My new Emotiva home theater

[julio]

1)

erwinbel said:

I really don't see the point in using XLR to RCA cables.

XLR to RCA cables RMAd (Lucky!)

2)

thelordoftherings said:

This is a fabulous & complete sound system for five grands.

I agree, great system for an even greater price.

3)

flcanuck said:

I might save the settings you currently have in one of the other 2 setting spots you can have for EQ. Then you can play and tweak to your heart's content without losing your current/original settings.

I have no EQ settings at all, you mean that I can save my Distances, Crossovers, etc to one of those memory spots?

4) Center channel is 13inches from the floor with a 1" slope. I am waiting for the SS-6 stand to come back in stock.
That will allow me a better placement. I will test by turning off boundary compensation and enabling high expansion.
Then reducing -db compensation setting inder UMC-1. I am mostly using DTS, and DTS-MA for all my MC tests right now.

5) Bob, I will send you a PM later.

6)

chuckienut said:

lso it looks like from the before and later photo that you moved the 8.3 out a little bit toward the side wall with no toe-in as RR mentioned. Try the 8.3's in as close to the screen as possible without blocking the screen, same with getting the center up higher.

Yes, Eric moved the speakers from my initial place. They were closer to the screen, but same toe-in.
I thought that the more toe-in, the less dispersion and openess effect I will get so I tried not to add too much toe-in.
Although they are toed-in and not straight. They should have around 15-20 degrees right now.

7) Ron (Roadrunner) My room is 18' x 14' x 8' sloped to 10'. Fully closaed/dedicated HT room with no windows.
Door is centered right in the back, no gear in the room at all. All gear is located in a dedicated room behind ht room.

8) I have not experimented with the UMC-1 other than Speakers Distance, Levels, Crossovers, Compensation.
BTW - I can not set my speakers to small... as there is no "Small" option.

9) I was not able to play with my toys last night, but setup an 8hour playlist of DTS-CDs this morning and left it playing.
My wife was REALLY happy listening to Enigma, Dido, and others Will do this everyday for the next week or two.

10) I will try to move the fronts a tad more away from the walls, although I think that aesthetically they will look too close to the
listeners if I do any more. I can certainly move them away from the side-wall at least 3-4 inches more.

11) You can tell I need to balance/blend in more the fronts (L/R) with the center channel as they overpower everything else right now.
Not by much, but I have a very good ear for even the slight changes. LOL

12)

sagasa said:

Try different mike. I got mine two weeks ago i used my Onkyo 805 mike to run the EQ everything
reads ok.

A different Mic for EmoQ... I though UMC-1 is calibrated for that particular Mic?

13) Maybe I am confused, but can someone explain me how can I verify that the sub is setup to get both the redirected bass from the speakers and LFE?
I am sure you mean to set the subwoofer crossover to 80hz (which is done) but what else should I do/set? Will keep reading all manuals when I get home.
I also manually set the X-Ref12 to Flat and 80hz, No phase (0 degrees). Nothing else I can set there except add/remove dbs.

14)

richardrc said:

Your surrounds appear to be mounted quite high up on the wall which is probably contributing to thier percieved quiteness.

ERD-1 surrounds are mounted 2 feet above ear level as per instructions and most sites. (Dolby, THX, etc) The surround effect is there and really nice, just
"too low" for my taste, but perhaps that's they way it is meant and I am just whining about it. (I know I can increase volumes to them which I will eventually)

15)

richardrc said:

Are you considering some room treatments as they may well help the sound stage.

I will indeed add some room treatment to the room, but not for the immediate future. Unfortunately my budget was dented with a few unexpected things.
Right Chuck?

16)

Your RCA to Balanced cables will not work in this configuration as the amp is expecting a "balanced in" but you are only providing half the signal.
I can recommend the Emo RCAs (I had to pay for mine on a similar sized order, so don't be too upset )

Great! Now you tell me this! Hahaha
Not upset at all, just trying to get the cables as part of the order for being such a lovely Emotiva fan-boy!

17)

richardrc said:

Mine now sound heaps better than when they were new

Good to hear this. I am looking forward to this as well.

18)

richardrc said:

I will also like to know of your impressions of the XRef Sub as I am thinking of getting one.

