Bad experience with Emotiva UMC-200

Just wanted to share my experience with an Emotiva UMC-200 pre-amp that I just ordered and received. The ordering process went very well and the amp showed up in two days so kudos for their fulfillment process. However, when I hooked the pre-amp up (McCormack amp, PSB Stratus Gold speakers, AudioQuest ??? interconnects) the first thing I noticed was a 60 hz hum from both front speakers. That didn't sound right so I disconnected the pre-amp and reconnected a Marantz receiver and got dead silence from the speakers. Hooked the Emotiva back up and there was the hum! So, I tried playing some music, just streaming it, and the sound was terrible and the volume cut in and out. UGH! Back to the Marantz, same stream and it plays nicely (as nice as you can expect from a stream). Back to the Emotiva, this time hooked up to a Blu-Ray player. Drop in a CD and still get the same bad sound. Back to the Marantz and the CD sounds great, much better than I should expect from a crappy blu-ray player. So, long story short, I seem to have received a bad unit from Emotiva.

I have requested a return authorization for this device from Emotiva. If they are as good at returns as they were at fulfullment I should get this off my hands by tomorrow. We'll see and I'll up date you.

Remember, I may have just gotten a bad sample and YRMV!

Bob