I'm very interested in hearing your impressions. These are all high on my list. Has anyone heard the Yamaha one? Something 5100...

imahawki wrote:

WayneWilmeth wrote: Bro T. Cobe,
Emotiva XMC-1?????
The DIRAC room correction is off the charts better than Audyssey.
And the sound is almost there to the nosebleed $$$$ selections.
Just a thought,
God Bless,
Wayne

Please take this in the spirit it is intended and not as any kind of doubt, accusation, or insult to your motives or experience.

I'm curious what other A/V preamps you have experience with. Emotiva's following on AVS goes beyond cult-like in my opinion but my observation has been over the the years that 90%+ of the owners have no other "high end" experience. E.g. most of them come to Emotiva amps from mass market AVRs Emotiva gar is the most expensive A/V gear they've ever purchased. Obviously not all but its been something I've definitely observed.

If someone who has owned Krell or Theta, or Lexicon or even upscale mass market pre/pros like NAD and Rotel and they think the XMC-1 is as good or better, fine. If the extent o their prior experience is a $700 AVR then I remain skeptical.

I can't emphasize enough that I don't intend this as any kind of attack, I'm just reporting my perception over the years.

Sorry I have been busy, I believe this was originally a question for me.

First, I do recommend the XMC-1 but am not an Emotiva fan boy. The XMC-1 is the only piece of their gear I have ever owned . I am a fan boy here, I do agree with Rick, GEt speakers are my #1 thing. I admit that and think that this is the proper place for my fan boy discussions. Nowhere else.
As to my experience, I guess you might call me a "tweener". I have never had a receiver, have always had more power amps than I knew what to do with, so separates for me. BUT pre-processors move along so fast, come and go, that I have never felt it too smart to invest a fortune in them.
My first surround processor was an Aragon "Soundstage" I think it was called. Then I got a Bel Canto PRePro, the one with the small TV on the front. After that I enjoyed the Marantz AV7005. And now the Emotiva XMC-1.
I respectfully disagree with all of you who think the XMC-1 is out-dated, as I have NO interest in ATMOS at all!!!! I got it because of the music purity which, to me, is better than the Marantz and the Krell Foundation, the only serious competition to the XMC-1 and Marantz 8802 in my price range.
I do NOT like Audyssey at all, and DIRAC is MILES ahead of it and ARC too, from all I have read. The amount of user control and being able to set curtains to ONLY modify certain freq. ranges is amazing.
AND it just plays good, clean sound!!!!
I am a purist I reckon, but NOT a snob, I HOPE and pray!!!!!
I value quality for money spent above all things.
That is why I am on this forum, as our speakers are the epitome of that.

YES, I have heard a couple of processors that may have been a little better sounding than mine, (it is hard to compare apples and apples in someone else's system). The Theta Casablanca was great in its day. The EAD Theatermaster too, but I could not justify the expense when the life of a pre-processor does not seem that long.
Hope this helps.
God Bless,
Wayne

The only thing I can really comment on your response is about the XMC-1 being outdated. That's a loaded term and I like to stick to facts. The facts are, it doesn't support the current generation of sound and video formats e.g. HDCP 2.2 and Dolby Atmos etc. That's a fact. If you don't care about those formats, that's fine.

I agree that the reviews of the XMC-1 (aside from those omissions) have been positive. I think Audyssey is really only lacking in that you cannot EQ only certain bands. That's a big omission but it doesn't' make the entire system crap. According to everything I've seen, its much better on high end gear. The fact that its available on $400 AVRs gives it a bad rap. ARC is on par, feature-wise with DIRAC. I've not done a head to head comparison but the latest iteration gets high praise from professional reviewers.

Regarding specific models, reviewers are gushing over the 8802a's musicality, as I mentioned. Marantz has pulled in technology from their highly regarded (in their price class) 2ch gear and the analog section is supposed to be very good. There are no pro reviews of the new Anthem pre/pro yet.

Imahawki,
I am a fan of Marantz gear, and like the sound. I found the XMC-1 to be better, but not by a lot.
I don't agree about Audyssey, in the AV7005 it was crap.
From what I have read, which is not conclusive of course, DIRAC far surpasses ARC.
But I do not have direct knowledge of ARC, so I cannot say for sure.
My XMC-1 can be upgraded this summer for the new copy protection crap, for minimal cost, I will pass. As I will pass on ATMOS and DTS-X.
BUT to my point, things change all the time so, for me, there is no point in paying mega bucks for a pre-pro.
Otherwise, what you were really asking, it seemed to me, was whether I knew a good sounding processor when I heard one or not? Or if I was only familiar with cheap receiver sound?
I hope I have answered those questions.
I did not take offense at your questions, but I will admit to not caring much for them either.
I would have been less than open and honest if I had not said that.
I mean no offense by this statement either.
Happy listening, God Bless,
Wayne

Well, not to break up the healthy discussion (and maybe a wee bit of tension) but I just returned from my local GET dealer from my demo. To cut to the chase and get it out up front, I've ordered the Anthem AVM 60. I can't think of a much bigger compliment than that.

