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Emotiva have finally released the long awaited and greatly overdue XMC-1 multichannel preprocessor. This is a state of the art, no holds barred prepro that represents probably the best value today in multichannel preprocessors.
Go to the website linked below and see for yourself what the product offers. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that the XMC-1 has been released *without* the highly touted Dirac room correction system. Emotiva promise that they will supply an update within 60 days that enables Dirac. But one must also keep in mind that in the last 5 years Emotiva have never met a single published deadline for any preprocessor they have built.
I do believe that they will make good on their promise to deliver Dirac, but I doubt that they will actually do so within 60 days...
-CD-
Follow Ups:
anyone else notice this? Actually I only heard about this pre-pro a few days ago, while looking at AVRs/pre-pros that I may possibly be able to purchase later this year or maybe next year.
Currently thinking about Marantz SR5008 or possibly one or 2 steps above that (if receiver), or AV7701 (pre-pro).
Not sure if the XMC-1 would be better than these (and without phono input), but good to know about it anyway. Maybe by the time I actually can buy, it'll have the Dirac and have been reviewed by a few good men ...
Emotiva recently revamped the cosmetics of their X series products. The faceplates and cabinets are a bit nicer looking and the connectors on the back have been dramatically improved.
However, there never was an XMC-1 "Gen 1", Emo is just trying to indicate that the recently released XMC-1 sports the Gen 2 updates...
-RW-
Impressive set of quoted specs. If they can deliver on that, could be impressive.
Cruise on over to the Emotiva Lounge (link below) and see what the early adopters are saying...
-RW-
Edits: 07/22/14
It appears that some posters are skeptical and cautious, while others are unabashed Emotiva fanboys who are brainwashed by their own reluctance to see beyond the smoke and mirrors.
At risk of repeating myself -
I'll take the fanboy's comments with a trainload of salt and will wait until Emotiva correctly implements Dirac in this processor. When fully implemented examples get into the hands of real reviewers and consumers they will have the final word. I've lost my faith and trust in this company, and it will be very difficult for them to get it back.
Cheers,
Al
I was honestly dismayed that after 5 friggin' years and numerous fits and starts, Emotiva *still* did not deliver the XMC-1 with the entire feature set. I received my "it's ready for you to buy" email 2 days ago. And I will not be buying it until they have put Dirac in play.
I also have a 40% discount card, so I get to purchase the unit for $1199, a smokin' deal if ever there was one. But even at that price I will still wait for Dirac. Once Dirac is implemented, I will wait to see what others, including prof. reviewers, say about the unit.
I am about 90% certain that it is going to be a stellar unit and a game changer in the HT preprocessor space. Nonetheless, I'm waiting...
-RW-
The wait is over. I can sell off all my OBSOLETE equipment now. What a relief!
> This is a state of the art, no holds barred prepro that represents probably the best value today in multichannel preprocessors.>A "state-of-the-art" and "best value" at $1999 is an oxymoron.
Like jumbo shrimp.
Edits: 07/20/14
It uses the best fifty cent op amps money can buy!
At the feature set of the unit. It is clearly state of the art. And at $1995 it most certainly is the best value on the market today. Why be so obtuse?
-RW-
Will it have Dolby Atmos processing?
No, it will not have Dolby Atmos initially. However, Emotiva have stated that they were one of the 1st companies to be licensed for Atmos. And they have said that the unit is capable of being upgraded to Atmos. If that will happen and when is anyone's guess.
IMHO, I wouldn't base my purchase of buying a prepro on whether or not it had Atmos. 1st of all, very few HT setups are really setup to make full use of Atmos, which requires a *lot* of speakers. A minimally acceptable Atmos setup would have a regular 7.1 complement and then 2-4 height speakers added to that. How many folks have rooms (and wives [g]) that can support 11 speakers or more?
2nd, there is precious little Atmos source material. Hell, there is precious little 7.1 material. Without source material, you have thrown money into a system that cannot show its full potential. I am not denigrating Atmos, it is very cool technology. And it *may* eventually become the de facto standard. But I think that day is at least several years in the future.
Until then, the smart money invests in the best quality 5.1 or 7.1 (or 5.2/7.2) system and speakers and makes use of sophisticated room correction systems like Dirac, Trinnov, and Audyssey XT32...
-RW-
Being able to upgrade in the future is a big plus. I recently purchased a new Samsung TV that comes with what is called a One Connect Box. This separate box has the TV processing and connections, and is designed to be replaced with a newer one when an upgrade is available and wanted.
Rarely happens.
