Emotiva or optional processor's

[blue934]

i have a friend who would like to go the seperates route for his 5.1 HT. i showed him the emotiva but he doesn't want to spend $700.00 for the processor. anything available <500.00?

blue934
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CHEVROLET STRAIGHT-4 ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS

[jdclark]

I am of the opinion that if you dont want an all-in-one receiver; one of the best options is a Home Theater based PC. Blue ray drives can be had for under $200, good audio cards with 7.1 analog outs as well as optical and coax outputs canbe had for well under $200, it doesnt take a super high end video card to play dvd's and blue ray perfectly.

It wont be under $800 for a nice setup, but it shouldnt be a ton more either. Thats not a bad price for a very nice pre-amp/processor, dvd/blue ray player, etc... If your TV doesnt have a dvi input, just convert from dvi to hdmi for the video and use the sound card's optical out for the audio.

[Jason]

Emotiva is the least expensive that I know of, unless you don't want the latest surround formats/HDMI. If the latter is the case, Outlaw may still have a few 970/990s on hand. Last I saw they were blowing those out to make way for their new 997 ($1399). Also, the used market occasionally turns up an Emotiva or Outlaw pretty inexpensively. Check audiogon, ebay, and the forums at av123, avsforum, emotiva or outlawaudio.

There's also the option of using a receiver w/ an outboard amp. There are probably quite a few Onkyo/Denon/Yamaha/etc w/ preamp outputs. Not sure how the sound quality compares.

[Dirk]

I am of the opinion that if you dont want an all-in-one receiver; one of the best options is a Home Theater based PC. Blue ray drives can be had for under $200, good audio cards with 7.1 analog outs as well as optical and coax outputs canbe had for well under $200, it doesnt take a super high end video card to play dvd's and blue ray perfectly.

It wont be under $800 for a nice setup, but it shouldnt be a ton more either. Thats not a bad price for a very nice pre-amp/processor, dvd/blue ray player, etc... If your TV doesnt have a dvi input, just convert from dvi to hdmi for the video and use the sound card's optical out for the audio.

Care & feeding of an HTPC is a helluvalot more work than buying a pre/pro. And then there's the UI, which has no common consistancy from, say, Media Center to whatever plays your Blu-Ray discs. Oh, you could do something like MythTV on Linux to get consistancy, but then you're decoding your BR 100% in software, with no GPU acceleration.

Be honest. Getting a good HTPC setup isn't trivial even for the computer guy and can be a hobby unto itself.

[blktre]

Sounds to me your friend would be better off having a little patience and buying a cheaper receiver that can do all the latest codecs and has pre-outs. Like the Pioneer VSX-1018TXH-K. Start with that then buy a separate amp like the Emo. XPA-5. Then later when money allows is to buy the separate processor. Doing this is the best way to get into quality separates. When money is an option like it is for all of us, patience is the key. Otherwise you will end up with a system that will be hard to upgrade. And never be totally happy with what you got.

[jdclark]

Care & feeding of an HTPC is a helluvalot more work than buying a pre/pro. And then there's the UI, which has no common consistancy from, say, Media Center to whatever plays your Blu-Ray discs. Oh, you could do something like MythTV on Linux to get consistancy, but then you're decoding your BR 100% in software, with no GPU acceleration.

Be honest. Getting a good HTPC setup isn't trivial even for the computer guy and can be a hobby unto itself.

Well....yea. There is also the whole issue of finding a good software player....

[blue934]

thanks for the replies, all. i will suggest the midline receiver w/pre out option. not sure how far down the line you can go with better brands and still have the pre out, but can look around.
does anyone know if the emotiva or outlaw have a room analyzer such as Audyssey? didn't see it in the specs.
thanks again
blue934
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Lamborghini Athon History

[Jason]

The Emotiva UMC-1 will have their "Emo-Q", which noone really knows much about yet. It will do auto setup and EQing, but how well it does it is unknown at the moment. They are also including Dolby Volume, which should be interesting. The new Outlaw 997 has the Trinnov Optimizer, which is being tauted as the next greatest thing since sliced bread. Do some investigation on the new Sherwood Newcastle receiver, which is basically the same platform as the Outlaw. Never been in a consumer product, so there could be some "issues" living up to the hype.

Overall, systems like Audyssey get mixed reviews. Some people love them, some people call them bandaids for room problems that should be corrected with room treatments or better speaker placement, and others just plain don't like the results they get with the system.

Friday I helped a friend set up his new Onkyo 606 which as the Audyssey 2EQ. Setup was pretty easy although I wasn't completely thrilled with the results. His speaker placement is less than ideal, so I'm sure that had something to do with it. Could we have done better with an SPL meter and manual EQing. Don't know, but for a non-tweaker who just wants to spend the 10 minutes to have the system do it for you, it's probably better than just plugging in and going with the factory defaults.

[Jason]

I am of the opinion that if you dont want an all-in-one receiver; one of the best options is a Home Theater based PC. Blue ray drives can be had for under $200, good audio cards with 7.1 analog outs as well as optical and coax outputs canbe had for well under $200, it doesnt take a super high end video card to play dvd's and blue ray perfectly.

It wont be under $800 for a nice setup, but it shouldnt be a ton more either. Thats not a bad price for a very nice pre-amp/processor, dvd/blue ray player, etc... If your TV doesnt have a dvi input, just convert from dvi to hdmi for the video and use the sound card's optical out for the audio.

I'll concur with others who have commented on the HTPC idea. They can be finicky... and this coming from someone who has and uses one. I think for DVD/DVR/Media Server stuff, they are great. But when you start talking blu-ray and taking full advantage of it, things get a little stickier - at least at the moment. Blu-ray is still pretty poorly supported from a software standpoint, especially to get the full audio advantage. You also need fairly robust hardware, so you have to build your system fairly conscientously.

On the flip side, I remember when DVD first came out. I couldn't afford the (at the time) $500 sticker price for a stand alone DVD player, so I threw a $60 drive in my computer. Well, there was no hardware/software support, so you needed a separate decoder card. And then you had to use the limited software, and playback wasn't real smooth, and... A few years later when DVD was more mainstream, any machine could play a DVD nicely right out of the box. Give blu-ray another couple of years and I'm guessing you'll see something similar, with more machines supporting HDMI and integration into Media Center.

[Dirk]

The Emotiva UMC-1 will have their "Emo-Q", which noone really knows much about yet.

I suspect it will result in a dark, somewhat angsty, sound, leading your entire system to feel misunderstood. I'd watch for your amplifier developing high levels of DC offset and other early warning signs of self-harm.

It will, however, take naturally to playing albums by Panic At the Disco or My Chemical Romance. So there's that.

[Jason]

I suspect it will result in a dark, somewhat angsty, sound, leading your entire system to feel misunderstood. I'd watch for your amplifier developing high levels of DC offset and other early warning signs of self-harm.

It will, however, take naturally to playing albums by Panic At the Disco or My Chemical Romance. So there's that.