New Member intro and questions MC700

[harlan]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum but not new to Emotiva. Despite some drama created by certain member (s) I have decided to early adopt the MC700. I feel given the pricepoint and return policy its a low risk endeavor. 

My current 5.1 set up is a Pioneer Elite 92 THX receiver feeding an LPA1. My speakers are Dynaudio Audience 42s (center and surrounds). The LR are DIY Dynaudio with the esotec D260 tweeter and 17w75 woofers. The SW is the Rythmik servo controlled 15" servo controlled. Display is a Samsung 9500 SUHD TV, a Sumsung 4k dvd player and Comcast hi def service. I have no current plans to go beyond 5.1.

Here are my questions.


I know that I will benefit from the 4k switching, the integrated BT via a dongle and the 12v trigger but do you think that there will be a decernable improvement in audio quality?

I know this is the pre pro forum but I figured I'd  ask, would I be well served in a meaningful way to upgrade from my LPA1 to the Gen3 XPA?

[Gary Cook]

Welcome, I'm sure that you will enjoy us telling you how to spend more money

Pioneer make a pretty good AVR, but your PE 92THX is after all a ~10 year old design and there have been some improvements in that time, particularly in multi channel DAC's. As a result I'm pretty confident that you will notice a distinct improvement in sound quality from swapping to the MC-700, but most of all the accuracy, clarity, and opening out of the sound around the room. For $499 I doubt that you would get anything like the improvement from anything else costing twice as much.

The upgrading the LPA-1 question is a bit tougher, the LPA-1 is a quality power amplifier and, unlike processors, their technology doesn't advance anywhere near as fast. From memory they produce a genuine 125 WPC from 5 channels and 50 'ish from the other 2 channels. Since you are not using all 7 channels then you are looking at 125 WPC to 200 WPC with an upgrade to an XPA-5 Gen 3. Which is not a lot of db increase, mathematically a couple of db, all channels driven. But that doesn't happen very often (all 5 channels pumping the same) so you could experience up to around 275 watts with a couple of channels working on an effect. That would give around 4 db more head room and that's noticeable.

Personally I would have no hesitation in doing the MC-700 upgrade first and it may well be enough.


Cheers
Gary

[rbk123]

Is this a 2 step question/situation? What I mean is, are you first (1) asking about impact by only getting the MC-700 but continue to use the receiver to drive your speakers?

And then second (2) asking about no longer using the receiver to drive the speakers but getting an XPA amp for them?

Or did you mean to get both the MC-700 and the XPA at one time to replace the Elite entirely?

[harlan]

Dec 19, 2016 19:49:27 GMT -5 rbk123 said:

Is this a 2 step question/situation? What I mean is, are you first (1) asking about impact by only getting the MC-700 but continue to use the receiver to drive your speakers?

And then second (2) asking about no longer using the receiver to drive the speakers but getting an XPA amp for them?

Or did you mean to get both the MC-700 and the XPA at one time to replace the Elite entirely?

Right now the PE is being used as a prepro and my Emotiva LPA1 is driving the speakers. I placed an order for the MC700 on 12/1 because I think the 4k switching, BT dongle and 12v trigger are woth the $499 I paid. In addition, Im sure the MC700 room correction is better than the PE's.

The first question was in addition to the advantages I mention above, will I discern an improvement in sound quality when I replace the PE with the MC700? I would still be using the LPA1.

The second question was about amplification. I was soliciting opinions regarding wether folks felt that given my speakers would upgrading from the LPA to the XPA make sense.


I would like to thank Gary for his input. He suggested that although there may be improvement i headroom it would be best to get the MC700, then decide on the amp.

[rbk123]

Doh. Not sure how I completely missed the "feeding an LPA1" part; sorry about that. I would agree with Gary that you can expect improvement with the MC-700, however I think it would be on the small side -> less on movies and more on 2 channel sound. The Elite line had some really good processing. I used to have an Elite SP-99D pre/pro and it did Dolby Digital very well, so I would expect yours to do the current HD formats with similar quality. The MC-700 should improve on it some due to tech improvements over time as mentioned, though.

For the XPA/LPA - doubtful you'd notice any improvement on movies but you'd get some subtle improvement revealed through critical listening of 2 channel source. You'd get a bigger bang for your $ by spending it on speakers; not that yours are bad by any means, just that that is where the largest differences always are.

[rbk123]

Here's a review of the LPA1 vs. the XPA-Gen1 that you might find interesting. The Gen3 should be even more different with it's XPR technology.

www.highfidelityreview.com/emotiva-xpa-5.html

[harlan]

Dec 20, 2016 9:35:37 GMT -5 rbk123 said:

Here's a review of the LPA1 vs. the XPA-Gen1 that you might find interesting. The Gen3 should be even more different with it's XPR technology.

www.highfidelityreview.com/emotiva-xpa-5.html

Thanks for the link....makes me want to go for the upgrade although I think I'm going to see how the mc700/LPA/Dyns play together.

Hows the used market for a gen 2?

[vcautokid]

Hello Harlan, welcome to the Emotiva Family. The MC700 will impress you no end. As I always say to everyone. You buy one Emotiva Audio component, or speaker. Soon all of your gear is Emotiva Audio, or at the very least most of it. Congratulations on your new MC700. Please let know how you get along, and impressions.

[novisnick]

Dec 21, 2016 22:29:30 GMT -5 vcautokid said:

Hello Harlan, welcome to the Emotiva Family. The MC700 will impress you no end. As I always say to everyone. You buy one Emotiva Audio component, or speaker. Soon all of your gear is Emotiva Audio, or at the very least most of it. Congratulations on your new MC700. Please let know how you get along, and impressions.

 True! Blue!  

[sydhaynes]

Hello,

New to the forum and to Emotiva.  My MC-700 and A-700 should arrive tomorrow.

[ed1950]

Hello,  I am a new member and currently waiting for shipment of the MC700. I already ordered and received the XPA GEN 3 seven channel amp to replace my Yamaha RX V2065.  I am using the amp with the pre outs from the Yamaha and notice a great improvement in clarity, depth and detail just with added power alone. Anxious to receive the MC700