Emotiva DMC-1 Introduction

This was my first time using an Emotiva product, however I have thought their new line was quite beautiful and well-polished, putting form up there with function. Their upcoming Ultra-Lite series seems to extend this trend with an affordable "budget" multi-channel solution that has the appearance of a product that should cost a whole lot more. Regarding the DMC-1, first impressions abounded. The unit was simply stunning to look at. The front brushed aluminum accent panels are "lifted" from the chassis and accented by a blue LED backlight. The amount of backlit buttons and features are initially disturbing, but can be tempered or eliminated completely via a "Panel Dim" button on the front (there are three levels of dim as well as an 'off' setting).

Emotiva DMC-1 Review: The Testing System & Listening Environment

The "Audiophile" experience. That term comes up a lot and it's hard to define what exactly makes up this somewhat mystical mojo so many strive for. Audioholics, in general, tends to harp on differentiating features, specifications, and measurable performance - but what about the sound? The experience? Well, the Emotiva DMC-1 is most definitely an Audiophile product, targeted towards audio aficionados who want the finest audiophile sonic performance coupled with a top-notch polished look to rival anything else available on the market. What's the bar, then? Exceptional sound quality and solid integration into a high-performance A/V system - fit for both two-channel and multi-channel sound. This review will assume an audiophile target audience, with supporting gear that sits at a price and performance level commensurate with the DMC-1 pre-processor. If you're looking for a bargain home theater solution - this review (and product) isn't meant for you.

The Testing System & Listening Environment

The Emotiva DMC-1 was feeding a Rotel R MB-1095 5-channel amplifier powering an Atlantic Technology System 4200e . All equipment was located in the soon-to-be-inaugurated Reference System 2, a 17 x 14 listening room featuring room acoustics spec'd by Rives Audio. This room simply presents a blissfully transparent environment for both music and home theater listening.

The listening position is set back from the center of the room and made up of three Berkline 088 leather theater seats located about 11 feet from the front wall, and 6 feet from the rear wall. The Atlantic Technology 4200e LRs are approximately 10' apart and the dipole surround speakers are 13' apart on the side walls to maximize their excellent imaging characteristics. A 642e subwoofer is situated inside of the right front loudspeaker and produced clean, articulate bass during listening sessions.

Emotiva DMC-1 First Impressions

Setting Up the Processor

I would have to say that this is one of the easiest processors I have ever had the pleasure of setting up. My "pre flight check" recommendations prior to configuring the system follow the normal suggestions: run your power and audio/video source interconnects, connect your preamp outputs (XLR recommended) to your power amplifier and ensure that your loudspeakers are correctly placed within your room. Once the externals are in place you will be ready to configure the processor and get everything set to run smoothly.

The Emotiva software has 5 main setup pages with various submenus. They are, in order of appearance (but not importance): TRIMS, MODES, TONE, INPUTS, and SETTINGS. The Setup Menu is accessed by pressing the " Menu" button on the M X-500 while in the EMO device control area. The Setup Menu does not, unfortunately, "loop" when you hit the bottom of any of the lists, so you'll have to up arrow all the way to the top if you are at the bottom of any particular screen or selection.

To start your setup adventure, begin with the SETTINGS submenu where you can adjust various options for your Main Zone, Zone 2, speakers, video, and RS-232C/IR controls. Jump into the SPEAKERS submenu first and set the SIZE, DISTANCE, level CALIBRATION, and crossover settings. A separate crossover frequency (40 - 160Hz in 10Hz increments) can be set for the Left and Right speakers and for the Center and Surround speakers.

Editor's Note on DMC-1 Bass Management
We strongly recommend setting your crossover's within 20Hz of each other to avoid bass recombination issues andor truncated LFE bass with this processor. There are various ways to handle LFE channels and bass management within processors and several schools of thought populate the marketplace. When the corresponding speakers are set to "Small", Emotiva has chosen to allow the Center/Surround crossover settings to truncate the LFE track frequency information. What this means is that if the LFE track contains frequency information going up to 100Hz, but your center/surround crossover is set at 40Hz for larger, floorstanding speakers, that LFE track will also be rolled off at 40Hz at a rate of 24dB/octave. The LFE track info from 40Hz - 100+Hz is greatly attenuated from the system. If you think about it, this will largely only affect those subscribing to the ITU 5.1 speaker configuration with larger (but not full range) speakers all around. If this describes you, you can select a higher LFE setting, or you can opt to try using your system with all speakers set to "Large" to see how well the bass integrates in your room. Bass management is largely about options, and simply knowing what is happening is the first step in making sure you get the best sound possible in your listening room.

