Evolution of a system.... Emotiva components.

[rufessor]

Hi everyone-

This thread should be fun, I wish they had a simple "review" segment that was not specific to any one component because...

I am upgrading (massively I hope) my system.

Components I have currently

Paradigm SE3 towers, SE center and 2x SE sub with Half Dipole Surrounds (also paradigm)

Amp/Processor Yamaha RX-V863

Wire/interconnects-
El-cheapo freebie RCA interconnects- black thin wire etc...
(came in the package with X or Y stuff)

Speaker wire is stranded from Home Depot (probably 14 G)

Upgrade path-

Got a used UMC-1 (1 month old)- on its way-

Ordered from Emotiva-
5 x 0.5 M RCA interconnects to run from UMC-1 to pre in on amp
2 x 2M RCA interconnects with RCA splitter to run to 2x Paradigm SE subs from UMC-1 sub out.

Ordered from Anticables
2 x 12 ft Stereo pair (actually for L and C channel)
Banana on Amp --> Spade on speaker side
1 x 20 ft cable for R channel same set up

Initial signal path-

PS3 as CD/SACD/DVD/Game
HDMI --> UMC-1
UMC-1 component video to ceiling mounted projector (115 inch screen)
UMC-1 Pre outs to Yamaha amp pre ins bypassing all Yamaha processing circuitry

Final will be to dump the Yamaha and add in an XPA-5 in a few weeks or so.

Very very curious how just the UMC-1 plus wiring upgrades affect sound.

Very very very curious how the XPA-5 effects sound when I can finally order one.

Will be posting here my thoughts and comments on each incremental change. Should have something to add in a week or so. May even do all cables alone first. Then change in UMC-1 for Yamaha processing... then finally the amp.

[garbulky]

Good call.

BTW, and this may be just me, but on CD music I've noticed that the ps3 does not pass along a bit perfect digital stream to my ears. I have compared it with my laptop foobar WASAPI mode and my toshiba HD-DVD mode and the Toshiba and laptop were identical but the ps3 emited a different sound. The detail is still there but there is a slight frequency emphasis in the lower mid-range if I remember correctly. I have an old fat ps3 updated to the latest firmware and dynamic range control set to off and set to bitstream and to output at the original sample rate. If I had to guess it would be because the ps3 has a software implementation of a volume control and something in there is causing an additional processing step which is messing stuff up. Whatever it is I believe it's a software limitation.
I believe any cheap dvd player will be able to provide you with a bit perfect digital cd output. It doesn't have to be expensive.

Also I wouldn't worry about expensive cables. Even cheap ones that are thick guage will do just fine.

[rufessor]

Cool... another PS3 user... I don't have another source in house to compare it to thats worth calling a source (A portable DVD player seems unfit). And has only a head phone jack anyhow. I have the "original" 64 GB version with the PS2 CHIP on board, its fully updated... and I will carefully check but know that I do not have dynamic range control updated (why on earth would you use that). I am hoping that the UMC-1 will do a better job than the Yamaha. I know thats a problem child for me cause when I use it on pure direct it sounds infinitely better (not infinitely great just way better) than when I have any processing in the path, even when its set to straight, so I KNOW its coloring the sound. If I can get past that, I can test another source for CD (Have a friend bring their's over)... and we can see whats up with my set up.

One slight- slight alteration... I Called Anticable back and happen randomly to have the owner answer the phone (BONUS)... we spoke for a while and I changed my order to spades on both ends and purchased a set of bridge wires for the connections on my speakers to replace the metal foil-ish bridge that came with them. He was convinced that this component was going to be a weak link... so my end system is EMOTIVA and More EMOTIVA top to bottom for all components and interconnects (as well as to subs) with Anticables feeding the Paradigm speakers.

I agree about expensive cables... someone said that the only difference between a cable and a wire is cost... So I like the simplicity and price of the anticables solution. Its a terminal upgrade for me, I will not be searching and testing, it took me 20 + years to upgrade to "real" speaker cable... I doubt I will ever explore expensive cable when plenty of people with more money than my entire system into just 1 channel on an amp say that they are good enough.

