Moderators Youthman Posted October 27, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 27, 2012 I have to say that I was very pleased with what I saw and from Emotiva (other than being underimpressed by their speakers). Their staff was super friendly and Dan was there to answer any questions as well. They shared they have a lot more in the works from Emotiva so keep your eye out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 27, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 27, 2012 Also, I was able to video most of Dan's interview with Audioholics which you can watch here which he talks about the much anticipated release of the XMC-1. Be advised the above file is 338MB so it may take a bit to load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TasDom Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Nice report Youthman and as usual, great photography. Thanks for posting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 The long awaited XMC-1. A little too many x-mas lights for my taste.[] I am sure they can be dimmed or turned off. Seriously, pretty cool looking pre/pro and amps. I hope Emo has some winners here. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Any other vendors represented besides Audioholics(favorites) partners? Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 28, 2012 Thx guys, it took so long for me to add those posts, I had to take a break. I'll post more pics from the other vendors next. Gotta do it in stages. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 28, 2012 Scrappy....I'm working on posting the pics from the EMP Demo room and will share my thoughts next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Emp next please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 28, 2012 Most of the vendors had less than ideal rooms for their setup. They basically each had a normal hotel style room in which the bed and furniture had been removed and chairs were placed for us to sit. EMP had a 7.1 setup in their room but the surround backs were placed on top of the side surrounds (might not have even been hooked up and just there for looks?). The first time I walked into the EMP room, they were playing an orchestral concert DVD someone had brought it and after a few minutes, I really was not impressed at all and left the room. After visiting all of the vendors, I decided to make my way back to each vendor to get a second listen. This time, they had two guys singing at each other making sounds (not really singing)....was something like "Bobidy boop, bop bibidiy boo dah dah dah de do diddily doo". LOL. That's difficult to try and type what they were singing but it actually sounded very nice. After that demo, they played some piano music and it was very pleasant as well. I realized that my first visit to their setup just had a poor source they were using. Overall, I was not blown away by any means but they did sound very nice. They were using a Yamaha Adventage receiver with Oppo player. If I were setting up the demo room, I personally would not have used a Yamaha for music but that's my opinion. For HT, absolutely. The EMP did not show any movie demoes while I was there. The sub looked very cool with it's dual woofers but frankly, I never really heard it. I'm sure with movies or some rock it might have came alive. They also had a small bookshelf setup with tubes but they did not have it on when I went to listen. Overall looks.....to me the piano black finish is nice but wasn't fond at all of the silver drivers. Seems to me like they are imitating the style of the B&W kevlar drivers but the silver does not look that great to me. Here are the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 28, 2012 Few more pics from EMP On the side back walls, they had a tower with a wide dispersion sitting on top of it. Not sure if they had both hooked up or just one. The mahogany finish on the tower looked nicer to me than the piano black finish on the front speakers. Here is the bookshelf speakers hooked up to the tube amp but they did not turn them on during my visit. The yamaha and Oppo was driving the system. As mentioned, I probably would have chosen something more "musical" than Yamaha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 28, 2012 EMP had this small 5.1 setup on display (2 speakers were on another table)...believe it was around $499 but was not hooked up. Guess this is good for someone that has very small space or budget to work with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 28, 2012 I forgot to mention, the second visit to the EMP room, the demo they were playing, horns and jazz sounded very smoothe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 28, 2012 Angel City Audio was another vendor. They played some various CD's which sounded very nice. Not sure I like the "style" of the speakers though. Pretty plain Jane. This Melody tube amp looked pretty sweet. Never heard of Melody before. Sounded very warm and inviting with the Angel City Audio Speakers. For 2ch listening, I preferred the sound of this setup over the EMP speakers. I'm guessing the tube amp helped to contribute to that over the Yamaha Adventage receiver EMP was using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Well I hope they sounded better. About 7500 for that setup vs Yamaha avr plus 1500 for whole emp setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 28, 2012 HSU Demo Room The HSU demo room had a "suite". The adjoining room was the "waiting room" while the other guys received their demo. One thing me and the two guys noticed was we didn't hear the bass that much from the adjoining room. When it was our turn, one gentleman came specifically to compare the big VTF15H with their smaller subs. He handed the guy Metalica's CD and asked him to play "Enter Sandman". I have heard Enter Sandman and the kick drum on a great system will pound. The HSU rep had the three VTF1 (10" sub), ULS15 (15" sealed) and the VTF15H (15" ported behemouth) subs in the front with a pair of HB1 MKII bookshelf speakers. The bookshelf speakers sounded great. Very crisp highs...they really cranked for bookshelf speakers and never distorted. The gentleman asked the HSU rep to turn it as loud as he could. Three of us sat very unimpressed with the bass response as he switched between the three subs. He would point to a sub, then switch and point to the next sub, then switch to the third sub. None of us heard any difference whatsoever between the three subs. It wasn't until he played a DVD demo that we heard the difference. The 10" and the 15" sealed sounded very close in SPL and clarity but the big boy VTF15H really shined in shaking the room. It was definitely more "boomy" than the other two subs but you could definitely feel it. We were all very surprised at how much bass the small 10" sub produced. It would be an amazing sub for a small room. One thing I really liked was two of the subs and the center had Magnetic Grills. They were very strong magnets and just offered a very clean look when the grills were off. No more broken pegs to worry about. The largest sub had metal grill pegs that were very thick. Probably don't have to worry about breaking them off either. Overall I was very pleased with HSU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 28, 2012 Well I hope they sounded better. About 7500 for that setup vs Yamaha avr plus 1500 for whole emp setup. Yeah, I didn't really inquire about any of the pricing. I'll post some pics of the Salk speakers next. They had the most exotic finishes and appeared to be very nice quality speakers but I'm guessing they are quite a step above the Angel Audio speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChipByrd Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Hey, I was wondering if you had an impression on the XSP-1? That thing has really caught my eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted October 28, 2012 Thic, the XSP-1 looked really sweet but I'm not even sure if it was what I was hearing. On one table, they had a pair of Airmotiv6 speakers, on the left side of the table was the XMC-1 and on the right was the XSP-1 and behind the TV monitor, was an Oppo DVD player. When I was in the room, most of the focus was on the surround sound system so it was constantly playing. There was only a brief time when someone asked about the Airmotiv speakers so they did a short demo but it wasn't too loud. I believe it was from the Oppo and the XMC-1 though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmassey Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Very nice reviews and beautiful pictures, Youthman. Thanks a ton for taking the time to share, it is very much appreciated on behalf of everyone who couldn't attend in person. I sure wish they had more stuff like this in Michigan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akdave Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Great stuff Youthman! Thanks for the reviews! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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