Great response. Thanks for not taking it personally. It is a broad observation, not directed at you.

I do think based on my long experience in this hobby that the reverse is equally true. Often, equipment that IS better performing is poo pooed because it costs so much. The truth is probably somewhere in between. There's a big piece of human nature at play. People who buy $500 amps are going to be biased to believe that higher end gear is all marketing and audio jewelry. People who buy $10,000 amps are biased to believe the opposite. This is how our psyches work. VERY few people who spent $10,000 on an amp would say they know its no better than a $500 amp but they find the casing and LEDs to be prettier. People who buy inexpensive gear ALWAYS claim it punches above its weight class. Just human nature.

As far as Emotiva in particular, I think they also make some products with some problems that people ignore and in fact aggressively defend because of their cost.

We ALL want our choices in life, including audio gear, to make sense, and I agree with imahawki that we can "bend" our perceptions to support those desires and decisions.

Here's some conclusions I have come to regarding audio that, for me, pass the "am I imagining that" test:

The GEt speakers I have FAR surpass anything I have tried or listened to in the past. Guests who come here and hear them, and say, "Oh, those speakers!" reinforce that for me. But most important, I react to them differently, more emotionally when I hear the gorgeous sound. Over and over, I listen to audio tracks and am astounded at how much BETTER they sound through the GEt speakers, how that music can now literally bring me to tears. I'll debate lots of things, but not whether my GEt speakers improved MY ENJOYMENT of music.

Power cords. I have listened to lots of music, with different components, and I can say that the Anti-Cable Reference 3 power cords fundamentally improved any component/source I plugged them into. Not just a little. Anthem in some post said they improved his system more than any component or interconnect or cable decision he ever made. I believe it, and considering his array of quality components, that's quite a statement. Clean, pure, natural sound.As many times as I switched power cords, the audio results were always startlingly clear.

As to other components, I can say that the Marantz SR 7010 I now have, and the NAD C275BEE stereo amp sound great to me. How would they compare to top of the line pre/pro's? I don't know. My curiosity continues.

This is what makes audio enjoyment so fun. We can't know all the answers to what would please us most, but we CAN hear when something moves us a LOT.

Happy listening!

Rick

Rick, I hear you. I think this forum is pretty good (although obviously a little focused inherently and probably biased ) I used to post on the Klipsch forum and they were the same way. AVS really rubs me the wrong way in a lot of respects though. Some of it is the way these "ABC owners threads" get set up. So you go into the Emotiva owners thread and of course that's the best amp out there and if you have an Emotiva and it hums, its your fault, not the amp. It gets irritating.

Any way, back on track. I'm excited to get my new (to me) amp and move down the path finding a good pre-pro. The XMC-1 will not be on my short list for the reasons T Cobe cited and others. I think Emotiva was a day late and a dollar short on that effort. Marantz 8802 and Anthem AVM 60 are high on my list. I really need to see a professional review of the Anthem given what I've heard to date.

As always, I'll be interested in any feedback/impressions from auditions of great gear. For whatever reason, the Marantz 8802 attracts me, maybe because I am so impressed with my SR 7010. Yes, I know Marantz's come with AUDYSSEY, but I really do love the sound quality, and the availability of ATMOS and DTS:X.


Rick

The positive for the Anthem is ARC. Especially the ability to ONLY EQ below a set frequency and the ability to tweak the room correction manually. The negative is you need a Windows PC to run ARC (which I don't own) and I've not seen any reviews of the AVM 60.

The Marantz is pretty much the opposite. You get Audyssey which is a black box and you get no ability to change anything. Either take it or leave it. However, the reviews are off the hook for this pre/pro. Sound & Vision I think compared it favorably to a $7000 Krell for music.

Great discussion, guys! Imahawki, thanks for not taking offense. You make good and valid points regarding brand loyalty and in some cases brand blindness. I like my Emotiva gear. It compared very favorably to many brands I've auditioned that are considered higher end. I listened to Classe, McIntosh, Bryston, Hegel, Rogue, Peachtree, and others. To me, the Hegel was the best. I most frequently listened to the T1s on McIntosh, and the Emotiva's sound just as good or darn close. Now, the McIntosh exude quality on another level and will probably be alive and kicking long after my Emotiva amps have bitten the dust. There is certainly a difference in build quality on the premium brands. All my opinions.

Interesting discussion on the processors. For me, 2-channel music is a non issue. I will be playing stereo music through my separate 2-channel system with home theater bypass. It will really only serve as a surround processor. I really like the features of ARC on the Anthem. It's pretty cool that you can look at the response curves before and after correction. This means you can measure response before and after changes in your setup to see how placement and acoustic treatments effect the sound.

From what I've read, the Anthem seems to have a bit more detail than the 7702 and maybe doesn't sound quite as good as the 8802. Since it's priced between the two, it seems it falls where it should. I guess each brand is going to have a bit of a house sound. The Anthem and Yamaha AVRs I have heard have had a bit of a flat or sterile sound to me. Onkyo/Integra seems to have a weightier, more substantial sound that is sweeter in the midrange. Marantz seems more open and airy; a little more sparkle. These are based on previous experiences.

I plan to conduct a thorough audition of the AVM 60 tomorrow. Depending on time and willingness of my dealer, I may request they swap out the Anthem for the Marantz 7702MKII. They have both on their floor. They feel the 8802 is a bit too pricey for a Marantz and once you get into that price range there are better options. Their words, not mine. Honestly, I think they're all going to sound good and it's a matter of preference. We'll see tomorrow if this proves to be true. To be honest, I hope I fall in love with the 7702 MKII since it's the cheapest of the three I'm considering. Fingers crossed.

Cheers,

T Cobe