In our configuration, we were using a THX Select 2 System with both crossovers set to 80Hz. Setting the crossovers to 80Hz eliminated the truncation issue and resulted in well-balanced system integration. Simply keep these issues in mind as you configure your bass management and, particularly, select the crossover frequencies for your center and surround speakers.

When all crossovers are set to 80Hz, we see a perfect 12dB/oct HPF rolloff and -3dB @ 80Hz for all speakers set to "small", and 24dB/oct LPF rolloff and -6dB @ 80Hz for the sub/lfe channel as per THX recommendation. In most cases, this is the optimal configuration that you should at least use as reference point, only varying if your particular speaker system and/or room integration requires it.

Once you have set SIZE and the two L-R and C-SURR CROSSOVER frequencies, you can glance at the SUBWFR MODE setting, which allows a "double bass" or ENHANCED feature that sends signal to the Subwoofer even when your main speakers are set to "Large". This only affects 2-channel audio and has no effect with respect to 5.1 or 7.1 surround modes.

DISTANCE can also be set for your loudspeakers and is adjustable in 1" increments. This exceeds most processors I've seen, who generally only go as low as .1 foot increments. Take a ruler out and carefully measure the distance from the tweeters to the listening position (where your head would be). Do this for all speakers and enter that info into the Emotive DMC-1 so that delay compensation for your speakers can be set. Since the Side Axis speakers are really just derivatives of the Main Left/Right channels, they share delay settings and should not affect your measurements. Conspicuously absent is any delay settings for the subwoofer. I wouldn't think this to be a big issue as anyone spending this much on a high-end processor would have a subwoofer with variable phase to solve any room integration issues but keep this in mind when picking the right subwoofer(s) for mating with this processor.

Emotiva DMC-1 Setup and Configuration (cont'd)

SPEAKER CALIBRATION is accomplished through the use of internal test tones. Levels can be set in 0.5dB increments and are adjustable to +/- 10dB. The test tones for the main, center and surround speakers were helpful in setting good reference levels, but the subwoofer test one was almost destructive in nature. It could be described as an earthquake and actually makes for a great subwoofer "slam" demo for your friends. For setting a solid level, however, I would recommend using AVIA or another setup disc to obtain a more accurate subwoofer level setting or just configure the system to taste. The typical Radio Shack SPL meter is not really up to the task of assimilating the rapid succession of sub-frequencies that this test tone produces and quickly shuts itself down in a fit of horror and outrage (OK, not really, but it would if it had any sense.)

Video Settings

It's important to note that the two component outputs provided on the Emotiva are buffered. A buffer is an active gain stage that is used in electronic devices to maintain the signal quality when manipulating a video signal to perform various functions such as outputting to multiple destinations. Most manufacturers employ op-amps or chips for buffers which is an inexpensive way to ensure no degradation when providing multiple video outputs. What's even more remarkable is that more manufacturers do not offer this rather convenient option.

Another nice feature involves the ability to set the VID2/ M ON2 OUT function that configures the VID2/ MON2 output for use as either a record out (no OSD and muting the VID2 input) or second monitor output (with OSD). In high-end installations it is not uncommon to want a second monitor output simply to provide a small LCD TV for making changes to the processor in a remote area or decentralized equipment room.

Input Configuration

Surround Modes and Settings

Aside from being able to select the desired default Surround mode for each input, the Emotiva DMC-1 enables users to set the preferred sub-modes for each format. For example, when selecting DTS Neo:6, you can have it default to M usic or Cinema modes. The Emotiva supports adjustment of the DTS LFE channel in music mode (-10db) when set to " Music" as opposed to the unadjusted "Cinema" mode. The Emotiva is a no-nonsense processor, providing only one lone custom DSP mode, JazzClub, in addition to its Party mode which routes signal to all speakers (selectable by the user) in your system. The standard modes come with the expected adjustments for center width, panorama, and dimension (Pro Logic II/IIx M usic) and I found adjustment of these features to be unnecessary in my listening room.

Additional Helpful Settings

"On-the-Fly" Trims are provided for the Sub, Center, Surround, Surround Back, and Side Axis speakers. These settings are meant to be used to tweak settings when you want to make subtle adjustments to your system without necessarily having to access the Main Menu. The remote supports on-the-fly adjustment of the Sub(s), Surrounds and Center Channel speaker. I'm not quite sure why the other on-the-fly adjustments were not included in the remote's initial programming. Regardless, I found these trims to be helpful, especially on poorly mixed cable television shows where I wanted to get a bit more volume out of the center channel. Channel trim settings are retained even when the unit is powered off, but are, of course, globally reset to zero whenever the loudspeakers are calibrated for level.

