold their breath because we've been down this road quite a few times before with this same product. I'm sure they'll get it out at some point, and I'm even more sure it'll be a good value, but there's more to earning my business than that.

Their mistake was announcing a production date. It a piece of gear that complex, you just can't tell what you will run into.

When the item appears, if it is rock solid stable, with a very low failure rate, and lasts years and years they will be fine. If it comes out buggy, with a high failure rate, then it will likely finish them. If I was them I would let the development run as long as it takes to have a superior product.

May be they have read The Closest Approach.

 

[lsiberian]

Their mistake was announcing a production date. It a piece of gear that complex, you just can't tell what you will run into.

When the item appears, if it is rock solid stable, with a very low failure rate, and lasts years and years they will be fine. If it comes out buggy, with a high failure rate, then it will likely finish them. If I was them I would let the development run as long as it takes to have a superior product.

May be they have read The Closest Approach.

As an engineer I appreciate well built products, but the bottom line is profit determines failure or success. I think it's simply a product requirements gold plating and creep. It might also have to due with a small development team.

 

[Rickster71]

It wouldn't be the first time, a Sales & Marketing dept. made promises that R&D and Engineering couldn't keep.
I used to see the unrealistic dates set all of the time, along with the promise of non-existent options; when I was in the telecommunications industry.

 

[ratso]

there are roughly 2 trillion threads on this over at the emotiva forums so no need to rehash this all here. but to make a long story short, 90% of the delay was the company that built the micro chip that the processor was to be based on didn't deliver - i think it took them well over a year to deliver it after it was supposed to arrive. there was a few other pre/pro's that were thrown way behind schedule because of it also, i think that outlaw was one of them. outlaw eventually as i recall scrapped their plans to use the chip and went with a whole new design further delaying them. emotiva chose to stick it out and wait.

as to whether or not you think that:
A). emotiva are idiots for announcing a product and then not delivering on time
B). emotiva's approach is refreshing by actually keeping their customers updated on what's going on instead of the usual 'cone of silence' used by most companies.
- depends on your personal preference. i prefer to be kept informed even though it sometimes creates it's own bumps in the road.

 

[audiohonic65]

Here is what the Emotiva President has to say:

http://www.emotiva.com/news.shtm

He is also not sure about the date yet :-(