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Post by rbk123 on Jan 20, 2017 9:26:09 GMT -5
Does anyone have any impressions on how it actually sounds?
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Post by bumpytrail on Jan 20, 2017 12:06:20 GMT -5
Does anyone have any impressions on how it actually sounds? I just received my Emotiva MC-700 yesterday. I'm coming from years of receivers; Yamaha's, Onkyo's etc. You ask how the Emotiva MC-700 sounds, well in one word: Wow! My setup is: Emotiva MC-700 (Replaced a Yamaha Aventage RX-A840 with preouts), Emotiva XPA-3 & XPA-5 (Gen. 1's), Frontier Communications Motorola DVR, Sangean HDT-1 HD FM/AM tuner, HTPC (For Movies and Flac Music) with a 7.1 speaker setup. Only had time to watch some TV with the Motorola DVR and listen to some HD FM radio using the Sangean HDT-1. I'm not, let me repeat that, am not an audio expert... but what I heard last night was a much improved sound quality experience with more clarity that I really liked. I'll try to describe; each sound and instrument are much better defined with the MC-700, as if the sounds with the Yamaha was just a little smeared together and weaker. Also since my ears are somewhat old, the vocal dialogue during TV viewing was much more clear and much easier to hear and understand. There is a quality about the sound the MC-700 produces that I just prefer over the Yamaha, hard to describe but a more solid encompassing sound. Overall, I really think the addition of the Emotiva MC-700 to my system has created a very noticeable and big step up in sound quality over my Yamaha RX-A840. So far, I am very happy with the MC-700. Hope this helps. ========= Edit: Forgot to say that I'm listening to Chane A5rx-c front towers and Chane A2rx-c center with older Swan speaker surrounds. |
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Post by garbulky on Jan 20, 2017 12:14:04 GMT -5
Does anyone have any impressions on how it actually sounds? I just received my Emotiva MC-700 yesterday. I'm coming from years of receivers; Yamaha's, Onkyo's etc. You ask how the Emotiva MC-700 sounds, well in one word: Wow! My setup is: Emotiva MC-700 (Replaced a Yamaha Aventage RX-A840 with preouts), Emotiva XPA-3 & XPA-5 (Gen. 1's), Frontier Communications Motorola DVR, Sangean HDT-1 HD FM/AM tuner, HTPC (For Movies and Flac Music). Only had time to watch some TV with the Motorola DVR and listen to some HD FM radio using the Sangean HDT-1. I'm not, let me repeat that, am not an audio expert... but what I heard last night was a much improved sound quality experience with more clarity that I really liked. I'll try to describe; each sound and instrument are much better defined with the MC-700, as if the sounds with the Yamaha was just a little smeared together and weaker. Also since my ears are somewhat old, the vocal dialogue during TV viewing was much more clear and much easier to hear and understand. There is a quality about the sound the MC-700 produces that I just prefer over the Yamaha, hard to describe but a more solid encompassing sound. Overall, I really think the addition of the Emotiva MC-700 to my system has created a very noticeable and big step up in sound quality over my Yamaha RX-A840. So far, I am very happy with the MC-700. Hope this helps. Don't be worried about not being an "expert!" I don't think there is such a thing for practical purposes like this forum. I think even a newbie that is concerned with audio can tell the difference between good and great sound as long as they care. Obviously you do. I appreciate your impressions. I'm glad the gear you bought is providing you some really nice results! |
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Post by Dan Laufman on Jan 20, 2017 13:31:41 GMT -5
Does anyone have any impressions on how it actually sounds? I just received my Emotiva MC-700 yesterday. I'm coming from years of receivers; Yamaha's, Onkyo's etc. You ask how the Emotiva MC-700 sounds, well in one word: Wow! My setup is: Emotiva MC-700 (Replaced a Yamaha Aventage RX-A840 with preouts), Emotiva XPA-3 & XPA-5 (Gen. 1's), Frontier Communications Motorola DVR, Sangean HDT-1 HD FM/AM tuner, HTPC (For Movies and Flac Music) with a 7.1 speaker setup. Only had time to watch some TV with the Motorola DVR and listen to some HD FM radio using the Sangean HDT-1. I'm not, let me repeat that, am not an audio expert... but what I heard last night was a much improved sound quality experience with more clarity that I really liked. I'll try to describe; each sound and instrument are much better defined with the MC-700, as if the sounds with the Yamaha was just a little smeared together and weaker. Also since my ears are somewhat old, the vocal dialogue during TV viewing was much more clear and much easier to hear and understand. There is a quality about the sound the MC-700 produces that I just prefer over the Yamaha, hard to describe but a more solid encompassing sound. Overall, I really think the addition of the Emotiva MC-700 to my system has created a very noticeable and big step up in sound quality over my Yamaha RX-A840. So far, I am very happy with the MC-700. Hope this helps. ========= Edit: Forgot to say that I'm listening to Chane A5rx-c front towers and Chane A2rx-c center with older Swan speaker surrounds. Thanks for the positive feedback! We think the MC-700 is a sweetheart too!  Happy listening! Dan |