I did some more research on ARC and really like what I've read. It has a lot of features and by most all accounts it is better than Audessey. I'm not sure if it's better than DIRAC, but that software doesn't seem to be an option on a processor with the other features I want at a price that is within reason. In my audition of the Marantz 7702 and the Anthem AVM 60, I simply set them to THX standard crossover setting, did a quick level adjust, and just listened. I did not mess around with any room correction.

The rest of the setup was T2s, a SCXXL, and some other brand's surrounds. Similar to my current setup at home. The amp was the Anthem MCA525. Oh, I almost forgot, they also had the SuperSubXXL in the room!!! I was there for three hours listening and still didn't have the time to tweak and adjust things the way I would have liked to, but I felt confident that I had heard enough to end my search and invest in the AVM 60.

The Anthem's build quality is good. The connections are solid, the volume dial has a substantial feel, the brushed aluminum front looks good, and the housing seemed to be thick and had a nice texture. During playback, the unit stayed much cooler than my Integra. There was not a significant amount of heat coming out of the chassis's substantial ventilation. I will say that the Anthem is not as pretty as the Marantz and the outward build quality seemed higher end on the 7702. But, as they say, never judge a book by it's cover. Even if it is a little ugly.

I started with music playback in 2-channel. Right away, I was struck by how good the DAC on the Anthem was. Sound was being fed via a McIntosh through an HDMI cable. The sound of Jesse Cook's Blue Guitar Sessions was deep and rich. Imaging was rock solid and everything sounded quite nice albeit lacking a little of the transparency and shimmer of my home system. I moved on to Chesky Record's Ultimate Demonstration Disk 2 for a few more familiar songs. Again the sound was rich and the ambiance and vocals stood out on this album. The Anthem seemed to be delivering sound with surgical precision.

Next, I queued up Skyfall to test the vocals. I skipped ahead to the 8th scene to see how bloated and unnatural the dialogue would sound. 80Hz still sounded a bit hefty but it was much more controlled and natural. The background sounds seemed to stand out more than my Integra, but audio memory can play tricks on us. A quick switch to the crossover on the SCXXL to 60 Hz cleaned up the bloated voice of all cast members, to include Judy Dench. A few more quick jumps around continued to yield highly detailed and accurate sound.

Next, I switched to Star Trek Into Darkness. The opening scene had all of the bass, dynamics, and musicality I could want. The small details and ambiance were all there to include the various tones of dialogue as they were influenced by the various environments. The SuperSubXXL was probably turned down a bit more than I am used to having my subs set to, but the diffusion of the volcanic eruption at the end of the scene took on new dimensions and presented levels of detail and tones I could not remember hearing.

Last up was Mission Impossible Rogue Nation. Right from the start, it was great. Panning in on the field of grass during the surveillance of the Russian aircraft, I was bombarded by the sounds of blowing grass. This was a level of micro detail that was present on the Anthem throughout that I've not heard before. The rest of the scenes just sounded right. Again, there was dynamics, musicality, detail, and surgical precision.

I don't want to bash the Marantz, but if the Anthem's sound was that of a scalpel, the 7702 was more akin to a Louisville Slugger. It was still dynamic and packed a punch, but the tonality, precision, micro details, and rightness of the sound just wasn't on par with the AVM 60. The differences were not subtle and I knew very quickly that the choice was clear. The 7702 is pretty and it packs a punch! No doubt it would sound better than my Integra. I'm also sure I could coax a little better sound out of it with some careful tuning and experimentation, but I could easily do the same with the Anthem and it was already well ahead.

So, there you have my .02. The Anthem is a great processor. I can't wait for it to arrive so I can get it home and fine tune it even more. Is the Marantz AV8802 better? Maybe so, but it is also $1,000 more expensive. This unit gets me all of the audio goodness I can ask for at a price that I am comfortable spending. I highly recommend an audition if you're in the market. I suspect the professional reviews will speak highly of this new offering, but I have been wrong before... At the end of the day, the most important opinion for my money and my gear is my own. As Wayne says, YMMV!

Cheers,

T Cobe

Great report, T Cobe. Thanks for all the detail. That should be a BIG audio boost for your system. Congratulations!

And you hit the nail on the head: the most important opinion for your money and gear is most definitely your own!

Looking forward to hear how it sounds in your system...

Happy listening!!

Rick