I'm taking a very serious look at this combo. After looking at specs for what seems like hundreds of AVR's, what is the MMC missing other than the latest HDMI (1.3) and Audyssey? I figure I'll wait a good bit of time to see how the HDMI wars turn out, but need a solid system to get started with. It will drive a M60 or M80 / 500 system in a 3500 cuft room.
Thanks,
Scott
Hi Scott,
I have the MPS-1 chassis with two emp-300 monoblocks for now to drive my m80's. I'm still using my Denon to drive my center and surrounds for now and using it as a pre pro for my Emotiva amp. Later I plan to add additional mono's and 2-channels to complete the system.
The HDMI 1.3 thing is not a biggy thing to me right now. Down the road that may change. I will most likely get an Emotiva PrePro some day. I'm sure they will be coming out with new models over the next year with advanced features.
I can tell you this....you won't be disapointed by their performance or quality. They use the best guts inside, and are designed from the ground up by Emotiva, nobody else.
I absolutely love my LPA-1, and it's a step below the IPS. My LPA powers my whole system just beautifully. I bet you'll love the IPS.
I have heard that the Emotiva preamps are solidly built and acoustically excellent, but they may have a few odd software bugs. Things like forgotten settings or thumps when changing from digital to analog inputs, etc. I would pay a visit to the AV123 forums and lurk around over there a bit - lots more Emotiva owners there than here.
I'm using my Pioneer as my preamp, but like Sirquack I suspect that someday I'll be buying an Emotiva preamp as well once the bugs have been all cleared up. All those pretty blue lights are quite addictive!
The MMC-1 is the "little brother" of the DMC-1, which is reviewed at Audioholics. They gave the DMC-1 favorable marks IIRC, though I don't remember the details since I'm not looking in that price range. Performance will probably be fairly similar with the MMC-1. The features that the DMC-1 has that the MMC-1 doesn't have are: 2nd component video output, iLink (aka Firewire) input, and MX500 universal remote. The DMC-1 has an external HDMI switcher, instead of integrated HDMI like the MMC-1 and many current receivers.
What's your timeframe for getting the MMC-1/IPS-1 combo? Emotiva is supposed to finally start shipping yesterday, after having announced these models months ago. There likely is a waiting list that may take some time to fulfill.
I called EMO today to see what availability was and the reply was that it was 'still on the boat' [from China], expected eta to Los Angeles was 3/1-2, then on to EMO from there - probably 3/5-6 depending on customs, then out for delivery to customers. I asked about supply v. demand and they indicated that supply still exceeded demand - even past the waiting list, but it didn't sound like a warehouse full...
This delivery time would fit with the speaker delivery - IF that date doesn't get moved again, but something tells me that Axiom has their stuff together better since they're probably not waiting for a boat to fill stock.
After reading thru several forums regarding the beta testing of the pair, I may just get the amp now and a [cheap?] AVR to get me by until the HDMI issues settle to a point where at least both audio AND video switching over HDMIare commonplace to EMO or Outlaw- a couple of years?
Scott