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Post by sydhaynes on Jan 20, 2017 20:50:53 GMT -5
Does anyone have any impressions on how it actually sounds? I received my MC-700 and an A-700 amplifier. It's set up in my home office. No 4K display here, so I'm having no OSD issues to note. I'm using stereo mode as my surround speakers and center channel arrive tomorrow, I'm currently playing flac with foorbar2000 and it's excellent. My only complaint is that the mode keeps changing from my choice of stereo to DolbyPLIIx. I see no way to lock in a particular mode for an individual input. Probably user error on my part. |
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Post by Captain Jay on Jan 20, 2017 21:16:24 GMT -5
Hello from a new member and happy Emotiva customer. I have had the XPA-5 for a couple of years and the MC-700 arrived today (yikes, I need two more channels now!  ) . So far I have hooked up the Oppo 103D and LG OLED e6 65”. Both are working fine. The thing I want to mention at the outset is the outstanding boxing they use. My box arrived with a gaping 3 inch hole in the side which went through the outside box and all the way through the inside box to the interior. I could see the white styrofoam in there and nothing but black beyond.  Upon opening the box, I found the unit safely insulated from the abuse. Great packaging! As to impressions of how it actually sounds, I need to let this puppy burn in for a while and get house trained to my system (not to mention doing the sonic adjustments).  |
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Post by harlan on Jan 20, 2017 21:18:21 GMT -5
My video signal is dropping out every 15 minutes or so. I still get the audio but the video is gone. I'm on HDMI 4 with a Hi Def comcast signal. This did not happen when I was using my PE 92THX as a prepro. It became so frustrating so I decided to listen to some Pandora via Bluetooth. My tablet looses pairing with the bluetooth module every 15 minutes or so. Once again this did not happen when I was using a Rocket bluetooth module to connect to my PE92.
ETA My phone keeps unpairing also.
ETA 2. The video loss is also occuring on HDMI 2. I have not experienced this before with my previous set up.
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Post by rbk123 on Jan 20, 2017 22:30:20 GMT -5
Got mine setup and have done a bunch of critical listening to movie scenes and 2 channel music I know well. Longest part of switching out the XMC-1 and the MC-700 in was finding 2 AAA batteries for the 700's remote..
My setup:
input 4 - HTPC
input 5 - DirecTV set-top box (an extension box, not the DVR box)
input 6 - Samsung Bluray player
digital coax - Pioneer Elite PD-65 CD player
The amp is a UPA-700
I have to say it simply is a real gem. It sounds exceptional. I don't know if I'd be able to tell a difference between it and the XMC (using no equalization - Dirac or Emo-Q used). It is just an absolute pleasure to listen to.
It's really not that quirky for me. A few small things I noticed but in actuality it's very solid for my (non-4K) use case.
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Post by elwicksto on Jan 20, 2017 22:33:36 GMT -5
My observations after spending another evening with the MC700. Some of these observations are probably due to design choices (not bugs). This is how I see them impacting us (as buyer/users).... 6 - The OSD set-up screen refers to a button not on the remote control (that I could find) Overall - things are not terrible and bugs will get resolved.. I've lived through just about every Emo pre-amp since the beginning of the Company, I'll survive though another one.... paul FYI 6. Not sure which button you are referring too, but I will have a look and see. Hope this clarifies things. Lonnie the OSD menu refers to the RETURN button, which is not present on the included remote. i used my umc200 remote to try to rename inputs, but was not completely successful - i cannot get rid of the rightmost zero. eg 'tivo' stays at 'tivo 0' |
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Post by avalon on Jan 21, 2017 15:15:27 GMT -5
Issues I've discovered:
1. There is no way to disable the Coaxial digital input. There is an option in the menu to do so but the toggle doesn't work. Attempting to toggle the option cuts off whatever sound input is currently playing.
2. The optical digital input drops signal/sync in-between songs on my Squeezebox Touch. The loss of sync results in the beginning of every song being cut off by a second or so.
3. Exact same sync delay problem with my ROKU over HDMI and My DISH joey. The processor is slow to sync and drops audio while its trying to sync.
If the sync issue doesn't get fixed within my 30 day return window I'm afraid the MC-700 is going back. I've used the Squeezebox, Roku, and Joey with at least 5 other preamps or receivers and have never had these dropout problems.
Other issues I'm still sorting through:
1. EmoQ was a complete disaster with my system (although I've never had any auto-processor work with it)
I run a pair or Kilipschorns that are actively tri-amped using a DEQX processor. The drivers are time-aligned and phase corrected. EmoQ placed the speakers at a physical distance of 25 feet from the listening position. They are physical 9 feet plus 6.71 feet of time delay away from the listening position: 15.71 feet. EmoQ placed my center channel LaScala (stock) and rear Hereseys (stock) at approximately the correct distances. Using the stock EmoQ distance settings resulted in a slap-back delay effect on all multi-channel sources.
The trims in EmoQ (which are seemingly invisible to the user) are so horribly out of whack that my center channel LaScala was barely audible when multi-channel audio was played. This problem continued when I switched to Manual EQ mode and used the manual test tones. In order to get my center channel "balanced" I am running the LaScala 6db (measured with my Phonic PAA test meter) louder than all the other speakers in Manual Test Tone mode.
The EmoQ auto generated EQs and crossovers were insane: EmoQ set my Klipschon crossover at 110hz, my LaScala to 80 hz and my Heresy's to LARGE with no crossover. However, EmoQ eq boosted the K-horn bass at 39hz by 7 db and the LaScala bass at 65hz by 6.5 db. Klipschorns have effectively no bass below 40 hz and furthermore they were crossed over with a 12db slope at 110hz negating the EQ in any case.
2. Killing EmoQ: In an attempt to reset all the trims and other mysteries that were plaguing my setup after running EmoQ, I reset all the EmoQ settings. 15 minutes later after fiddling with the manual settings and still having terrible volume imbalance between test tones and actual program material I went back to the EmoQ settings and found everything I had reset had returned.
I use 2 McIntosh multi-channel power amps for the system. The amps don't have trim controls so its not an amp problem. I have a professionally treated room with proper bass trapping, absorption, and diffusion so the crazy insane EQs were pretty shocking. I can actually plot the audio output of the Klipschorns using the DEQX software so I have a very clear picture of the delays, levels, EQ and phase of the speakers in that room.
I bought the MC-700 not due to cost but due to form factor and the fact that it has just the inputs/processing I needed and none of the extra crap my Onkyo PR-SC5509 contained that was never used (and resulted in a gigantic form factor).
After 11 hours of fiddling with the MC-700 I went to bed frustrated and feeling like I'm beta-testing the product. I'm going to do a full factory reset and try it again later today.
Oh, and the manual shipped with it and available online bares very little resemblance to the actual unit and its current operating system. The manual is essentially useless because many of the menus and settings it refers to on the MC-700 don't exist.
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Post by dmbaer on Jan 21, 2017 15:35:16 GMT -5
My unit came yesterday and I spent the afternoon setting it up. The sound is superb, but I have experienced many of the issues already identified: rename doesn't work right, no OSD unless there's no video signal, etc.
The showstopper is the apparent lack of being able to lock a mode to an input. This is a return-to-vendor shortcoming - completely unacceptable. I use my system for both music and TV and switch back and forth between them all the time. If I have to manually set the mode every time I do so ... well, no thanks.
Am I missing something here or is this really the way it works?
Also, I would like to echo the sentiment in the previous post. I don't mind the absence of a big hard-copy manual to keep the price down, but a downloadable PDF with some detailed information certainly would be of use.
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Post by yeeeha17 on Jan 21, 2017 15:40:20 GMT -5
I'm my experience, Emo-Q is horriable. I had tried setting it up a few times and got bad results every time. I find using Direct gave me the best sound. There are others that found Emo-Q not up to par either. These are good feedbacks to help them get all the issues worked out
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Post by sydhaynes on Jan 21, 2017 15:55:08 GMT -5
My tablet looses pairing with the bluetooth module every 15 minutes or so. I am having the same issue with bluetooth dropping out, The showstopper is the apparent lack of being able to lock a mode to an input. This is VERY annoying having to go into the menu and change modes every time I turn the processor on and want to listen to 2 channel flac. It seems to default to DolbyPLIIx every time... I managed to rename 2 inputs and they stuck as I changed between those two inputs, however after shutting down and powering back up they had reverted to the default names again... sigh. I'm a first time Emotiva customer, is this how all the products get released around here, or did I just choose a bad time to make the switch? |
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Post by socketman on Jan 21, 2017 16:03:09 GMT -5
This is not just an Emotiva problem. Its a technology problem, i see Oppo having problems which they really didnt have before to name just one. The tech is advancing faster than they can provide it and so there will always be some stumbling along the way. The smaller the company the more this rears its ugly head, though i see big outfits like apple giving updates daily, samsung phones exploding . You get my point, no one is immune in our rush to have the laatest and greatest.
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Post by sydhaynes on Jan 21, 2017 16:17:09 GMT -5
This is not just an Emotiva problem. Its a technology problem, i see Oppo having problems which they really didnt have before to name just one. The tech is advancing faster than they can provide it and so there will always be some stumbling along the way. The smaller the company the more this rears its ugly head, though i see big outfits like apple giving updates daily, samsung phones exploding . You get my point, no one is immune in our rush to have the laatest and greatest. I agree with you 100%, I will be patient and see how the updates go. Luckily this is my home office system and my main system is fully functional. On a positive note it is a very nice looking pair (MC-700 and A-700), I'm sure once the bugs are worked out it will move and take it's rightful place in the main room. |
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Post by Percussionista on Jan 21, 2017 18:01:15 GMT -5
Received my MC700 yesterday. As always great packaging. Popped it into my PC surround system where I had been using the Oppo-203 as a temporary surround processor (and disc player of course), and I'm using a HDCP 2.2 capable Sony TV (all inputs) for the monitor. Haven't had much time to play with it, but I did read the manual ;-) So... two items hooked up to the 700: a. a gaming PC with an Nvidia 970 GPU which has 4K output (but not up to date HDCP), and b. the Oppo-203. These two work through HDMI-in 1 & 2, but I could get no signal to the TV when connecting via HDMI-in 4-6. I am using HDMI-1-out on the 700. The TV sat there telling me no input signal on those. I would have expected it to at least pass a signal from the PC. Not sure if I need to tweak something somewhere to do this but I will keep looking. HDMI is not your friend One test disc I played from the Oppo was a regular blu-ray (1080p), Master and Commander, and I was testing the new Airmotiv S12 subwoofer too (holy moly it pumps!) I should be able to play that on inputs 4-6 (I think). The PC to ins4-6 is still a mystery but even when through ins1-3 I had to redefine the PC's output resolution, it first decided I was back at 1080p (the GPU is tetchy that way, every time you change something in its path). Note, prior to the MC700 I was able to go direct from PC into the Oppo203's HDMI-in and connect to the Sony TV from the Oppo's HDMI-out. It wasn't a stable connection, dropped video to black every so often and back again, but it did work. PC direct to the Sony TV also works fine. Anyone have any thoughts on why a PC, with a Nvidia 970 GPU that has HDMI 2.0 (unknown HDCP, but not 2.2), does not seem to work on the HDMI-ins 4-6 and yet works on the more stringent inputs 1-3? I thought 4-6 were for "non-commercial" 4K sources (e.g.). The HDCP level of the GPU and the HDMI-in4-6's are sub-HDCP2.2, though the TV is 2.2. The TV is saying it doesn't see any input, not that it is rejecting the input. This might imply the 700 is not passing signal through. As per others, the OSD only works by itself for inputs 1-3 of the 700, so you have to go back and forth between the menus and the video signal (yes this is by design, it's the chip inside that can't overlay 4K sources). Yep and the renaming of inputs doesn't stick. Yep and the output mode selected for stereo input is confusing, need to play with this more. Yep and the menus themselves are kind of an ASCII version of the UMC-200 (at 480p). Yep minimalist remote control without a "return" button as listed on the menus (I will eventually add the key-codes to my multi-remote). I'm not sure exactly what I can pass out of the 700 via the 2nd HDMI-out (yet). If the PC were connected to a 4-6-in might that pass out properly from the 2nd HDMI-out? So many combinations. Who designed this Hot Damn Mess Interface anyway (and the companion Hot Damn Crappy Processing?) |
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Post by Percussionista on Jan 21, 2017 20:30:53 GMT -5
Received my MC700 yesterday. As always great packaging. Popped it into my PC surround system ... using a HDCP 2.2 capable Sony TV (all inputs) for the monitor. ... two items hooked up to the 700: a. a gaming PC with an Nvidia 970 GPU which has 4K output (but not up to date HDCP), and b. the Oppo-203. These two work through HDMI-in 1 & 2, but I could get no signal to the TV when connecting via HDMI-in 4-6. I am using HDMI-1-out on the 700. Here's a data point. I connect another HDMI cable from the MC700, from its 2nd HDMI out, to the TV. So, two outputs from the MC700 to two different inputs on the TV. Turn on the PC, initially going into HDMI-in-2. It displays fine to both MC700 outputs (or both inputs on the TV). Now,... Move the PC cable to the MC700's HDMI-in-4 (and switch to that input). Nothing is displayed on either TV input... except I do get a MC700 message saying no video (I forget the exact words). So... maybe the issue is at the front end of the MC700 connection for ins-4-6. Doesn't seem to notice the PC (nor the Oppo when I tried that). HDMI-in-4 is enabled (by default). I need to try something more "mundane" - maybe an old blu-ray player. Of course, the HDMI implementation in an old player might not talk well with the newer gear... we'll see. |
