LOOKING FOR HIGH END AV PREAMP OR RECEIVER

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phydo

phydo

600 Club - QQ All-Star
Joined
Feb 25, 2004
Messages
665
Location
Holts Summit, Missouri, U.S.A.
I need some help. My current INTREGRA AV receiver is failing and I need to replace it. I am having trouble finding a 7.1 or greater high end AV preamp or receiver that has multichannel discreet analogue inputs. The ROTEL RSP-1572 comes close to what I am looking for but appears to lack the Audyssey speaker calibration function which I find very useful.

If anyone has suggestions I would be grateful.

Justin

ps. I find it disturbing that manufactures are no longer including multichannel discreet analogue inputs with their products.
 
LizardKing said:
My brother has a XMC-1 - he's very happy with it.
Click to expand...

LizardKing:

I ordered the XMC-1 today. There were several items that impressed me with the company and product. First - Emotive is manufactured in the USA. Second - When I telephoned Emotive with questions the call was answered by an actual person rather than a virtual person. The receptionist transferred me to the product manager (Damon) who answered all my questions and gave me further insight to this preamp. We talked for over 30 minutes. When I informed Damon I would be purchasing this preamp but was a little intimidated by the setup process he invited me to call him anytime and he would walk me through any steps that were giving me difficulty. Third - When Emotive comes out with a new model they have a trade-in program which will make upgrading less expensive.

LizardKing, thank you for the referral. This preamp was just the item I needed. Emotive sounds like a good company with a good product and good customer service.

Justin
 
phydo said:
LizardKing:

I ordered the XMC-1 today. There were several items that impressed me with the company and product. First - Emotive is manufactured in the USA. Second - When I telephoned Emotive with questions the call was answered by an actual person rather than a virtual person. The receptionist transferred me to the product manager (Damon) who answered all my questions and gave me further insight to this preamp. We talked for over 30 minutes. When I informed Damon I would be purchasing this preamp but was a little intimidated by the setup process he invited me to call him anytime and he would walk me through any steps that were giving me difficulty. Third - When Emotive comes out with a new model they have a trade-in program which will make upgrading less expensive.

LizardKing, thank you for the referral. This preamp was just the item I needed. Emotive sounds like a good company with a good product and good customer service.

Justin
Click to expand...

All the folks I know who have Emotiva absolutely love the brand. I think you can't go wrong and will have an amazing piece of equipment....
 
phydo said:
LizardKing:

I ordered the XMC-1 today. There were several items that impressed me with the company and product. First - Emotive is manufactured in the USA. Second - When I telephoned Emotive with questions the call was answered by an actual person rather than a virtual person. The receptionist transferred me to the product manager (Damon) who answered all my questions and gave me further insight to this preamp. We talked for over 30 minutes. When I informed Damon I would be purchasing this preamp but was a little intimidated by the setup process he invited me to call him anytime and he would walk me through any steps that were giving me difficulty. Third - When Emotive comes out with a new model they have a trade-in program which will make upgrading less expensive.

LizardKing, thank you for the referral. This preamp was just the item I needed. Emotive sounds like a good company with a good product and good customer service.

Justin
Click to expand...

I hope you like it Justin. :eek:

I recently got a 2nd hand UMC-1 - the model before the XMC-1 (the seller upgraded to a XMC-1) and I have it hooked up to a Emotiva XPA-5 5 Channel power amp. I have my Oppo 83SE hooked up into it by the analog outs (of course!).

My Emotiva pre-pro & power amp set-up beats my old Marantz integrated amp that I used to have by a country mile. (y)

I like the fact that they're not one of the faceless big players in the market also...
 
phydo said:
LizardKing:

I ordered the XMC-1 today. There were several items that impressed me with the company and product. First - Emotive is manufactured in the USA. Second - When I telephoned Emotive with questions the call was answered by an actual person rather than a virtual person. The receptionist transferred me to the product manager (Damon) who answered all my questions and gave me further insight to this preamp. We talked for over 30 minutes. When I informed Damon I would be purchasing this preamp but was a little intimidated by the setup process he invited me to call him anytime and he would walk me through any steps that were giving me difficulty. Third - When Emotive comes out with a new model they have a trade-in program which will make upgrading less expensive.

