Zach P. Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I have set my mind on investing in some RF 7 II's and will be upgrading to the entire reference surround set up eventually. Already have a Parasound 5250 ( 5 ch. @ 250w/ch.) that I plan to hook up to either a receiver or pre amp. As I get more speakers I will get another amp to support them. I am currently looking at the emotiva umc 1, marantz sr7005, and others. I am looking to spend around $1700 or less. Any suggestions? pros and cons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBL4645 Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Looking at the rear of the Marantz it has pre-RCA inputs and outputs up to 8channles I dont think you can to wrong. Id look and look until you see it going for less than what its going for then buy! It might take a few months for the price to drop and you can save a few, bob. Separates add on later matching amps good brands out there from Behringer you cant go too wrong. Make the speakers active run them with electronically crossover network system Behringer DCX249, and more just run the Marantz as processor to most of the decoding for past and current new Dolby dts decoding. It wont happen overnight unless you won small few grand on, the lottery that you can put towards the sound system? Most new low budget AVR today dont come with pre-RCA inputs/outputs you have to aim for mid price budget or higher because I think the manufactures is aware that most are not going to use the internal amps in the AVR. Im looking at Onkyo when I get around to it, my system is running fine for now but would like a new AVR as its just over or getting on for 11 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuBXeRo Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 if you arent too rushed, wait for the emotiva XMC-1 to come out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nezff Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I just bought the Onkyo 5508 pre/pro from 6ave for $1400. I got it for a steal. It bests the Marantz due to the fact it has Audyssey XT32. It is by far the best unit I have owned so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBL4645 Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I just bought the Onkyo 5508 pre/pro from 6ave for $1400. I got it for a steal. It bests the Marantz due to the fact it has Audyssey XT32. It is by far the best unit I have owned so far. What youre saying is look for any AVR that has Audyssey XT32 which is, one of these autoEQ devices and among other fancy audio electronic devices fitted into one AVR whether you want to use it or not, I agree. Youd think Audyssey its main autoEQ would now be mandatory on ever new AVR from low budget to high budget without any exceptions what so ever.Oh, thats nice model even has XLR for outputs. Its between £1500 to £2500 grand Ill wait. My budget will be around £600.00 for an Onkyo when the time, comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nezff Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 only the higher end onkyos, denons, and intergras have Audyssey XT32, which is the best room correction IMHO out there right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach P. Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 I had owned an onkyo years ago and had problem after problem which must not have been uncommon because they kept sending new ones or repairing the failed piece. They are definately on the cheaper side these days.I'll take a look at the XMC-1. Im in no need to rush. Seperates looks like the best option to me. From the small amount of reading and comparison I have done it looks there are dramatic differences in pre amps in quality of parts and features. The umc-1 definately covers what I need and the XMC-1 covers a lot of the wants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuBXeRo Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 The UMC-1 is a great processor......when it works. For instance, last night, all i wanted to do was turn my tv on, processor and amp, and cable box and watch some cable tv. What happens? I turn everything on but the UMC-1 doesnt feel like displaying anything, it flashes me some snow, then i hear some audio with a black picture and continues to cycle through all this garbage. I turn it on/off about 3 separate times and the same issue. Then i flick the almight rear power switrch 3 or 4 times, same issue. Finally i mess with some cords in the back and i still had some trouble, then it works. I am 100% positive the cords have nothing to do with it since i had this issue a couple days prior and it just fixed itself. I did the most recent update from emotiva, maybe the SOB needs to be flashed again, i dunno. Moral of the story, when it works, its a fantastic machine, when it chooses not to work, its a frustrating nightmare sometimes! From what i understand, the XMC-1 is on a similar platform as the UMC-1 with more bells and whistles. Hopefully they have decided to write the code over from scratch or something, or i dunno, actually fix the original code so it will work properly. It just sux, such a great machine suffers from terrible coding issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elitedemo Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 sounds like a short in the hdmi cable not sure but id swap it anyway (not to say it isnt the unit but id make sure and slap a new one in its place for peace of mind), ive had that problem once before and it does weird crap i probably wouldnt wait on a xmc who knows when the release will be and you get 40% off that release when you buy a umc, you can simply sell the unit and not take a loss if you do upgrade fortunately my only issue to date is doing the firmware update itself which is a terrible process, i shouldnt have even bothered the unit was working flawlessly anyway but it was suppose to make it run more efficient from my understanding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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