[jjmatrix]

I have a friend that used to be a believer in the fact that speaker cables can have a big impact on sound; after countless tests, money and time he now believes that it's not the case.
Some months ago he brought me a box full of cables to have fun with; it included almost every esoteric design found on the internet culminating with a a hand-twisted pair of cables made out of CAT-6 network cables and pair of MIT cables that set him back $3,000 used.
For a few months I gave it my best to try and find out differences, and to my shame I couldn't; my DYI cables made out of 16 gauge (3 strands twisted came out as 14 gauge) Home Depot power cables sounded the same to me.
I am obviously not in a position to state this as a fact applicable to everyone; I'm simply saying that I was unable to find any differences.

[garbulky]

Oct 11, 2012 16:16:07 GMT -5 rufessor said:

and I will carefully check but know that I do not have dynamic range control updated (why on earth would you use that).

I believe they have three settings. On, automatic and off. You want the setting that is off. Dynamic range control basically means there is no dynamic range. Everything is at the same volume. This is useful for night time listening where you don't want to disturb anybody during action scenes but don't care about quality. Also if one has crappy amplifiers/speakers, the movies will sound very soft and only the action scenes have sufficient volume. So on crappy speakers it allows you to hear dialogue and stuff better because everything is bumped up to the same volume.
Of course, I say heck no to all of that and would prefer to experience the dynamic range that speakers have to offer. Also since you have a UMC-1, set your audio to "bit stream" everything if possible. I believe the settings you have to look under is three things video settings, music settings, and sound settings.

[rufessor]

Cool... thanks so much for tips on configuring. I have to say my biggest problem is always in figuring out how the HE!! to configure things so that I am not inadvertently forcing some strange conversion and killing the signal. I will carefully check all this- especially on the EMC-1 side as thats new to me. The PS3 I have some years on so I kinda know where stuff is on that and *think* i have it correct.

Thats my basic understanding of the DRC control as well. My why on earth comment was correctly interpreted! Of course I can see the need given a certain set up of condition but for a real listening session at reference (or slightly lower) volumes, a no-no for sure.

As to speaker wire, I started from the position that it just does not matter- and given the cost of most "audiophile" cables decided I was never going to know...

I would guess that quality unbalanced interconnects probably will make a bigger change, as at least this seems to have some more universally accepted rational basis on a measurable property like phase shift, impedance etc and cheap cables are demonstrably poor- and you can eliminate many sources of hum and noise by using decent interconnects.

Speaker cables are just a mess, its almost a religion- and I am decidedly agnostic so curious what my response to them will be. Reason I picked them up was basically curiosity and low entry fee... kinda like the dollar I was charged to view the worlds largest alligator at the state fair... totally worth it cause it was fun.

[rufessor]

Tracking says EMC-1 will be here today! Now my wife will know what I have been up to!


First test starts tonight! El-crapola cables all around (just saying) with the EMC-1 taking over for the Yamaha processor...

[jjmatrix]

Oct 12, 2012 13:29:22 GMT -5 rufessor said:

Cool... thanks so much for tips on configuring. I have to say my biggest problem is always in figuring out how the HE!! to configure things so that I am not inadvertently forcing some strange conversion and killing the signal...

PS3 has to be setup according to what source you're using:
1. Music Settings >> Output Frequency
a) 48 kHz - will play all source at this sample rate. This is good for CD/DVD/Blu-Ray/Games.
b) 44.1 / 88.2 / 176.4 kHz - this is preferred for higher resolution sources, such as: SACD, DVD Audio, and when streaming hi-rez music from a PC. Unfortunately, the UMC-1 has some issues with 88.1, so you'll have to play around a bit and see what works for you.
Note 1: When the audio device in use does not support frequencies of 88.2 kHz and 176.4 kHz, sound may not be emitted from the device and sometimes, sound may be intermittent.
Note 2: You will not be able to do anything else while using this setting (ex. watch pictures while plying music.

2. Music Settings >> Bitmapping
If you select mode b above, you can also ply with these settings; I like "Type 3" best, but you'll have to try and see.