LizardKing, thank you for the referral. This preamp was just the item I needed. Emotive sounds like a good company with a good product and good customer service.

Justin
Click to expand...

Justin,

Have you received the XMC-1 yet? I am curious how you like it.

I expect to be ordering the XMC-1 soon. I have had the UMC-1 for over 5 years. It had (and still has) some quirks, but it has always sounded good. The quirks it has are consistent, and easy to workaround.

With the UMC-1 purchase, I have a 40% off discount card that can be used on an upgrade pre/pro... which is the XMC-1. With the price of the XMC-1 going up to $2500 at the end of April, now is the time to buy. I can get it for $1200 with my 40% off card. A deal that is too good to pass up.

I have multiple Emotiva amplifiers, a DAC, and even some outdoor speakers. All have performed really well for the money. Emotiva is a company that stands behind their products with a great warranty, and great customer service.
 
SMS said:
Justin,

Have you received the XMC-1 yet? I am curious how you like it.

I expect to be ordering the XMC-1 soon. I have had the UMC-1 for over 5 years. It had (and still has) some quirks, but it has always sounded good. The quirks it has are consistent, and easy to workaround.

With the UMC-1 purchase, I have a 40% off discount card that can be used on an upgrade pre/pro... which is the XMC-1. With the price of the XMC-1 going up to $2500 at the end of April, now is the time to buy. I can get it for $1200 with my 40% off card. A deal that is too good to pass up.

I have multiple Emotiva amplifiers, a DAC, and even some outdoor speakers. All have performed really well for the money. Emotiva is a company that stands behind their products with a great warranty, and great customer service.
Click to expand...

SMS:

MY EMOTIVA XMC-1 was delivered in about five days. Since I am not much of a tech or computer guy I took the preamp to the local A/V store I have been dealing with for over twenty years. They specialize in home and commercial A/V installations. They were not familiar with EMOTIVA products so they studied the manuals for several days and then came to my house to install and setup (program) the preamp. The setup turned into a half-day ordeal, not because of anything with the preamp but because of issues with my computer.

Allow me to explain. The setup requires a hard wire connection from the internet to your computer and a hard wire connection to the preamp. Initially we could not get my computer to "talk" to the website but a telephone call to EMOTIVA and discussion with one of their techs revealed my antivirus program was the problem. Got that cleared up and delved into the setup. When we got to the speaker SPL setup we could not find the "Start" button. Another telephone call to EMOTIVA revealed I had the computer resolution set to high with extra large icons. (I am 64 and have reached the "large print edition" phase of life.) Got that taken care of and the rest of the setup proceeded quickly.

I want to emphasize that all the setup issues encountered were problems with my computer - not the preamp. Being able to repeatedly speak directly with EMOTIVA tech support (which is located here in the USA and not in India or Pakistan) was invaluable.

On to the preamp itself. The build quality is elegant and superb. This is the first preamp I have ever owned. Going back to 1972 I always owned receivers (PIONEER, SANSUI, MARANTZ, INTEGRA) and the EMOTIVA blows them all away. With no source selected I can turn the volume to max and no background hiss or other noise can be heard. It handles all of the current BLU-RAY surround sound formats. The remote control is a piece of art in itself. It is not plastic but heavy gauge metal. To access the batteries the back is held on by strong magnets. My only complaint is the remote is not backlit.

Now to the reason I purchased this preamp in the first place - the 7.1 multichannel discreet analogue inputs. My QSD-1 and SQ-W sound as good as ever.

It appears most manufactures current production preamps/receivers are NOT coming with 7.1 multichannel discreet analogue inputs. Though the EMOTIVA XMC-1 setup procedures are somewhat involved the company tech support staff is there to walk you through the process. If you are in the market for a new preamp I can without reservation recommend the EMOTIVA XMC-1.

