What's the latest word on the Emotiva UMC-1?

Of course setting up any audio system starts with the best speaker placement you can get, and well thought out room treatments. Audessey or any other manual or automatic EQ is assumed to take place after all of the physical acoustics work is done.

"Using the UMC-1 I can customize the levels, EQ and delay on each speaker"

Is this the "tuning" that you are talking about doing? You are using an 11 band graphic EQ and calling that room tuning? You think you can beat Audessey's algorithms with an 11 band graphic EQ?

"You think you can beat Audessey's algorithms with an 11 band graphic EQ?"

Well to paraphrase Lonnie (Lenny) you can only get so much for $699. We should appreciate the "brain trust" at emo-porium for their honesty.

My friends and I don't "think" we can beat Audessey. We know we can as we've easily improved on it time after time. It's not even CLOSE to what we were able to finally achieve after taking real time to dial in the system.

Again, it's EASY to accept that these automated systems get it right. Why think otherwise when it will just lead to a lot of work? I have heard probably more than 50 high end theater systems in homes over the last 5 years and not one used Audessey (or any automated settings) except for the initial set ups.

Oh, and you can't just get the "best speaker position and well thought our room treatments" and then expect to simply tune from there. You have to see-saw back and forth. A simple change to my center channel high freq. curve let to a change in it's previously "perfect" placement.

I love the idea of a automated home theater system. It's certainly a great idea for the masses. But it's amateur hour for serious systems, at least for now. Most users actually employ a mic that costs less than 20 bucks! It's laughable. As I said, you may employ these systems for a head-start, but getting that ideal tune takes a lot of work and time.

Sorry....no fun hearing it, but it's true.

Rob

I dont think the Anthem D2V's calibration is at all "amateur hour" after doing 7 mic positions the only thing I found I wanted to adjust was a little bump in center channel level.
I do agree in general that most are a waste of time and some only get you maybe half way there but Anthem is a different league starting first and foremost with its carefully calibrated, matched and high quality microphone.
Up thill then I had got by just fine for over 15 years and maybe 9 different systems in that period.
If your room is good, treated and speakers are well positioned a rat shak SPL meter and your own ear is about all you need. Even a second system I have of Rotel seperates is great with just bass and treble trim for all speakers so 11 bands is a bit overkill IMO but tweekers surely enjoy all that freedom.

Well, I have limited experience with the Anthem 2, especially in setting one up. It's a very good sounding unit.

Most people won't admit that "most" of the automatic EQ systems don't work well. It's a shame because even a 400 dollar Denon receiver can do FAR better than they realize.

I'd also like to point out that one setting does not work across the board anyway. Watching The Expendibles I quickly realized that a quick adjustment in bass and center made for a more enjoyable listening experience. And the remastered Treasure of Sierra Madre benefited from additional tweaks while Avatar liked my standard settings just fine.

Getting back to room EQ via the unit, when my friend does an installation he uses a directional dialogue mic (the sort used on movie sets) to reduce errors.

So back to the original point:

I have found, after a short wait for an update, that the UMC-1 is a match for virtually every processor I've heard. At the very least it's sonically superior to the Onkyo and Marantz units, which cost much more. Early adopters certainly felt burned, but that's history now. The unit is a fantastic buy to say the least. Emotiva is also poised to release a higher end processor shortly. It has a even better pre-amp section and even more bells and whistles. Buyers of the UMC-1 get 50% off!

So I'm pretty happy with Emotiva to say the least!

Rob