3. Audio Output
You have to play here as well especially if you plan using the 44.1 / 88.2 / 176.4 kHz setting.

As for the UMC-1, once you select the "Direct" Mode, you're all set . Have fun this weekend!

[rufessor]

Thanks-

I got it unpacked, plugged in and nearly had a heart attack when I powered on my sub.... I had forgotten to consider that the sub is internally amped and when using the Emotiva processor as a pre-amp I had its volume set pretty damn high... like 0 or something and of course this nearly blew the sub when I powered it on because on my receiver I had the volume set fairly low... thankfully its all fine but man...

I have yet to run the room check/calibration, and I ran into the stupid DRM issues with the HDMI in from the PS3 disabling my ability to use the component out to my projector, so I plan to try putting my component audio/RCA stereo patch clamp back in the PS3 and then try to configure the source for DVD to component video in with HDMI audio and hope that this will allow me to pass the video through. Any one know if this will work? Cause in reading about this it almost seems like any HDMI plug inserted into the back will trigger the DRM "feature" and kill component out. I know that Emotiva has nothing they can do about this and its absolutely the same everywhere, but man, this seems like it could be overturned so easily in a law suit, its my damn room, DVD, player, processor, I have a right to watch it on whatever screen I want. Someone should take this up but the industry clearly has the resources to defend.

Anyhow, as to the sound. Given that I have done zero calibration, have some issues with set up and do not yet know what firmware I am running (getting to all this- I had very very little time to play) I observed two things.

Listening to CD via direct or stereo on speakers powered by Yamaha amp with Emotiva processor, the sound is more open. I had carefully listened to a few tracks from the Jerry Garcia Band (waiting for a miracle as one example) prior to reconfiguring, then did the swap, and listened again at similar levels (don't have a meter and now I have two volume knobs... not ideal).

The sound coming from the Emotiva is more open and clean- no doubt.

I had been trying to hear the sound stage, placement and separation of the instruments on the pure Yamaha system, and found it hard to do, as I was imagining that they were all grouped close together on the stage. Which in fact is usually the case in reality but it just felt very narrow with no "space". Signal through the EMotiva was revealing, the sound stage opened WAY up and i could now very clearly pick out a single instrument other than guitar and actually listen to it and follow it along- clearly.

I need to figure out what I am supposed to do in terms of volume with this type of set up. Should I set the UMC-1 to a high volume level and attenuate the sub both on the sub and in the EQ and then use the Yamaha amp to adjust volume, or should I set the Yahama amp to a high level and use the EMotiva to adjust the volume. This seems to be the way it will work with a stand alone amp, so its how I am running it now. I have the Yamaha at like +2.5 db which is pretty damn loud if your playing it straight as the processor and amp (I listen at -20 db typically for a "loud" clear session but not annoying). I think this may even in part explain why it sounds better, but I am not sure. Any comments on the DRM issues and this part of the set up.

Overall, happy- Unsure if the system is as "new" as was advertised, its supposed to be only a few months old but the HDMI plug inputs have a number of scratches around them, either the person using it plugged everything in blind or was blind, or had used it for a lot longer than a month. But, it works, and if I need to I can upgrade firmware, I know that the firmware has been constant now for a good long while, so if its old I can date it and go back to seller and tell them they were full of crap and ask for a bit of compensation just to be fair, but its fine. No issues all is well!!

[garbulky]

I'm not familiar with the UMC-1. The eq from what I gather is not meant to be used as a volume control per se. It's meant for level matching and (maybe?) room calibration. I wouldn't use it to attenuate individual levels even when you are calibrating more than you have to to get things sounding right especially if you're using 2 channels.

The UMC-1 has an analog volume control (the big volume knob) and it is not digitally attenuated so it doesn't "lose" information. This is good. So if I had to guess that's what you should use as a volume control. As for which one to use, yamaha or UMC-1, and your other questions, I honestly don't know the answer to that. Somebody else may be able to help you. Good luck.

