Ok guys, a bit of good news and bad news. I called Emotiva today and the UMC-1 is progressing (good news), but won't be ready for release until at least late spring, but more realistically mid summer (bad news) according to the person I spoke with. Emotiva is very helpful when I've called and they have gone through the QA process with a high end software company, but there were some bugs that they fixed and are now bench testing the product.
Unfortunately for me, I can wait no longer. I had purchased a Yamaha RX-V3900 that I was using to power my Center Channel and Rears. I have an XPA-2 for the mains. I'm a little disappointed with the Yamaha. The Stereo mode is so so to me. It has good imaging, but is far better in Pure Direct mode. The surround mode, while loud and in your face, seems to lack the depth (sound on different level planes). Everything just seems to be in your face and loud and the surrounds are a bit weaker than my older Rotel RSX receiver.
I am returning my Yamaha and actually ordered a new/open boxed ARCAM AVR350 today from an Authorized Arcam dealer. I got a great deal, $1,300 and it comes with a full warranty. I know it has no video scaling, which I'm fine with, as my DVD/Blu-Ray player already scale and my Digital Satellite is HD or 480i. I can live with direct connections to my TV or through the two HDMI ports on the Arcam. From everything I've read, the Arcam sound quality is far better than other receivers out there, especially for 2 channel stereo, which is about 50% of my usage.
In terms of HD Audio, there is so little format available and my understanding is I can hook up my Blu-ray player via the Analog 5.1 outputs to my receiver and still get PCM, etc...
I'll take better sound quality over bells and whistles. Truthfully, I hardly use all the bells and whistles anyway. While the Yamaha has tones of different EQ's/Sound modes, I found my self only using about 3. 2-channel stereo, auto select (which would be Dolby Digital or dictated by the source) and 2 channel enhanced when listening to MP3. The 2 channel stereo sounded a bit flat and I found myself switching it into pure direct mode. If I have to shut down the circuitry in order to get the sound I want, what's the point of having the unit? The auto EQ, while it does a decent job, is usually off regarding the size and cross over of my center channel. I have an SPL meter, and can easily calibrate a system on my own, so I doubt I'll miss this, even though the idea of it is cool..
Anyway, for all you Emotiva UMC-1 fans anxiously waiting (I'm one of them), you'll have to wait until mid summer by the looks of it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I thought you'd want to know. Even when it is released, they are likely going to only order in batches of 500 and fulfill the pre-orders first. It likely will be a couple of months after release, if you don't have one pre-ordered already... So as of right now, if you haven't pre-ordered, expect to get a UMC-1 by the end of the summer at best.
I'm looking forward to getting my Arcam and am hoping it will provide me with at least a year of happy listening...