Emotiva DMC-1 MX-500 Universal Remote Control

Source Switching

The MX-500 comes preprogrammed for the Emotiva but is not without its quirks. When returning from a device to the Main screen, the remote's Power button will still control the last device, rather than the Emotiva (regardless of how many times you hit the "Main" button on the remote control). This makes powering off your system take an additional step or two to actually select the EMO source and then activate the Power button (in addition, the "Off" button doesn't turn off the Emotiva either, rather the "Power" button toggles both on and off functions. When in the Main (top) level of the remote, pressing one of the available sources does not select that source on the Emotiva, instead you are merely brought to that device's screen where you can now control it via the MX-500. I found this to be extremely cumbersome as I would have preferred a macro so that the Emotiva would immediately select that input and have the remote ready to control the device. Here are the required steps to play a DVD (from everything being off) using the MX-500 (after your DVD player is programmed into the remote):

Here are the sequences of steps I think there should be (requiring pre-programmed macros):

Using Zone 2 Functions

Zone 2 is able to be engaged and disengaged from the front panel. However if you have Zone 2 Disabled via the setup menu and you hit the Zone 2 button while the unit is off, you'll have to wait 10 seconds for the unit to exit that mode before you can do anything else (including power on the Main Zone).

From the Emotiva's Setup Menu Zone 2 can be configured to select from the Last source or a fixed source on power up. Like the main Zone, you can also set the power up volume mode (Preset, Fixed, or Last). You can also set the Max volume - a feature that is so sensible you wonder why all manufacturers do not utilize it.

Zone 2 does have its share of quirky features. For example, when attempting to access the M ain M enu, it allows access and exiting of the M ain M enu as well as vertical navigation through the Top Level. It does not, however, enable horizontal navigation to allow any submenus to be entered or settings to actually be changed - you'll need to switch back to Main Zone device control to do that. There is also an undocumented feature labeled ZONE2 OSD POP UP that doesn't seem to have any effect whatsoever on the main Zone or when using Zone 2.

Emotiva DMC-1: Comparison of Emotiva, Sherbourn, and Sunfire Processors

Due to multiple requests about the similarities between the various processors utilizing Bob Carver/Sunfire platform we felt it important to provide some perspective on the three main units available to consumers. Sherbourn Technologies and Emotiva both are able to have their products made through a manufacturer in China who is licensed to make these products based on the Bob Carver/Sunfire platform.

DMC-1 Pre-Pro Build Quality

Before opening up the unit I spun it around and took a look at the back panel and connections.

You cannot help but recognize the well-organized layout of the processor, with all inputs well-arranged and easy to reach. Connectors were ample, yet well-spaced and I felt that I was given plenty of room to maneuver my hands to get my source components connected. Emotiva chose to mirror this organized structure with the front panel buttons, providing almost a hybrid look of simplicity and functionality. While the processor has a plethora of buttons on the front, it maintains that "high-end" look that tends to model a more subdued feature-set and cleaner appearance.

Not wanting to wait another second, I cracked open the unit (no, not literally!) to take a peek inside of this processor and see what made it tick. Despite the sparse initial appearance of the DMC-1, it only takes a few moments to find out that the efficiently laid-out unit packs a whole lot of top-shelf technology in its 27-pound chassis.

Emotiva DMC-1 Listening Tests: Two-Channel

Having spent so much time discussing the features, set-up and configuration options of the Emotiva DMC-1, I was excited to finally get down to the important part of the review - listening to this processor and seeing how well it performed in my Reference System. I tried to go into the listening session with an open mind, relinquishing all preconceived ideas I had about how the processor would perform and attempting to gather an honest and open evaluation of the sound.

Track 1 of Disc 1, "Splintering Heart", started off with a building, almost pulsating subsonic intro that was fantastically clean. Whenever I play this song in the other room, my 2-year-old runs around the coffee table in circles for some unknown reason (yes, every time). Synthesizer detail trickled in across the soundstage as the vocals continued to build. The front vocals were powerful, with a soft, airy reverb that enveloped the listening room. Subtle element in this track continued to point out the clarity and detail that was possible with this system, especially since the entire intro of the song was a multi-layered entity lacking any non-synthesized instrumentation. I replayed the track in Dolby Pro Logic IIx Music mode and found that this was one of those CDs that benefited immensely from Dolby's DSP - almost turning it into a discreet 5.1 mix and surrounding the listening position with an accurate but encompassing mix of vocals, pads, guitar and reverb.

Now back in two-channel, a cascading, almost U2-like guitar intro began track 2 "Cover My Eyes" (Pain and Heaven) - quickly followed by some clean vocals. The chorus added a fuller mix that set just behind the main vocals. Drums were panned wide (a fairly consistent mixing technique on this album) and possessed an almost exquisite cymbal detail. This song simply came alive with the Emotiva.