[rufessor]

Thanks-

I was not really advocating using the EQ to "fix" the sub out problem- this is just a temporary issue related to the fact that the Yamaha RX-V863 that I am using now as just an amp (running the pre-outs from the UMC-1 to the pre-ins on the Yamaha in 5 channel (I only have a 5.1 system as far as speakers). So because the Yamaha of course has a volume knob- but the sub gets its volume from the UMC-1 you can see how this could be an issue... (first time for me) so I think (based on logic and your comments) the correct way to use this is to pick a volume on the Yamaha amp and leave it set to that level- then use the UMC-1 to calibrate the room and if it comes up with a large differential on the sub output I should probably first simply turn the sub volume control (on the back of the sub) up or down a bit and recalibrate so that the EQ comes out mostly flat in terms of db outputs (not worried about frequency I can almost guarantee that will be flat as all speakers are matched).

What I am not so sure of is- where should I set the Yamaha Volume? Max seems like a bad idea... but I really have no clue where it should be set. For now I have it set at about the zero db point (again, I am unsure why an amp has a -db setting... but thats my ignorance. Will be looking into this, but if anyone can help inform me as to what a safe, volume setting on the amp might be (I suspect that this can help a lot with sound quality) I will pick it.

Also- any help on the DRM video stuff would be very much appreciated. I may stumble into it, but it would SUCK big time to be DOA in terms of video to my projector based upon the fact that I have to have HDMI to get the multi channel audio... seems like this must be possible to work around. I *think* the PS3 will output video to both the component and the HDMI (or maybe its selectable but I don't recall a setting indicating this) and I know I can choose to output Audio as any number of bit stream etc... as discussed above.
Anyhow, help on the amp settings, and a LOT of help on the video would be great. Manual did not (need to really sit down with it) seem to cover this in much if any detail on a quick (very) check.

[rufessor]

The volume issues will go away when i get the XPA-5 so its a temporary fix (a month maybe) but I want to be sure I don't set myself up to blow stuff up while running it this way, thus my concern with setting the amp volume too high.

The video issues are what they are, the XPA-5 will of course do nothing to this end.

Just so I can get the information out there...
Video is component video connections run up to a ceiling projector- the projector does not have an HDMI input. I have very high quality long run (like 40+ ft) component RCA cable (oxygen free) that I got pretty cheap from someone else but the cable was hundreds of dollars and my video is extremely clean (when it works, the old Yamaha was pre- DRM rules so I can put the HDMI into it and output Component. Maybe I am confused... and this should work, but I see a message on my projector saying that there is a copyright issue with the video and to fix it I should plug in HDMI to view video... obviously- cannot do this.

[rufessor]

Ok-

Some progress and a bit of a review thus far. I managed to complete the firmware and processing package update to the UMC-1. I ran EmoQ after carefully suspending the mic at a position exactly centered between my eyes in a seated position directly centered between the front stereo pair. Lets get my only complaint about EmoQ out of the way first so we can get onto the stuff it does well.

EmoQ- Worked well but not close to perfectly. I ran it twice- my subs are internally amped and I turned them down a bit because they were very loud during the test and EmoQ had them at like -10.5 db. So I adjusted their volume down and re-ran EmoQ. Strange- the subs were quite a bit lower in volume but EmoQ still put them -8.5 db in adjustment and I could hardly tell they were on when listening in Stereo so I adjusted them to -1.5 which sounds right to me (and I am NOT a bass freak so it was really really low by EmoQ). Since EmoQ has a long history of failure in Bass management I was unsurprised it still has serious issues.

EmoQ- Speaker distances. I didn't get out a tape measure but it nailed all 5 channels. Subs were off a good 5 ft but I believe (do not know) that due to the frequency used with a Sub distance calculation my be difficult- so I give it an A for distance calibration. Very very good.

EmoQ- EQ settings. I admit to not having spent a lot of time trying to understand this. But it detected my front stereo pair as full range speakers (and they are) and set the crossover for the center at 75 and for the surrounds at 95 which is probably about right. The center is a true 3 way speaker of very high quality but its running smaller drivers so that sounds about right to me. One thing I have a complaint about, it had my front stereo pair at -8.5 db on the lowest frequency bin on the EQ. Simple fact is, that is impossible. The speakers are a set of Paradigm SE3 towers, they do very well in Base extension but are hardly the last word and require subs to sound truly great. NO WAY can they require attenuation of 8.5 db to the signal at the lowest frequency- unless I have this totally backwards and -8.5 on the EQ actually indicates a signal boost. ANyhow, I set the crossover to 60 manually and thus that EQ bin is irrelevant. Else, I cannot complain. It had very very slight differences between the L/R pair which were significant on my first run, but I noticed they were not well aligned so I adjusted the speakers more carefully and re-ran EmoQ and the EQ settings for R/L pair were then nearly identical. Good job!! Also pretty damn flat- which is how my speakers should run. Overall- nice job on EQ settings.