For my room's dimension, the X-Ref12 simply amazed me. My initial reaction was "Are you serious? This enclosure is really small for a 12" sub.
Was I wrong! This sub rocks!!! Very detailed, clean and tight. And it goes down...down...down... Very musical as well. Well worth it.
Bass is really well dispersed, so I am not looking for a 2nd one anytime now.

19)

hdsapper said:

Since getting the Emotiva speakers, I'm listening at 40-48 on the UMC-1. Note I only have the XPA-5; no XPA-2.

Output level: Listening at 40 - 48 is what I am getting as well. So I will not worry anymore.

20)

wizardofoz said:

That dell server must be a damn noisy brute... lucky you have all that power to drown it out

It is a Dell R710 with 12TB of usable space in a RAID6 array. I have a few VMs for my personal lab (Exchange, SharePoint, SQL, SCCM, CentOS)
I also use it as a file share server for my FLAC, MKV files. Fans are really quiet! These are the new fans from Dell. (8 in total) and you will not hear them at all even with the door open.

[julio]

Sept 13, 2011 10:46:20 GMT -5 laserman35 said:

I'm a little confused on the UMC-1 listening levels to 40 or 45.
I have a Marantz receiver and the level starts at 40 if i remember correctly with no volume and goes up to -40.
-10 is as loud as i care to ever listen to and with most movies being played at +10 to +15. The amps seems to have lots of reserved power.

what is the volume range on the UMC-1 does it have enough output voltage to the amp? Or could my Marantz be to much voltage?
I'm considering Emotiva for my next processor but I may rethink this if I'm short on power or Emotiva processor not giving me enough output voltage.

My AMPS are the XPA-5 and the XPA-3 with same 8.3 and 6.3 used for the fronts.

One suggestion on your room. I filled in the front of my theater room with 4" acoustic foam. It's seemed to make a huge difference to the sound-stage. There is no uncovered space around the speaker.
The size of my room is small so i was only able to put the speakers 6" away from the wall. My center tweeter is at my ear level and my 8.3 are just a little bit higher but i towed them in with a laser pointer to my left and right ears. I'm not able to tune my system yet. My Marantz receiver has a broken HDMI section and i am forced to run in pure direct mode now with RCA's.
I believe acoustic treatment and speaker positioning made all the difference in my system and i do think it sounds amazing.

Laserman:

The UMC-1 starts at 0 and goes up to 80 as volume range.
You mean to fill the spaces next to my screen with room treatment?
I was thinking of adding 2x4 in the ceiling, right below the surrounds and a few 2 x2 in the upper part above the projector.

I admit that by moving the font speaker a little away from the walls made a huge improvement. I will keep playing more. I have plenty of time during my weekends. (If I don't have to work or plans with family).

So, if you have a small room, it means your speakers have a lot of toe-in? How did it impact your soundstage/imaging?

[julio]

Anyone knows of some good room treatment that will not cost me much? (Using the search feature of the forums - LOL)

[laserman35]

I used bass traps in all corners from top to bottom and loaded the rest of the room with 4 " wedges.
From my understanding you will get very little benefit from putting treatments to your ceiling. I have a tray ceiling that has a drop ceiling installed in it with acoustic tiles.

My rooms floor has double padding and carpet. there is a real dead sound to your voice when you speak in the room.

www.foamexpress1.com/ there price was much cheaper and i had no problems with my order. You get shipping price after you place your order this is the only downside i seen but it was reasonable.

I guess 5/8 volume on the umc-1 could the same level as my marantz.
I was worried that there might be a mismatch as i once had a Alpine head unit output of 8 volts to some cheap amp with no gain control the result was little control of the volume. Referring to CAR stereo.
The output voltage could jump in the last 35 digits of volume control.

Hope this helps

[Pauly]

Just don't go overboard with the room treatments. There is such a thing as having too many treatments. Put some in the main reflective points for now, and see how that does.

[edoggrc51]

Sept 13, 2011 12:17:29 GMT -5 julio said:

Anyone knows of some good room treatment that will not cost me much? (Using the search feature of the forums - LOL)

Where ya located?

[julio]

Texas

[Deleted]

Is that somewhere near Oklahoma?

[NorthStar]

South of Florida.

[julio]

LOL - I love that sense of humor! I definitely need to reserve the dates for Emotiva 2012!
Can't miss it next year! Forget the new gear… I'll have a blast with you guys!