I'm psyched to learn about the product. A $2,000 pre/pro made in the U.S.? That's awesome! And congrats on your long wait being over.
I'm shelling out multiples of that price for the Krell Foundation, which I love and consider a bargain in its own right, but shoot. It's fantastic that such a seemingly strong piece will be available at that low price without being built overseas.
Can't wait to hear reviews. Some of us at least will be eager to hear your reaction when you get it!
___
"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."
...that many here listen with their wallets rather than their ears.
Yeah, it's a hard room.
"The problem with quotes from the internet is that many of them just are just made up."
-Abraham Lincoln
If it's by Emotiva ... uhhh... enthusiasts like you, then you're probably right - I wouldn't know.
If you mean the audiophile population in general, and people who frequent this forum in particular - I highly doubt that. Not singling out Emotiva, rather talking about the whole "multichannel preprocessors" thing.
Geez, Louise, what *is* it with you guys? This prepro was announced 5 years ago and was to be delivered 4 years ago. And now it is finally being delivered. By *anyone's* standards that would be long awaited - n'cest pas?If you weren't waiting for it, good for you, Bunky...
-RW-
Edits: 07/18/14
...from MiniDSP?
Actually, although I know about those, I run DiracLive on both of my servers.
Dirac will be available within 60 days. However, based upon the fact that they have *never* made good on a stated timeline with any of their prepros in the last 5 years, I wouldn't bet the ranch that they'll hit this one on time...
-RW-
it is described as Dirac LE, whatever that is.
Kal wondered:
"it is described as Dirac LE, whatever that is."
L'Emotiva?
-RW-
rlw suggested "L'Emotiva?"
Hadn't thought of that. My first thoughts were of "limited edition" with all of its possible meanings.
Dirac Video compression was formulated in 1928 what is its relevance today ?
Edits: 07/19/14 07/19/14
Thanks, is Dirac Live superior to Audyssey ? Both appear to be mainly a US obsession.
Everybody should Google and read about Paul Dirac in WIKIPEDIA very interesting, however what has this to do with Dirac Live room EQ.
Edits: 07/20/14 07/20/14 07/20/14 07/20/14 07/20/14 07/20/14
Richard Asen Principle sound engineer Dirac Research says Dirac Research, is named after Dirac Delta Function-as conceived by Paul Dirac. In short this function theoretisizes a perfect response (infinitely high, infinitely narrow). We therefore use Dirac in our name to represent our goal of striving for perfection in our signal processing technologies (including DIRAC LIVE), where the impulse response correction plays an important role.
Edits: 07/22/14
The Dirac folks, naturally, believe that their system is the best available. And the Audyssey and Trinnov folks believe the same of their systems.
My take on this is that all of the systems are a big step up from no room correction at all. And the fact that we, the lowly consumer, have access to this marvelous technology for very reasonable money is incredibly good news. I am sure there will be the usual contingent that loses sleep when they discover that the choice they made is lacking some obscure feature or capability, but that seems to be the nature of many on these fora.
Me? I say get a product that has the features you want at a price you can afford and then sit back and enjoy what you have. Whatever you choose, it most certainly will be worlds better than what you could have purchased as recently as 2 years ago....
-RW-
Fortunately I do not need either of these room EQ systems. I have plenty of experience with Live v recorded sound and the sound I get in my Listening environment is excellent both stereo & mch,
And good on ya for that! However, most folks' systems would greatly benefit from what the better RC systems bring to the party. IMHO, this is a new "Golden Age" for consumer AV systems - the sound/picture quality available for the money spent has never been better...
-RW-
We are referencing Dirac Room EQ which has nothing to do with video. You might try Googling these things before making your posts...
-RW-
but way too late.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane."
"Emotiva have finally released the long awaited and greatly overdue"
I'm not sure that it's either......
Oz
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
I've been waiting for a new Emotiva fanboy posting from the OP extolling the virtues of yet another unreleased and untested piece of kit.
It looks like the Carver fiasco wasn't enough for this guy. Makes me wonder if "Big Dan" isn't somehow paying him off to shill for his company.
Considering Emotiva's past record with processors I wouldn't touch this one with an eleven foot pole ;-)
Cheers,
Al
Take a good look at my recent posts, no shilling going on there, dingbat.
-RW-
If "Big Dan" Laufmann was pissing on your shoes would you be okay with it as long as he told you that it was only raining?
My so-called lack of reading comprehension is greatly surpassed by your incessant naïve fawning about a company that routinely makes premature product announcements and press releases, then allows defective products to get into the hands of consumers.
Enough is enough, already!