Sound quality.
I have a serious issue with the UMC-1 that I will end this section of my review with. Its nearly bad enough to end wit the UMC-1 being sold immediately but I need to look into this more and try to fix it, cause the first bit I have to say will inform you that the sound quality is typically very very good.

I have spent a good bit of time listening to various tracks over and over again from when I first plugged the UMC-1 into my system when it was running 7.0.4.0 (or something like that) up to last night when I became convinced that I had a good EmoQ result under the final revision of software available as of yesterday.

Thoughts on sound quality under final revision with EmoQ and all distances set correctly, crossovers set and running in Stereo mode using a PS3 with the component out cable and analog RCA stereo signal. (I normally use HDMI but my projector is Component analog only and the current HDCP rules on the UMC-1 break my projector (no signal can pass in HD through component).

This is all in comparison to a Yamaha RX-V863 which I had been using to do processing and as an amp. CUrrently the signal path is UMC-1 component 5 channel out to the Yamaha RX-V863 running in amp only mode and in pure direct so it should only take the signal from the UMC-1 and amplify it NOTHING else.

COmpared to the Yamaha, with the same PS3 connection and same music, there is no comparison. The UMC-1 BLOWS away the Yamaha in sound quality on every level- period. I am very surprised at the level of improvement, very. Biggest change is two fold. Stereo imaging and sound field are HUGE coming from the UMC-1. I got up last night, not two times, I literally got up from my chair and walked to the front of my room and stuck my head in front of the center channel to be certain it was not on. The stereo imaging is so big, so accurate and so enveloping that I SWEAR the center channel was on and I was listening to a movie with the singers voice on the center channel. Nope, pure stereo analog signal running in Stereo mode on the UMC-1- no center channels. I was amazed. Seriously, I checked 3 times on different tracks. Never, ever heard my system do this but for when I had my speakers at a friends house with multi thousands in amps driving them. The speakers disappear- gone. Just sound.

Other significant difference.
Sound is MUCH less attenuated. I knew I disliked the Yamaha processor, very much so in fact, but had uncertain expectations as to the UMC-1 and its ability to send a quality stereo signal for 2-channel music (with a sub so 2.1 I guess). Its very hard to be analytical here, because I believe there is probably yet more room for improvement (I would guess that a very very high quality stereo pre would notably improve on my current sound, but I doubt it would be of the magnitude of improvement I will describe below). However, compared to the Yamaha stereo processing- again zero comparison. Like I said, I disliked the Yamaha (a LOT) for stereo- it completely colored the sound, killed any highs and you felt like the sound was coming out of a large tube- it was all there but slightly scrambled and muddy. Like listening to a really really high end system, standing in the next room with the door mostly closed. The UMC-1 greatly greatly improved on this. High frequency signal is now detailed, clear, and easy to listen to. You can actually pick out any instrument playing and follow it along through the entire song, easily. Base extension and sub performance seems improved from the Yamaha although not as clearly as the high frequencies but this is not overly surprising on a system running subs- but it is better. Mid range is simply uncluttered and clear and NOT COLORED. Thank god. FInally, a pre amp I can listen to and hear the recording as the engineer wanted it.

Only issue, and this is a tough one. I have one or two tracks I can hear clear distortion on. Had major issues with this after my first update- re did the flash and software load and its mostly gone. This ends up being an issue for me. I have never owned any piece of equipment ever- that introduced distortion into my system. I have never even heard distortion prior to purchasing the UMC-1. This in my mind is a serious unacceptable flaw that may lead to the UMC-1 being listed on AudioGon- its simple unacceptable at any level. I know its not only me and I have played with the EQ settings some, I need to sit down and try it running through the EQ set my EmoQ and a flat unadjusted EQ setting and see if that fixes it. If it does I guess I run though the EQ set up and screw with stuff until it goes away. But the fact that this problem exists, well- it simply kills any enthusiasm for what I had been thinking was a true audiophile product at a bargain price.

