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Emotiva Audio - Honest Review


Black64

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Hi everyone, I just wanted to share a few thoughts about Emotiva Audio. I will keep this short to avoid making this boring or just time consuming to read. I was initially really impressed by the price and look of Emotiva products. But that should never be a reason to buy a piece of audio gear, the sound is what really matters. I know a few us here at OCC like audio, but I know all of us here like saving money, so I wanted to write a quick review on some Emotiva products I've purchased in the last year. I've owned a number of "high end" Pre/Pros and amps from companies like Krell, Audio Research, Anthem, Bryston and Classe. I ended up buying 2 Emotiva units off eBay for some 2 channel listening and also to install in my main 5 channel setup, if I thought they were worthy of such an honor.  

 

UMC-1 Pre-Processor - I was very excited to get this unit in, I was hoping to make this my go to 2 channel Pre amp. The remote is fantastic, it is made of solid aluminum and looks like it costs $200. Overall it sounds great, no cons I see there. However the IR on the unit it self died with-in 1 week of use, Emotiva even sent me a new remote, but I ended up having to send the entire unit in for a week to get the IR fixed. I then got it back and continued using it for channel listening for another 2 months before I the unit would stop loading. It would turn on, then appear to start up then cycle on/off. I sent it back to Emotiva again for another repair, yesterday actually. 

 

Overall the unit sounds and performs great, especially at the price. However the odd failures and the number of failures makes me never want to recommend a pre/pro from Emotiva. 

 

UPA-500 5 channel amp - This is it, the best amp for the money I have ever owned, it's dead silent at full volume and really is a great sounding amp with plenty of power, so much so, that I decided not to upgrade to a higher end offering from Emotiva, yet. (even though I want to) It currently is working along side my Anthem MRX 510 with a 12 volt trigger. I've never had any issues what so ever with this amp, it's heavy, built solid and sounds great. The speaker binding posts are solid as well, not like the cheap ones that you see on big box AVRs. 

 

Overall the UPA-500 is a great upgrade from any sub $4000 AVR, for the price it makes a tough descision not to buy one. 

 

 

Emotiva Audio overall - I will definitely keep buying there amps, however I will never again buy another pre/pro from them. There RMA department is great, they got back to me with-in a day (email) and even paid for my shipping the second time I had to send in my UMC-1. If anyone wants a high end amp for less, Emotiva has my vote.

Edited by Black64

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