Almost done, but not quite - I simply couldn't stop listening to this album. Track 4 "No One Can" put forth some gentle vocals and a steady beat which marked this song as one where you can really pay attention to the mix and break it down into its component parts. From the steady stick on the snare to the polite reverb that washed over the vocals and lent filler to the backgrounds, it was fun to just sit and enjoy this mix.

SACD: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
This almost epic undertaking is something of a fantastic enigma. It is essentially a contemporary opera with classical instrumentation, punctuating a classic tale of science fiction. Are you picturing it yet? Don't bother, just buy it and check it out in your own system - you will not be disappointed.

Track 1 sets up what is a recurring theme for the entire piece. With synths, strings, flutes, and a syncopated drum track, there is much to enjoy and realize in terms of soundstage and detail. The mix is a constant modulation of crescendo, followed by individually revealed instrumentation. Among this ebb and tide of music is a dry voice over interjected by Rich ard Burton to carry along the story.

Once you think you have a feel for the musical content, and almost Jethro Tull vocal spits out a chorus lyric line. It was easy to pick out independent effects & instruments. The Emotiva allowed the full, rich definition of this audio opera to come forward.

Emotiva DMC-1 Listening Tests: Multi-Channel

Rather than assault readers with short snippets from ten thousand tracks, I selected two multi-channel discs that were known for their low noise floor and excellent attention to detail. I wanted at least one full, enveloping mix, with ample room to hear the soundstage of the Emotiva as well as the ability for it to reproduce full frequency-range tracks without hesitation and without missing any clarity or fidelity.

A brief first half of Track 4, "Lunch Break" had the feel of rush hour in New York City - reminiscent of an old Audrey Hepburn movie. The height of the brass and percussion really opened up the mix, rendering it as a rapid assault of the fantastic orchestral ensemble that was as real as standing in front of Tiffany's.

"The Afternoon" ("Tuesday Afternoon" for those not familiar with The Moody Blues' orchestral version nomenclature) brought this disc to a more intimate level, without collapsing what was being rapidly recognized as a gigantic soundstage. Some fun surround effects also made this a lively mix, even tossing some of the main vocals into the surrounds. Pop this disc in, close your eyes, and you will likely find yourself frittering away the afternoon listening to some amazingly detailed and fantastically mixed ear candy. The Emotiva did a terrific job of rendering every detail of this well-mixed masterpiece.

I found that these new DVD-Audio remixes of the original tracks made good use of DVD-Audio's additional headroom. The dynamic range seemed to be much improved and the songs sounded much more "live".

Track 3 "Low" made creative use of the surrounds to spread the percussion throughout the room. The Emotiva preserved all of the elemental detail and revealed even subtle instrumentation such as the background bass that was well back in the mix during verses.

I liked how nothing seemed overdone in these remixed tracks. The DMC-1 held to an honest rendition, never pushing, and certainly never missing or rolling off any subtleties. "Shiny Happy People" was a good example of a song with depth, providing an intimate mix of vocals and instruments while still enjoying the freedom and flexibility of the 5.1 channel format by overtly utilizing the surrounds during choruses and vocal harmonies.

This disc could fit well into anyone's collection. If you aren't already an R.E.M . fan you just might be converted after listening to Out of Time in 5.1. Conversely, if you aren't yet an Emotiva fan, a few select tracks in a reference room may just change that as well.

Emotiva DMC-1 Measurements and Analysis

Signal to Noise Ratio Tests

Via CD Analog Input (A/D conversion)

210mV in, 1V out

Subwoofer Output

Maximum Preamp Signal Levels

Emotiva DMC-1 Conclusions and Overall Perceptions

The Emotiva is a beautiful processor to look at - as much a piece of artwork as it is a high-performance machine for high-end audio. This product is geared towards audio enthusiasts who desire the best sound quality possible. With an MSRP of $2495 it also comes in at almost $1500 less than the Sunfire Theater Grand IV, which has nearly identical innards and the same processing core. Add an MPS-1 7-channel amplifier and you beat an equivalent Sunfire combo by almost $3000. If you want all the latest features and gadgets, or if you are trying to spend as little as possible for your home theater system then look elsewhere, this product isn't for you. If, however, you want to enter the realm of high-end audio and experience separates at a competitive price to their peers, then the DMC-1 is a great processor to drive the reference system in your listening room.

 

Emotiva DMC1 Review Sample Firmware Settings

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Frequency Response Linearity
Multi-channel Audio Performance
Two-channel Audio Performance
Build Quality
Fit and Finish
Ease of Setup
Features
Remote Control
Performance
Value