[maximumkahuna]

I am surprised at the vehemence of your dislike of your Yamaha. It sounds like you have been very thorough in your set up and analysis of your sound, but I am on my second Yamaha, first was a RX-V657 and the RX-V3900 I have now, and while I have found them to be a bit forward, I have not heard the muddy, tunnel sound you described. I listen to my 2-channel as Pure Direct via an XDA-1 (the soundstage IS bigger) but even if I use 2-ch stereo, it doesn't exhibit the sound you describe.

Have your tried digital out from your PS3 to the UMC-1? You're getting a AD/DA conversion. Even if you use analog outs to get the PS3 to decode the latest movie codecs you can get digital out for stereo and let only the UMC decode to analog.

[ansat]

I found a coulpe interesting things in your statement.

Your Fronts
±2 dB from 65 Hz - 20 kHz

Those should be set for 60 hz. not full range.

The second thing I saw was "-8.5 db on the lowest frequency bin on the EQ" on the fronts. If I remember the lowest eq was in the 20s. If that is the case, then you have some problems with the room that could be addressed as your speakers were not designed to go that low.

[rufessor]

I totally agree, I set my crossovers for the fronts at 60. Over ride of EmoQ set up. Clearly the speakers cannot go full range, yet thats what it set them to. Sorry, failed apparently to note that I did in fact notice that and change it.

As for the Yamaha, well, it is what it is. I found it to be miserable in stereo 2.1 channel, the processing to simply add in the crossover and send a signal to the subs and then simply drive 2 channel stereo was notably effecting the sound, notably. I would listen in pure direct as much as possible, but then when you nuter the subs out and have very nice, but clearly not full range speakers- well... that takes away from the sound. Basically, I could not get what I wanted out of the Yahama.

Either I got OK sound and a relatively small sound field using Pure Direct, but little base extension or to me, fairly crippled sound that was simply compressed sounding, very hard to describe, with decent base extension using the subs in straight mode. Remember, this is the REASON I got the UMC-1. I needed a upgrade on the stereo end of things- now I cannot wait to listen to a movie.

Yeah... with respect to Analog and digital conversion, thanks to the movie studios enacting (or their minions) the analog sunset rules, my pure analog projector is not able to work with the UMC-1 unless I pass the UMC-1 a analog component signal, so to get HD Video I currently have to pass component directly from the PS3. And, I have tried using the HDMI out audio setting on the PS3 but for some reason, I cannot get the PS3 to find a HDMI partner, it does not see the UMC-1 even if I set up the DVD setting on the UMC-1 to accept component video1 input for video and then choose HDMI for audio, the thing is, its kinda odd. The UMC-1 menu only shows HDMI (not HDMI1,2,3,4) and I cannot really select HDMI. So- either the UMC-1 is not liking the idea of handling HD component 1 as video input and then selecting HDMI as sound, or the PS3 is not liking the UMC1 or perhaps I have something wrong.

Thus, the reason I have it doing the Analog-digital-analog conversion on the UMC-1. If I set it up with HDMI I then cannot see the PS3 menu, its kinda strange, I figured it would enable me to output 480p down converted video from a HDMI HD signal, but somehow even selecting to down convert video I still get the digital copyright screen and no source video, but can see the UMC-1 menu and that clearly is now in 480p... so somethings up with my understanding of the rules or my UMC-1 or something.

Lots to still learn here, so I am trying to keep an open mind, but it would be so much easier if we knew we could trust the firmware to do its thing and not get in the way, then I would be able to more easily understand if I am doing something wrong, if a connection is somehow bad, or if I simply cannot do what I think I can. Anyhow, I really want to emphasize that the audio improvement is very good compared to the Yamaha. I am clearly not yet an expert here and either still have a bug I need to fix (new firmware for the third time seems kinda odd) causing the distortion, or have a setting out of range thats causing distortion (why you would enable a setting to have a range that creates distortion I have no idea).... getting there, but unsure whats up with a few different things currently.

