Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Emotiva MPS-2 Amp hum/buzz questions

Well, that should probably just be the mantra of the week.

Bryston makes very well-respected equipment. I've never heard anyone say anything bad about Rotel, and wid promotes his incessantly I've also heard people say good things about ATI.

Honestly, I think Emotiva just has overwhelming QA problems right now.

...and ATI builds Outlaw's multi-channel amps. If you are interested in ATI, and want to build up an amp over time, adding channel modules as you need it, go with ATI. If you're going to buy all at once, get the Outlaw. Put another way, if you like smaller payments over time, you can go that way with ATI. But if you're going to spend all at once you can save a little money with Outlaw; they just don't sell a partially full chassis.

I did not know that, Chris. Thanks.

Laura, we now know a good deal about your system. But I did not see any details on your room and setup. The amp problem is just that, an amp problem. You can get a new or used amp from many well known companies and not have to worry about the issues you have right now. Two channels would like do it, as the 3808 can clearly run the other channels. Open any audio website and the trusted names will be published and reviewed often - e.g., Parasound, Krell, Bryston, McIntosh.

But I'm struck by the fact you have the 3808 as a pre-pro. You are nearing the price of separates, and have separates, yet you have a wasted amp section in the 3808 and a sub-par pre-pro for the price. Why didn't you want a dedicated pre-pro? Just curious.

Given the general confidence that people have in the 3808's amp section, and the size of your room, I'm thinking you could use some time/money on speaker placement and room treatments. You are clearly willing to pay to get good sound, but no amp or tube will fix the first order reflections blurring your image, or the modes of your room causing muddy bass, etc. (It will fix loud, which I like!) Have you plotted the frequency response of your room? If not, try that. If/Once you have that data, you will find lots of advice here about how to improve your room to get the most out of what you have - which is plenty for an audiophile system, with or without a separate amp.

Just wondering Tom if the "Beer in Tree" was a reference to Bob and Doug Mackenzie's version of 12 Days of Christmas or was it simply the dream of a stout guzzling squirrel?

Take off you hoser!

Thanks, