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Post by lwalker on Jan 23, 2017 22:45:43 GMT -5
Have a few questions. Just purchased a XMC-1 and love it. But I am thinking about returning. Want to save a little money. Would like to maybe get the Airmotive 6s and a good preamp. The preamp would need volume control from a remote so my wife can control volume. Needs to be as easy as possible. Would like to use with a subwoofer to give me good sound during movies and music. I don't fully understand how you would control volume on "powered" speakers. Can someone give me a good recommendation on a good setup. Hope this makes since. Thanks Lucas
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Post by garbulky on Jan 23, 2017 23:24:07 GMT -5
Yeah....get the DC-1. It'll do what you want and sound great doing it! The DC-1 will control the volume. The airmotiv 6s will have its volume (if it has any) maxed out to allow this to happen. It will be connected via XLR. The RCA outputs of the DC-1 will go to your subwoofer. The subwoofer will be matched to the 6s using the volume knob on the subwoofer. The crossover will be also managed by the subwoofer. If you have a phase button on the subwoofer you could also use that to fine tune.
Where it really gets tricky is if you have some big towers that plumb the bottom bass depths and the crossover on your subwoofer cuts off too high at its lowest setting. I don't think this will be a problem with the airmotiv 6s.
Also if you have a turn table and want to use it, you can use the XPS-1 (not the XSP-1) as an add on phono module for the DC-1's very nice analog input. Its analog input is not a throw away circuit. It's one of the best active analog preamps I've heard - though I will grant you that there must be better out there that I have not heard.
Or if you prefer spending more money than the XPS-1 the matching SP-1 unit is the matching component for the DC-1 for phono input. It also is very simple because the same remote of the DC-1 is designed to control the SP-1.
Also...if you did not want to go the active route Emotiva has some DC-1 sized matching fully balanced monoblock amplifiers (ICE class D amps) coming out that may make you happy. However for bookshelves, you're going to have to do some careful shopping to match the airmotiv 6s performance for the price.
Summary: Get the DC-1.
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Post by vcautokid on Jan 23, 2017 23:29:48 GMT -5
Hello lwalker. To be honest, the XMC-1 is a tough act to follow with really anything less. Frankly, IMHO, the XSP-1 Preamplifier will rock your world, and then some. Terrific Bass Management, Fully Balanced Architecture, and more good stuff. You could connect the Balanced outputs of the XSP-1 to the Airmotiv 6s', and use the Ultra 12 Subwoofer to great effect. "Simple", is a relative thing really. The XSP-1 can be as straight forward as you want. How deep you want to go into the XSP-1 is a personal thing. But even though it has allot of ability. It is not difficult to use. Still easier to use than some of the "Mission Control, we have Problem" challenging AV Receivers out there. There is a reason there is a door covering all those buttons after all. You could get probably a simpler Preamplifier, but because the XMC-1 is so good, I wanted you to have still great music, and theater while still enjoying your 2.1 system. Here is the video on the XSP-1 featuring Lonnie Vaughn explaining why, and how it is amazing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLCViA_2zwMAlso the product link to the XSP-1. emotiva.com/products/pres-and-pros/xsp-1Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any further questions. Enjoy the music, and the movies. |
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Post by gjr on Jan 23, 2017 23:32:14 GMT -5
PT-100 or D.C.-1,easy to set up and easy to operate,easy on the budget. Either will work with 6s. Or go with the TA-100 and the B-1s and S-8. A lot of great options that sound great.
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Post by gjr on Jan 23, 2017 23:57:35 GMT -5
PT-100 or D.C.-1,easy to set up and easy to operate,easy on the budget. Either will work with 6s. Or go with the TA-100 and the B-1s and S-8. A lot of great options that sound great.
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Post by Gary Cook on Jan 24, 2017 1:35:41 GMT -5
Looking at your sigature;
55' Vizio M-55 C2 LED 4K Ultra HD
PS4 Pro (Bluray)
Xbox One S
Energy Take Classic 5.1
UPA-7
Stanton Turntable
Apple Tv (4th Gen)
Emotiva Ultra Sub 12
You have 3 inputs that require HDMI, a DC-1 doesn't have that facility. Scratch that option
You could feed all the inputs into the TV with it's internal DAC and then use its headphones output to drive the Airmotive 6's. No bass management though so you would need a low pass filter to limit its input frequencies. TV DAC's are in general not all that good, so there is bound to be some noticeable loss in sound quality with this option.
An XSP-1 has no DAC, so no digital inputs. Scratch that option.
My suggested alternative to keeping the XMC-1, is to send it back and get an MC-700, slight (minuscule maybe) drop in sound quality but it handles all of your inputs and outputs. If you, say, spent the savings on better 5 speakers (the sub is OK) you would end up with a superior sounding system.
Cheers
Gary
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Post by mgbpuff on Jan 24, 2017 7:25:59 GMT -5
For a system simple enough to please the wife (if this is even possible), get a full home theater automated control hub, like the Harmony Hub, and integrate it with an Echo Dot voice control. My girlfriend, who was afraid to put a finger on anything in my system, now will finally turn everything on and off herself by "Alexa, turn on/off tv", or "Alexa, turn on?off big screen", or "Alexa, turn on Pandora". I also have had a X10 lighting system for years and I always had to turn the lights on/off because she couldn't discern which remote button to press (even though they are labeled). Now she uses "Alexa, turn on/off HT lights" in the family room / HT room. Oh yeh I forgot about volume control. This requires a little more verbosity, with which most women have no problem  ! Simply say "Alexa, tell Harmony volume up/down", or "Alexa, tell Harmony mute/unmute". |
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Post by vcautokid on Jan 24, 2017 8:56:43 GMT -5
Yes the MC700 is a great choice too, to keep the HDMI sources switchable. I was going for out right SQ. With 2 digital sources it wouldn't be too hard to figure out a way to manage them.
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Post by lwalker on Jan 24, 2017 9:34:38 GMT -5
Yeah....get the DC-1. It'll do what you want and sound great doing it! The DC-1 will control the volume. The airmotiv 6s will have its volume (if it has any) maxed out to allow this to happen. It will be connected via XLR. The RCA outputs of the DC-1 will go to your subwoofer. The subwoofer will be matched to the 6s using the volume knob on the subwoofer. The crossover will be also managed by the subwoofer. If you have a phase button on the subwoofer you could also use that to fine tune. Where it really gets tricky is if you have some big towers that plumb the bottom bass depths and the crossover on your subwoofer cuts off too high at its lowest setting. I don't think this will be a problem with the airmotiv 6s. Also if you have a turn table and want to use it, you can use the XPS-1 (not the XSP-1) as an add on phono module for the DC-1's very nice analog input. Its analog input is not a throw away circuit. It's one of the best active analog preamps I've heard - though I will grant you that there must be better out there that I have not heard. Or if you prefer spending more money than the XPS-1 the matching SP-1 unit is the matching component for the DC-1 for phono input. It also is very simple because the same remote of the DC-1 is designed to control the SP-1. Also...if you did not want to go the active route Emotiva has some DC-1 sized matching fully balanced monoblock amplifiers (ICE class D amps) coming out that may make you happy. However for bookshelves, you're going to have to do some careful shopping to match the airmotiv 6s performance for the price. Summary: Get the DC-1. Thanks everyone for the good information. Really liking the DC-1 Airmotive 6s combo. Just can't make my mind up. I really love the XMC-1 but could save about $500 if I go with the aforementioned combo. Plus I really don't have great speakers in my system to take advantage of the XMC-1 to be honest. The Energy Take 5.1 are decent for home theater but not good at all for music. Of course I would lose the benefit of surround sound during movies but I think it would still sound great with the DC-1 and Airmotivs. For those asking I will be using a HDMI Switch to switch between devices. The ultra 12 sub I have is no slouch for sure. If i'm understanding garbulky correctly, all bass management would be done with the Ultra sub 12? Can the volume be controlled with a remote? This may be a deal breaker if not. Have to make the wife happy! Oh yeah one more thing. I like to turn it up occasionally when the kids aren't home. So would the Airmotiv 6s have the power to do so? With 200w per channel I'm thinking they will. |
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Post by gjr on Jan 25, 2017 0:14:25 GMT -5
You can feed the hdmi signals into the tv and feed audio through the digital coax and optical inputs on the D.C.-1. DC-1 can select source and control volume to the 6s.
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Post by Gary Cook on Jan 25, 2017 0:46:57 GMT -5
Not knocking the DC-1 + Airmotive 6 combo in any way, I've installed both Big Ego + Airmotive 6 and XDA-2 + Airmotive 6 combos and they sound fantastic. But it isn't a 5.1 HT set up, so you are loosing a lot choosing that route, flexibility as well as sound quality. Things that you would not lose if you went the MC-700 and Airmotive 6 route whilst continuing to use your UPA-7 and existing speakers.
Cheers
Gary
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novisnick
EmoPhile
CEO Secret Monoblock Society
Posts: 27,223 
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Post by novisnick on Jan 25, 2017 2:04:44 GMT -5
Not knocking the DC-1 + Airmotive 6 combo in any way, I've installed both Big Ego + Airmotive 6 and XDA-2 + Airmotive 6 combos and they sound fantastic. But it isn't a 5.1 HT set up, so you are loosing a lot choosing that route, flexibility as well as sound quality. Things that you would not lose if you went the MC-700 and Airmotive 6 route whilst continuing to use your UPA-7 and existing speakers. Cheers Gary 🎶 Sing it from the highest mountain Gary!! 🎶 Options are great! Why limit oneself to only two channels? When you can have that AND HT TOO!!!! |
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Post by garbulky on Jan 25, 2017 10:26:36 GMT -5
lwalker : I'm afraid I advised you wrong. At least two of your components don't appear to have an SPDIF output and so require and HDMI connection which unfortunately the DC-1 does not have. There is a way around that if your tv has an optical output. Then the HDMI goes to the TV and then it outputs it via optical. However sometimes this stream may not be bit perfect. It should still sound good.
But it all depends if you want to involve your tv in this and are okay with a non bit perfect feed.
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Post by lwalker on Jan 27, 2017 13:36:51 GMT -5
Alright guys going a different direction. Going to get the MC-700 for the 5.1 system. Is it possible to use my old UMC-1 as a preamp with the Airmotive 6s?
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Erwin.BE
Emo VIPs 
It's the room, stupid!
Posts: 2,261
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Post by Erwin.BE on Jan 27, 2017 15:39:00 GMT -5
No problem, just use the L&R RCA outputs on the UMC-1 to connect to the L&R Airmotiv. I have the Airmotiv 5 in my office. Sounds sweet!
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Post by lwalker on Jan 27, 2017 15:44:00 GMT -5
No problem, just use the L&R RCA outputs on the UMC-1 to connect to the L&R Airmotiv. I have the Airmotiv 5 in my office. Sounds sweet! Thanks! I thought so. Just wanted to make sure. |
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! Simply say "Alexa, tell Harmony volume up/down", or "Alexa, tell Harmony mute/unmute". 