[richardrc]

Sept 13, 2011 12:15:22 GMT -5 julio said:

The UMC-1 starts at 0 and goes up to 80 as volume range.

IIRC Lonnie has stated that the volume control is linear to 40 and logarithmic thereafter.

You can use the the trim in the input setup to level out the individual source volumes.

[edoggrc51]

Sept 13, 2011 18:28:18 GMT -5 julio said:

Texas

Give my buddy James a call. He makes some solid custom panels, and told me he doesnt mind shipping. Here's his CL ad and contact info. Tell him Eric sent ya.

losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/msg/2583480016.html

[essheil]

That's a BEAUTIFUL emotiva gear setup you got there. Good job!

[julio]

OK Pals (& Gals)

I am finally back around the forums... and had some time right before Christmas to play some with my toys. Here's a follow-up on my HT. (Now my system has around 600 hours)

1) I sold a the Oppo BDP-93 to a fellow board member as I wanted a "All-In-One" device.
I got an HTPC. (Thanks to Denist for suggestions and to use OpenElec). So far very happy!

2) I finally was able to put Chuckienut's and Roadrunner's expertise for good and re-configured the entire set-up. I grabbed a couple of Test CDs that "magically" showed up in my mail a while ago, got me a tripod, and set the SPL meter.

3) I updated to latest UMC-1 firmware, and made sure I had a few SACDs and Hi-Res media for later testing.

4) I gave Emo-Q a try, and although this time the speaker distances were better than previous attempts, it was still off for me. I set distances, crossovers, levels, etc. I tried the system and it definitely sounded better, but I could hear/feel something was still off.

5) I put in the Test CDs, and carefully re-set everything again. (Test tones, levels, bass sweeping, etc) Heck, I even did a little bit of tweaking to EQ. I also moved around the speakers a little bit (More on speaker placement later).

I "played" for about 2 hours until I was satisfied doing this over and over again. I then tried a few tracks from John Klemmer, Wynton Kelly, The Monk, and many others). The sound difference is amazing! The details, depth, imaging change drastically. I was aware that the speakers "opened" up after break-in, and trust me.. the difference after break-in was a night and day difference for me. ( I was not happy with the sound when I got the speakers)

So.. after countless of back and forth tests... here's my final conclusion.

a) These speakers need the break-in period before you can judge them.

b) I know that many does not agree with the fact that an AMP can make a huge difference in sound, but I am allowed to disagree. I have tested a few amps from friend's & neighbors and they all sounded different. My next door neighbor got four XPA-1s for X-Mas and we will set two with my ERT 8.3s.

c) I felt that speaker placement is relly critical with these speakers. Not sure why more than other sets I have used in the past. Depth and Imaging are greatly "affected" even with half-inch changes. (At least in my room). This is specially true with female vocals.

In the end I had to trade these dynamics for a little more sound spread. (I opened the "triangle"from the speakers to the sweet-spot of the listening area so every seat has the same sound as possible. I certainly lost a little imaging, but my biggest loss was in the depth area (which I really enjoy and miss). Of course I still can move them inwards for those solo ocassions and get "everything" back.

They lack a little in the top-end, but in all honesty... that's is relative, and after some time you may like it. There's no more "boxie" sound, and my room is now full of excitement!
The ERDs-1 are a joy and now provide a rich, sub-merging sound.

d) X-Ref 12 sub... Although it sounds deep, powerful and clean, I noticed that now if I sit right in the center it sounds absolutely perfect. But as I move along the the sides, the bass is.. well.. different. Not sure if "boomy" is the correct term to describe it. Also, not sure if getting another sub will "cure" this issue. Though I will have to lower the sub level. ( I have my sub set at 0db/Flat/80) and UMC-1 is set to 1.5 and it sounds really, really good.


At night, we watched a movie and the wife congratulated "me" for how it sounds now.

Thanks everyone for all the tips, suggestions, and test cds to make me enjoy my system.

Now I need to get some room acoustics to see if I can make it sound better.

[Topend]

You said your sub sounds great when you are in the center of the room but boomy when you listen closer to the sides.

Where is your sub located?

Dave.

[julio]

Just have a look at my initial post.

emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=speakerreviews&thread=19793&page=1#317303