2. home-theater
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Which one Emotiva or Outlaw for HT

Looking at the Emotiva UMC200 pre/pro with Emotiva XPA 5 channel amp or the Outlaw 975 pre/pro with the Outlaw 7125 amp to replace an Onkyo NR809 HT receiver. Since there is no way to audition either one of these other than the 30 day home trial. I would appreciate any feed back from current owners or anyone who had the opportunity to hear these. I know auditioning is the way to do this but, for me and my work schedule, 30 days is not enough. Trying to decide which combo would be a better match for my speakers. Main use is for HT. Both of these fall within my budget. Thanks for any feed back.

System:
Speakers: Dynaudio Focus 140's with CC200 center
Integrated amp: Plinius 9200
DAC: Bryston Dac 2
CD/Blu Ray player: Cambridge Audio 752 BD
Wadia: 171i for ipod classic 160
Cables: combo of DNM, FMS & Analysis Plus digital crystal
brian27b
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
I have an Emo setup - UMC-1 with XPA-5 - and the sound quality is surprisingly good. The XPA-5 amp is a real powerhouse and drives my Gallo Ref. 3.1s to very satisfactory levels. And the UMC-1 preprocessor, the predecessor of the UMC-200, is a very good-sounding unit with a very rich feature set.

I believe that the Emo gear is a better value than the Outlaw. The Emo UMC-200 has some valuable features that the Outlaw lacks - Automatic room EQ, 11 band manual EQ, etc. - and the UMC-200 has been lauded for its sound quality.

The Emotiva XPA-5 amp is also more powerful than the Outlaw (200 watts/ch. vs. 125 watts/ch.) Granted, the Outlaw has 7 channels of amplification vs. 5 for the Emo. If you absolutely need 7 channels, the Outlaw would be a great choice. Otherwise, I think that the Emo unit is the way to go...

-RW-
runnin
397 posts
 
What the hey? The UMC-1 certainly did not have a rich feature set, and neither does the UMC-200. The "1" was dogged with buggy issues for over a year after Emotiva promised a rock solid platform. The UMC-200 is better in that regard, but the room correction is antiquated compared to any mid level receiver, and still doesn't handle the bass frequencies properly.

The EQ may be good, but most people don't have the knowledge or skill set to set it up for best audio. The "XPA-5 is more powerful" comment is puzzling since Outlaw makes 200 watts/channel amps as well with superior specs at rated power. They are also made in the USA while Emotiva stuff is made in China.

Buy what you like, but doing some research always helps the decision process
yakbob
468 posts
 
I've owned a few pieces of Emotiva gear and still have their IPS-1. I'm of the opinion that their amps represent amazing value. Their processors seem to have gone downhill from the early days of products like the MMC-1. The newer units may have more features, but no where near as bug-free as their original releases. Do you need to buy a matching set?
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