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My first Pre/Pro...Initial Impressions of the Emotiva UMC-1


Youthman

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By noise floor, are you guys describing a noise through the speakers when volume is up with no source? If so, I have zero noise coming from mine through LaScalas.

Yes my noise floor on my XPA-2 and XPA-5 are dead silent, my ear has to be inside the horn to hear anything at all and then it is very quiet and I have great hearing and can easily hear the slightest noise. I absolutely love the XPA-2 for 2 channel music.

I also have the black trim and love the way it looks, makes a nice upgrade especially when everything else in the system is black.

pf-60-2.jpg

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I actually prefer the silver trim vs the black. I'm going to have to spend some time tweaking the EQ, just not sure how you know where to adjust each frequency to by ear. How do I know if a frequency should be increased or decreased and by how much? If I understand it correctly, your desire is to achieve a relatively flat frequency response and the EQ helps adjust that but how do you know what the frequency response is without a visual referenc?

One statement that I have read often is that the UMC-1 is for "tweakers". At first glance, I'm not seeing much different as far as settings from my previous Yamaha other than the ability to save three presets (EQ, Crossover settings etc) and assign those settings for the different sources (Bluray, 2ch, Games, etc). Just curious if there is anything else that makes this good for "tweakers".

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I actually prefer the silver trim vs the black.

There's just no accounting for some people tastes. [:P]

I think people saying the UMC-1 was for "tweakers" it may have been meant for the many software and firmware changes etc. which are being made to the UMC-1.

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I had reservations about putting the black trim on. I like both but the silver makes the unit stick out a little more and appeals to my eye just as much. If your aiming for a flat response you'll likely need visual software

my eq is pretty simple but I like it for the music, ymmv

10 7 4 2 0 -1 0 2 4 7 10

31.5 63 125 190 250 500 1k 2.2k 4.5k 9k 18k

you'll have to keep going through the menus a few times, theres just alot of options to change stuff around besides eq and frequency responses

and you might want to keep your eyes peeled occasionally as you might just be doing a lateral move and making money ;)

http://emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=emporium&action=display&thread=20570

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Youthman, becareful with the EQ.

Several people (including me) have reported distortion when boosting the EQ to much.

Since your playing with the EQ could you do a test?

Here is the test:

Boost several mid range freq (5-7) to above +3. The theory is to much total boost in the EQ will cause distortion.

While in STEREO MODE, play some test music. The music needs to be a strong womans voice (Diana Krall, Norah Jones, etc).

I use Norah Jones -Dont Know Why. At 1:57 into the song I get distorion.

The above is the only major issue I have with my UMC. At this point I dont not have any boost in my EQ.

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If your aiming for a flat response you'll likely need visual software

That's what I was thinking. I had the chance to use a Velodyne DD18 and it actually would show you the curve from the mic and you could tweek from there.

and you might want to keep your eyes peeled occasionally as you might just be doing a lateral move and making money ;)

http://emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=emporium&action=display&thread=20570

Wow, that's a very good price. I've seen the XPA-3 sell for $450 so $500 would be a great buy for someone.

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Youthman, becareful with the EQ.

Several people (including me) have reported distortion when boosting the EQ to much.

Thanks for the head's up, I wasn't aware of that.

Since your playing with the EQ could you do a test?

Be glad to. I have Norah Jones DVD as well so I'll use that.

At this point I dont not have any boost in my EQ.

Is your Eq flat or are all of your notches below the middle? IMO, the UMC-1 sounded pretty blah with everything set to the center. I guess I was expecting it to be somewhat like my HK AVR70. Out of the box, no adjustments, trebble and bass controls at 0 sounds fantastic for 2ch.

I'm headed in there now to play. Will post back in a bit.

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All my EQ settings are 0 OR less. I bassically ran EMO-Q then manually adjusted levels and distances and then decreased any boost in the EQ to 0. My front crossover is set to 60hz all other crossovers are set to 80hz. The only reason I ran EMO-Q was to set the DV offset value.

Also, I have the RF-63. They sounded kind of flat until I adjusted the terble/bass. I increased the bass by +2 and then the rf-63s came alive!

Oh, the treble/bass is on the second page of "parameters" in the setup menu. It took me a few hours to find it.

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No software or emoq, came up with those settings on my own listening, I started at +10 on the outsides and -10 in the middle and worked out from there keeping the curve as even as possible while listening in stereo to try to get a good response in my room and yet pack a little punch, I could probably tweak it a little more in one direction if I spent more time on it but Im pretty satisfied for now

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I almost like to just hear what the factory gives me, hear the speaker for what it is

I have always been that way too but the factory settings of the UMC-1 are blah IMO. LOL Changing the settings drastically improved the SQ

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Hey Elite, looking at your settings, it seems to go totally contrary to the advice given to me. Dad suggests you are probably introducing distortion as you move into the positive. Isn't 10 the max? I wouldn't think it would be a good idea to have it at max. What if you tried this, move your 10's to 0, 7 would be -3, 4 would be -6 etc. It would be the same curve, just having the highest setting at zero. Just a suggestion.

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all I can say is wow. seriously 2ch has NEVER sounded so
good. so smoothe, detail is superb, depth, rich, separation is distinct. I
can absolutely see why this unit is superb for 2ch listening. I'm
usually at my computer but I cant leave the HT because I have so many cd
and concert dvds I'm relistening to. one thing I LOVE is I don't have
to have it cranking loud to really enjoy it. gosh I cant stop smiling
as I'm listening to Newsong right now. piano has never sounded so rich.
I can hear so much detail it is really a joy to just sit in my theater
chair with lights down low. I don't want to say I'm a fanboy yet but I
am truly a very satisfied customer so far. if I can get HT to sound
like this it will be exactly what I've been searching for! I cant
believe I just typed all this on my phone cause I am soooo slow lol

I think that thing that amazes me the most is I am
watching eagles hell freezes over and have it set at about 70db and it
is absolutely crystal clear and I can hear every detail. I no longer
have to crank it to enjoy it. this is a gamechanger for me. sounds
fabulous with klipsch and the parasound!
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Glad to hear the rave review. I've always felt that my Onkyo and Yamaha, while great for HT, were weak for music, espescially 2-channel. I'm very much enjoying my vintage Marantz SS Tuner right now. Depth, richness, and clarity are great things that can only be had with the right pre-amp/amp and speakers. I must admit that I'm a little suprised that the Emo is a good 2-channel. I might have to check out there 2-channel pre.

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