What's the latest word on the Emotiva UMC-1?


I just bought the Oppo 83 blu-ray player, and now see the Emotiva website says the UMC-1 processor is in initial shipping mode. At only $700, is this processor really of great quality and a bargain compared to the likes of more expensive units from Onkyo, Integra, Marantz, Rotel, etc? I'm looking to spend under $3,000. For strictly home theater use, would you go for the UMC-1 or what other product?
rxlarry99
I agree Emotiva bit the dust big time......even with all the Gorilla net marketing, you cant hide a bad product from being discovered.

Okay...how about a comment from someone with a dedicated home theater who actually owns the UMC-1?

It seems like plenty of people are forum junkies with no actual experience with the product.

The REAL story is that the UMC-1 is a FANTASTIC item that does a great job. And the real story is also that Emotiva released it FAR too soon and it was seriously in need of debugging. 6 months or so of debugging and this thread wouldn't exist.

I use mine with two BD sources and HDTV via cable. Operation is now perfect after the most recent upgrades. I previously had the Outlaw and this unit's pre-amp sounds better than that one, which I felt was on par with the Marantz.

The UMC-1 has allowed me to match the EQ of the speakers almost perfectly. There is a full 10 band EQ for each channel, so a center channel along with sides and rears can be set correctly. EmoQ works fine, but I see this type of EQ as a starting point only. The only operational flaw now? When you advance to a chapter the audio takes about a 1/2 second to engage. And that's it. I think I can trade that little issue against is easy operation and excellent preamp section!

The people who complain are always the loudest. Then there are people who love to bash a product based on that, even if they've never tried it. The UMC-1 is now ready for prime time and an incredible bargain. I think it's a better product that the 2.5 times more expensive Onkyo unit, which has inferior audio and has it's own issues.

The main thing we can all hope for is that Emotiva learned not to do this again. They HAD to know about many of these issues, but still released the product. That WAS a bad idea, and a sad error for what eventually became a great processor.

The theater!
http://GhostLight.zenfolio.com/p280561067/slideshow

Cheers,

Rob
Queefee, I don't know what you were thinking either.

I own a UMC-1 and it's working flawlessly in my system. It cost 1200 bucks less than my friends Onkyo processor, and it sounds better. In fact I tried it as a preamp with the Odyssey amp and Merlin speakers with surprisingly good results. No, it's not better than my tube based Stingray, but it's sound is clearly superior to some fairly expensive processors, including the Marantz for 2200 bucks.

I don't doubt some people will have troubles. Every processor does. Emotiva released FAR too early; I think we can agree on that.

But this is a great processor that competes with anything else I've seen/tried. The new firmware seems to have gotten things corrected for most users.

Rob
Nope, I've reconcidered! I'm bitter, and Emotiva ows me an appology, darn it!!!
...Oh and I want at least 2 professional reviews on this thing, from a reputable AV magazine/reviewer, before I even remotely consider hearing any of this non sense about how this sucker is a "BUY!"
Yep, I want to hear from bonnafied seasoned audiophile AV pros (no offense Robbo), that the UMC-1 is a worthy consideration, and a quality piece before I even think about looking at the UMC-1 as anything other than the wothless-bit-of-a-piece that I've come to see it as!!!!!!!!!!
...And even then, I'll still likely be bitter, as I feel Emotiva owes me!
Heck, I wanna free amp, er at least some free coupons or somethin!...And they can throw in a life-sized 3d poster of Pam Anderson to boot, too, as far as I'm concerened!
...Hey, they never did inform me that my piece was ready, either. I feel used...