Emotiva UMC-1: Niche Market Pre-Pro with audiophile SQ & features

Just dropped by to share my excitement. The units(Subhash's and mine) have been delivered at my home few minutes ago:yahoo:.

Today is gonna be a long day (both work and after). Hope to hook it up in my system tonight:licklips:.

Back to work:sad:.

Congratulations Santosh! Await your initial impressions and review!
 
what is price of emotion umc1,never heard of this, where to buy in india, is it any good compared to yamaha,onkyo,demon and other brands

Emotion?? Demon?? had a tiff with your spouse AND your mother in law (at the same time) just before making this post looser?!
 
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*Just got off the phone with Subhash who is kicking himself for being out of Bangalore when he is supposed to playing with his UMC-1:lol:*

Reached home late from work, unpacked it immediately, powered it on all to check if it was fine. Then started hooking up the UMC-1 into my AV chain only at 11PM as there were too many powercuts today (err last night).

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Gotta love the looks of the UMC-1. The blue backlit and illuminated buttons are just fantastic. I plan to paint the silver parts on the sides black. Build quality is also great, nothing to complaint against.

First impressions are very impressive. It rocks both for movies as well as music:clapping:.

Movies: Watched some familiar scenes of Avatar BD. Audio was DTS MA HD bitstreamed from my PS3 Slim. Dialogues are crystal clear and amazing seperation of the various channels. The center channel feels much more reinforced now. Played around with settings and set it up to my liking, still many things to learn and tweak. Bass Management is just fantastic in the UMC-1, offers lot of tweakability.

Stereo: Using the Squeezebox as a Transport only, connected the digital coaxial output from my SB into the UMC-1 in Direct Mode. Listened to some familiar songs. My first few seconds on "Hotel California" was like it is almost as good as my Adcom Pre. Then found the bass to be a tad weaker through the UMC-1. Listening to some more genres and songs emphasized the fact about bass, otherwise very good. I have not done a A/B test with my Adcom Pre. Also tried Stereo mode (with sub) and this sounded just fantastic considering my sub is very boomy for music.

Will do a detailed review some time soon. Gotta get some sleep now. Gnite:)
 
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Ahh, I liked the photo(post 104) of the baba with his toy..Young man, don't let your father anywhere near that qizmo-he might start to like your toy a bit toto much for hsi own goods:D
 
Thanks for sharing!
Today is a big day then.. hope you dont have to go to work, it will be one tough day to get through if you have to :D
Thanks Jitu, I work 7 to 4. So, am already at work. Yes, it is gonna be difficult to get through today.

Ahh, I liked the photo(post 104) of the baba with his toy..Young man, don't let your father anywhere near that qizmo-he might start to like your toy a bit toto much for hsi own goods:D
Hehehe Thanks George. My son is always excited when I receive a parcel as I involve him in unboxing any goodies that I get :).
 
what is price of emotion umc1,never heard of this, where to buy in india, is it any good compared to yamaha,onkyo,demon and other brands

guess u got it wrong

its Emotiva UMC-1 (US based ,low cost amps but true value for money, with very good user reviews),chk earlier posts

doubtful as yet if it will hit indian markets,u cud source from net by preorder like santhol and me

will definetly compare with onkyo, i dont own yamaha and demon!!!:lol:
 
congrats santosh!

you've got quite a loaded rack now! quite an interesting product i must say! bet you enjoying it today evening as i'm typing this :) will be reading up more on it.

regards
 
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its Emotiva UMC-1 (US based ,low cost amps but true value for money, with very good user reviews),chk earlier posts

doubtful as yet if it will hit indian markets,u cud source from net by preorder like santhol and me

Emotiva is an internet based retailer. There are no stores anywhere in the world that carry their products. So any ordering is done through Emotiva Website
 
Congratulations Santosh! Await your initial impressions and review!

well, i guess we are all waiting for santhol to add a new post.... looking forward to it mate

congrats santosh!

you've got quite a loaded rack now! quite an interesting product i must say! bet you enjoying it today evening as i'm typing this :) will be reading up more on it.

regards
Thanks folks, like you guessed I was playing with my new toy most of today evening:licklips:. Just finished watching Baraka on Blu-ray with the UMC-1 doing the sound processing. I was blown by the SQ. The UMC-1 continues to impress. I have not been able to test the video upscaling capability yet, will do it over the weekend and do a detailed review soon with lots of pics.
 