Al
Well, Al, if you would look at the sum total of my posts about this product and Emotiva, you would find that I have taken them to task about as many times as I have "fawned" over them. And I have done so in my most recent posts.
The XMC-1 is long overdue, and I stated that. And it is missing the one key feature that sets it apart from its competition. And I have stated that. Nonetheless, once Dirac is installed, it looks like the XMC-1 is going to be the multichannel prepro to beat. Nothing else anywhere near its price incorporates as many features and capabilities. And early reports indicate that the sound quality is a cut above the average HT prepro.
It appears that you have a fairly capable HT system. Surely you can see the value that a product like the XMC-1 represents in that space?
-RW-
Okay! Here's the deal, RW -
I do not trust Emotiva, even though I own one of their products. It looks to me like their press department runs its mouth before consulting with their engineering and quality control divisions, just to begin with. And it seems to get worse from there.
Just check the Emotiva threads on the avsforum.com for some very detailed and long winded discussions about these continuing problems. Promises that Emotiva cannot (or will not) make good on up to outright lies appear to be the underlying MO for this company. The Emotiva Lounge is even worse, where some of the best minds in this hobby (Markus767 as a glaring example) get banned when they ask too many questions or make some insightful comments about things that make the Emotiva powers that be uncomfortable.
Emotiva has a history of releasing product to the consumer before the product is truly ready for the marketplace. In some cases they've never been able to remedy their mistakes and have engaged in lies in order to cover up their mistakes.
If you think that this new processor is going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread you have a perfect right to brag about it, even if you've never seen or heard one in action. On the same token, I have the right to be highly skeptical, even to the point of calling BS.
My philosophy on Emotiva is this -
"Past performance is the best indicator of future behavior". Because of their past performance I choose to be very skeptical of everything they say. My unsolicited opinion is that their attempts to correctly implement Dirac will be unsuccessful and will eventually lead to the failure of this processor in the marketplace.
Cheers,
Al
First of all, I am most definitely *not* an Emotiva fanboy. In fact, I have been banned, TWICE, from the Lounge for stating my dissatisfaction with their handling of product releases and for taking several of their annoying fanboys to task for their blind allegiance to Emo and Big Dan.
IMHO, the XMC-1 product development and release has been one of the most amateurishly handled endeavors in HT history. I signed up on the preorder list over 5 years ago when the XMC-1 was touted as costing $995 and the release date was going to be within 6 months or so. Since then, the price was raised to $1495 and then $1995. Additionally, they initially made a HUGE deal about having TacT RCS and used that to justify the price increase to $1495. And then, after they missed their "set in stone" release date, they finally tell us that their deal with TacT fell thru and that they would be now using Dirac. And, of yeah, now the price is gonna be $1995.
Long story short, Emo have lied to their customers and have engaged in deceptive practices. For these reasons, I doubt that I will be purchasing the XMC-1. And if you read my inital post, NOWHERE do I claim that I am a buyer of the product. That is something that many seemed to have assumed, wrongly.
Nonetheless, IF Emo makes good on their promise to incorporate Dirac within the next 60 days, and IF the product lives up to its potential (which is undoubtedly huge), it *will* be a true giant killer and should strike fear into the hearts of Krell, Classe, McIntosh, et al
I also own several Emo products, one of which is the UMC-1. And you know well the problems that unit has suffered from. And I do not believe that my initial post was a gushing endorsement of Emotiva. Read it again, the only thing that could be construed as gushing would be my "long awaited" phrasing. And the fact of the matter is that it *has* been long awaited by many. Perhaps not here, but if all informational posts were limited to what the denizens here discuss regularly, no new products and info. would be disseminated.
So, howzabout we let bygones be bygones and, maybe, be a little more reluctant to assume bad intentions without proof positive of same?
Best Wishes,
-RW-
RW - Agreed! :-)
It was the first paragraph of your OP that got me. My sincere apologies if I misinterpreted your intentions.
Cheers,
Al
I originally posted:
"Emotiva have finally released the long awaited and greatly overdue"
Ozzy snarked:
> > I'm not sure that it's either...... < <
Well, old boy, since the XMC-1 was originally scheduled to be released almost 4 years ago, and I and many others got on the waiting list about 5 years ago, I fail to see how what I posted was incorrect.
Feel free to snark back...
-CD-
Snark?
Where are you from?
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
Definition of SNARKY
1: crotchety, snappish
2: sarcastic, impertinent, or irreverent in tone or manner
You're welcome...
-RW-
I'll take #2. Yep, that's me fer sure....
Oz
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
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