Kenobi, I had the 40.2 running with Parasound power for a bit. The Onkyo preamp is very old-school Japanese sounding. It lacks depth and weight. My friend runs his theater with the Marantz 8003, which is VASTLY superior in sound to the Onkyo. But even he admits the Emotiva's preamp section is better. BTW, speaker systems involved are Merlin, Magnepan, Focal and Def tech.
Chadnliz, I own Emotiva amps as well as Odyssey, Rotel and the beautiful tube based Manley Stingray II. I've also had Parasound, Rogue and others. I don't comment on gear that I've never heard or heard once at a shop. The gear I discuss has been in my home.
Denon is mid-fi. It's good stuff. But you're being silly if you think a Denon anything will match the Emotiva gear. Using a Rogue Metis preamp the UPA-1 monoblocks held their own against a Odyssey stratos and certainly bested the Rotel 1075. You might also want to read my comparison of how the Emotiva ERC-1 CD player did vs. a far more expensive tube based player. If you don't actually hear this stuff with appropriate associated gear then you have no idea.
Sorry guys. Get back to me when you actually do more than read about these components. Like I said, my system is elaborate. I would not tolerate the UMC-1 if it wasn't excellent. I'm anxious to see Emotiva's full blown processor coming soon.
Rob
Rob