Good to hear that you're enjoying your new toy buddy. Oh and your Kid is more interested than you to open the parcel :)
 
you've got quite a loaded rack now!

Stevie you naughty boy, Santosh is a guy if you know what I mean :lol:;)

Thanks folks, like you guessed I was playing with my new toy most of today evening:licklips:. Just finished watching Baraka on Blu-ray with the UMC-1 doing the sound processing. I was blown by the SQ. The UMC-1 continues to impress. I have not been able to test the video upscaling capability yet, will do it over the weekend and do a detailed review soon with lots of pics.

Thanks Santosh. Do post a detailed review! You and this thread have tempted me enough to plan for a separate 5.1 receiver + 2.0 amp combo setup using possibly an Emotiva XPA-2, because I feel my Wharfedale Diamond 10.7s deserve a much better amp than just the Onkyo 608 they're currently connected to :). But then I have already burnt a crater sized hole in my wallet thanks to my recent shopping spree so would have to wait for few more months before I spend again on Hi-Fi :sad:.
 
yday after picking up the Emotiva from santosh i set up the UMC-I

for the brief period i listened to it, my initial opinion is SQ is fab , anyday over the top compared to an AVR

the sound is more involving / separation and detailing is superior

the unit may not look classy as an onkyo but as a pre it performs better, no doubt abt this

set up is easy

automatic set up (Emo-Q) is accurate but values are set low to my tastes ,here am sure many wud prefer manual settings according to preferences

The Umc-1 has a lot of features that may not be present in the expensive AVRs ,the BQ of remote looks cheap but is very handy and easy to use ,wish it had a back light
 
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Great to hear the first reviews, enjoy your new baby :) Now probably you need a high end universal remote :)

Are you also looking at moving the amp to the upa-7 or xpa-7 or you will remain with your current amps for some time?
 
Great to hear the first reviews, enjoy your new baby :) Now probably you need a high end universal remote :)

Are you also looking at moving the amp to the upa-7 or xpa-7 or you will remain with your current amps for some time?
Thanks Sudhir. Not me, for movies I am more than happy with the Adcom (200W x 2 @ 8ohms for front) and Rotel(100W x 5 @ 8ohms for remaining channels). The Rotel's 100W is understated and does a great job with headroom for more. Next is a better sub, better center channel and one more pair of surrounds to be used as rear surrounds as I am currently using my Jamo floorstanders as rear surrounds.
 
Thanks Sudhir. Not me, for movies I am more than happy with the Adcom (200W x 2 @ 8ohms for front) and Rotel(100W x 5 @ 8ohms for remaining channels). The Rotel's 100W is understated and does a great job with headroom for more. Next is a better sub, better center channel and one more pair of surrounds to be used as rear surrounds as I am currently using my Jamo floorstanders as rear surrounds.

HI santhol, is the adcom 555 the same that used to be made in the late 80's and early 90s? If so, you have a really good thing going.. (heard it many years back with a pair of thiel speakers.. was an astounding experience)

cheers
 
HI santhol, is the adcom 555 the same that used to be made in the late 80's and early 90s? If so, you have a really good thing going.. (heard it many years back with a pair of thiel speakers.. was an astounding experience)

cheers
Yes Kapil, you got it right. I bought it used in "mint" condition after listening on my setup. Before that I used to use an Adcom 535 (60W x 2). I still have it, will put it to use as Zone 2 or probably for reinforcing the center channel.
 
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