Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater upgrading my pre/pro or receiver

With the history of Emotiva amps shutting down when driving M80's, I would recommend another brand. It is possible they have worked out their issues with their built in limiter gizmo and they did everything they could to resolve my issues, I would still consider other options. If we all remember, they blamed Axiom claiming it was the problem with the M80's dipping to 1ohm. Even if this was true, even for a brief moment at any one frequency, the amp should still not shut down.

*note - mps 1 amp was the one I had issues with...

I am not a fan of Emotiva or the UMC-1 for that matter and the way this product has been handled. For what it is worth, I would never do business with them. However, I don't think they ever claimed the M80's dipped down to 1 ohm. That would be something though if they did. I have seen some claims on the Emotiva board that they dip down to slightly less than 3 ohms (2.7?). I don't know whether it was version 1 or 2.

I wish I knew how to have manufacturing done in Romania. But that isn't really a thing they're known for. Actually, PCB manufacturing and assembly will be done in the US, from mostly Chinese made parts (but some of the smaller components are built in the US).

I drive my M80's with an Emo DMC-1 pre/pro and MPS-1 7 channel amp and have never shut down. I, like Jc, have been eyeing the UMC-1 for a while. I have not, however, done much homework into whatever issues are being had with the unit (I'll go back and read the avs thread at some point). The only issue I have with the DMC is the lack of HDMI connections. The UMC would solve it. Couple that with EMO's 40% discount for existing owners and it becomes quite attractive. The one downfall I see with the unit is the lack of XLR connections for outputs to the amp - it only has an XLR connection for the sub.

Just my $0.02.

I was referring to a PRE / AMP, not an AVR. The OP is asking for input on a pre/amp or receiver with pre outs.

I do not know of any pre with all the features and HDMI processing he is looking for under a grand - new. But I haven't looked that hard either, so I may be totally off base.

Tom- I couldn't agree with you more, which is why the big boys tend to have fewer bugs than the little guys nowadays. With HDMI, a lot more testing needs to be done that has nothing to do with audio or video processing, but ensuring that devices talk to each other to verify the user isn't stealing or using pirated media (and this costs big money). This is an unfortunate new set of rules that has nothing to do with build quality or performance where the smaller companies used to trump the larger companies.

There was a period where HDMI compatibility involved a lot of verification and testing, but the newest generation of receiver/transmitter chips eliminate most of that. The new chips have all the handshaking routines built into them, there's no timing that has to be done by the host. All the host has to do is wait for the indication that a signal is ready and start reading it. All the HDCP is automatically done in the chip, and even the keys are pre-programmed.

But seeing how long Emo had their pre/pro in production it probably isn't based around the newest chips (the just released 1.3 and all 1.4 chips).

The statement came right from the owners mouth to me over the phone. They claimed to have some M80V2's in their lab at the time and reported the 1ohm dip to me. Also, the topic has come up often on AVSforum.

classic,

It is possible your MPS-1 does not have the issues mine did, however, Lonnie from Emo replaced many of my mono's in the mps-1, had me try so called bi-amping, and even wanted me to do surgery to the limiter circuitry on the amp board, to resolve the issues. After 3 months, they just gave me my full money back. If most of you recall, I wasn't even playing music or movies that loud when the amps would kick into shutdown defcon 5.

That's pretty messed up sirquack. Even more so if you had the M80's set to "small" and explained this to them. Was this the case and what was the XO point you were using between the mains and sub?

Tomtuttle and Grunt,
Thanks for the info on the Emotiva preamp/processor! Not an easy task to design and buiild a pre/pro - ask Outlaw Audio they had to cancel the one they were planning based on the Newcastle R-972.

a401classic,
I had pre-ordered one and at the time mine was available they honestly informed me that there was a bug which could be fixed with a firmare update down the road. They offer me the option to get it then or they would contact me again when it would be resolved. I have not heard back from them yet.