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Post by Jim on Jan 21, 2017 21:03:29 GMT -5
I'm not sure exactly what I can pass out of the 700 via the 2nd HDMI-out (yet). If the PC were connected to a 4-6-in might that pass out properly from the 2nd HDMI-out? So many combinations. Who designed this Hot Damn Mess Interface anyway (and the companion Hot Damn Crappy Processing?) I was surprised that even the CEDIA/integrator community isn't crazy about HDMI/HDCP either. When there are classes dedicated to troubleshooting HDMI and handshaking issues...... which can get pretty complicated. |
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Post by avalon on Jan 21, 2017 21:45:33 GMT -5
My tablet looses pairing with the bluetooth module every 15 minutes or so. I am having the same issue with bluetooth dropping out, The showstopper is the apparent lack of being able to lock a mode to an input. This is VERY annoying having to go into the menu and change modes every time I turn the processor on and want to listen to 2 channel flac. It seems to default to DolbyPLIIx every time... I managed to rename 2 inputs and they stuck as I changed between those two inputs, however after shutting down and powering back up they had reverted to the default names again... sigh. I'm a first time Emotiva customer, is this how all the products get released around here, or did I just choose a bad time to make the switch? I had the bluetooth module back when I first tried the UMC-200 a few years ago. It never worked with my iPad or iPhone. I finally gave up and removed it from the system and sold it with the UMC when I moved to the Onkyo PRSC 5509. When I bought the MC-700 I looked at the bluetooth module and it appears to be the same unit that didn't work a few years ago so I skipped it. As far as locking a mode to an input - there is no current way (nor was there a way to do it on the UMC-200). What you can do is map the input stream to a decoder. It works pretty well most of the time. Analog to Stereo PCM to Stereo DD 2.0 to PLxII DD to DD etc. If you search there is a UMC-200 post that provides this recommendation. Regarding being a first time Emotiva customer: Based on my experience with the UMC-200 this is pretty much par for the course. Many of the UMC-200 "issues" were never resolved. Urwi and others have posted extensively about it here. As near as I can tell the MC700 is using a very similar core platform and firmware as the UMC-200. I was really hoping it wouldnt but having briefly owned the UMC-200 I see many unfortunate similarities. The decoder sync problem I reported earlier was also present in the UMC-200 - all the way to the final firmware for that unit. The user interface, which is frankly the worst I've ever used (just try renaming a preset -inability to save said name bug notwithstanding), is very similar between the units. If you review the "manual" that comes with the MC700 it actually refers to the menu system and options from the UMC-200. I must admit I'm surprised no one from Emotiva noted the OSD/4K issue before the unit shipped. I'm also surprised at the lack of EQs after Dan clearly stated "all channels" had 11 band EQ. Neither of these issues is a deal breaker for me but the sync issue is a no go. I am an audiophile first and foremost. Having the beginning of my music cut off due to sync issues is totally unacceptable. I should note that after restoring the unit to factory settings, the insane level issues I had with the EmoQ are gone. It actually sounds pretty good, as good as the $2K Onkyo prepro it may replace. I'd be in the "keep it" camp if the sync delay didn't cut off my music. |
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Post by sydhaynes on Jan 21, 2017 23:41:16 GMT -5
As far as locking a mode to an input - there is no current way (nor was there a way to do it on the UMC-200). I just went into the menu/setup/mode setup and assigned the input streams to decoders as you suggested and it worked for my stereo input from PC. Thank you for the tip. |
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) . So far I have hooked up the Oppo 103D and LG OLED e6 65”. Both are working fine. The thing I want to mention at the outset is the outstanding boxing they use. My box arrived with a gaping 3 inch hole in the side which went through the outside box and all the way through the inside box to the interior. I could see the white styrofoam in there and nothing but black beyond. 
Upon opening the box, I found the unit safely insulated from the abuse. Great packaging! As to impressions of how it actually sounds, I need to let this puppy burn in for a while and get house trained to my system (not to mention doing the sonic adjustments). 