ANyone have clues about anything, happy to chase down your suggestions.

[ansat]

You are definatly having a strange issue. -- I have had no troubles with distortion from the PS3.

I will give you a few things I have discovered with my UMC - 1
1. I do not like the house curve of the UMC. It makes a assumption that you want increased lows and reduced highs. ( I verified this on multiple occasions using my RTA).
2. The UMC wants to see audio and video over HDMI connection. Given this there is a delay for the handshake. This will likely never be resolved as I believe its hardware related.
3. The UMC also consistantly sets my surrounds at a lower spl then what my meter reads. Usually 3db.
4. Dolby volume is useless.
5. To matrix 5.1 to 7.1 you need to have the player do the decoding and use multi CH pcm.
6. The UMC does a great job of bringing out the source connected to it. Good and Bad
Tony

[rufessor]

I played with it a bit more last night, and now tracks that were perfectly clear yesterday are distorted today, and they are digital tracks on the PS3 that were ripped from a CD a long time ago, I did not touch a single connection- nothing. I tried playing with the UMC-1 settings for the EQ but could not get the distortion to go away. Its just super odd. I am going to try re-flashing the unit and re-loading the processing software and if its still having issues I guess I will call Emotiva and see about a warranty repair/exchange, its so odd. I can see that other people have distortion issues as there are threads here but the usual suggestion and even a common solution is to drop the EQ settings such that no channel has any EQ setting greater than 2 db, which i did. I then powered the unit on and off and still, distortion.

Its completely odd, I am not kidding, I was listening to stuff Monday night and it was very impressive, but I found a few tracks that had distortion, now Tuesday night, I hear it on numerous tracks that were clean Monday and I did not change anything in terms of hardware not even the volume knob on the amp... after hearing it I did check... reducing it does not change it if your curious. Its also present even at relatively low volumes, say 25 on the UMC-1. So its not like its coming through the volume ladder.

Easiest thing at this point is to blame software and reload. If its still an issue and no one has other ideas I will call them up and work on an exchange. Oh well. At least the warranty is good and people have generally found excellent customer support here, and I can point to a lot of effort on my part to make this work so I am sure it will be taken care of. Actually hope reload of software (3rd try might be the charm?) fixes it cause I just want to use it

[rufessor]

I agree that the UMC-1 seems to let you hear the source, but I know that the tracks I am hearing are not supposed to be distorted and the distortion is identical across them, so its the UMC-1.

I dont use Dolby Volume- read many comments saying its worthless/broken so i never went there.

I will eventually address the HDMI vs analog thing, but thats not what is causing this. I had distortion on the HDMI connection then re-loaded software to try to fix that, it improved but its still there so one more try.

I don't know what you mean when you say you do not like the house curve, I assume your talking about how EmoQ sets up the EQ. I note that it had much of the upper frequencies down by 2-3db which I corrected- its far from perfect. I don't know how they do it, but it seems to me the best way would be to simply state the the automatic EQ is designed to produce as flat a frequency v.s. sound level plot as possible, a full frequency white noise signal should be equally loud at all frequencies above the crossover point. If you suggesting that EmoQ does not try to do this,I guess I am not surprised, but I have absolutely no way of knowing this and its impossible to tell without real equipment. I simply worked within the general paramaters that the EmoQ produced and find that asside from the distortion, the sound is actually better after using the EmoQ settings, thus my generally positive review.

Now- I need to figure out WTF is causing distortion.

[ansat]

House curve is curve that wouldn't be flat. In most rooms a truely flat response is not desirable. Audyssey discovered this early on and created 2 curves. Audyssey and audyssey flat. The audyssey flat is just as it sounds flat response. The default audyssey curve is a house curve taylored to sound the best for the most people. This results curve that is usually slanted downwards. Most autocorrection impliments this house curve at default.

But back to the problem at hand. What modes have you tried using on the umc?

sent from my phone. sorry for the short response. Tony