Justin

p.s. Be advised the EMOTIVA XMC-1 does not have component video inputs.

Justin
 
Last edited:
phydo said:
It appears most manufactures current production preamps/receivers are NOT coming with 7.1 multichannel discreet analogue inputs.
Click to expand...
I am not trying to discourage you (I am playing with an XMC-1 now) but to point out that there are such preamps on the market (Marantz makes 2, Onkyo/Integra, etc.) and there are related AVRs from Marantz, Denon and Onkyo/Integra, too. Add Classe and Bryston higher up ......................... just off the top of my head.
 
Kal Rubinson said:
I am not trying to discourage you (I am playing with an XMC-1 now) but to point out that there are such preamps on the market (Marantz makes 2, Onkyo/Integra, etc.) and there are related AVRs from Marantz, Denon and Onkyo/Integra, too. Add Classe and Bryston higher up ......................... just off the top of my head.
Click to expand...

Kal:

I wanted to go with an INTEGRA receiver since I have been using their products for 20 years but my local INTEGRA dealer stated INTEGRA no longer offered 7.1 multichannel discreet analogue inputs on their current production receivers. My dealer then did some research and come up with the ROTEL RSP-1572 which did have the desired inputs but lacked the Audyssey speaker calibration function which I find very useful. I did my own web search and came up with nothing (perhaps my search parameters {receivers with 7.1 multichannel discreet analogue inputs and preamps with 7.1 multichannel discreet analogue inputs} were incorrect?) That is when I turned to the QQ forum for advice and was referred to the EMOTIVA XMC-1.

Even though there are more choices available than I was aware of I am content with my purchase.

It is good to know there are still mainstream manufactures providing 7.1 multichannel discreet analogue inputs on their products.

Justin
 
phydo said:
Kal:
I wanted to go with an INTEGRA receiver since I have been using their products for 20 years but my local INTEGRA dealer stated INTEGRA no longer offered 7.1 multichannel discreet analogue inputs on their current production receivers. My dealer then did some research and come up with the ROTEL RSP-1572 which did have the desired inputs but lacked the Audyssey speaker calibration function which I find very useful. I did my own web search and came up with nothing (perhaps my search parameters {receivers with 7.1 multichannel discreet analogue inputs and preamps with 7.1 multichannel discreet analogue inputs} were incorrect?) That is when I turned to the QQ forum for advice and was referred to the EMOTIVA XMC-1.
Click to expand...
You are correct. I stopped following Onkyo/Integra closely when they dropped Audyssey, so I missed that they dropped 7.1 inputs. I did confirm that Denon/Marantz still have both.
 
Folks:

FYI: Emotiva Audio Special Factory Renewed XMC-1 sale [[email protected]]; on behalf of; Emotiva Audio [[email protected]]

I have been very happy with mine. One feature I did not realize this pre-amp came with was XLR outputs in addition to standard RCA outputs which was nice as my power amps had both XLR and RCA inputs which gives you options if you happen to be partial to one or the other.

Justin
 
not as high end as the ones mentioned but the Pioneer Elite SC-99 has multichannel in and pre outs

it's one of only a very few pioneer elites that has multi channel in (the predecessors SC-89 and SC-79 do not have multi channel in)
 
salsdali said:
not as high end as the ones mentioned but the Pioneer Elite SC-99 has multichannel in and pre outs

it's one of only a very few elites that has multi channel in (the SC-89 and SC-79 do not have multi channel in)
Click to expand...

SALSDALI:

I like it and it happened to be on sale at the time I was in the market for a replacement. On top of the sale price they gave me a military/veteran discount. Plus it was nice to be able to support a US based company for a change. Is EMOVIVA at the extreme high end of the audio/video spectrum - no. I have found it to be well made, trouble-free, with an excellent customer support staff whose primary language is English.

Justin
 
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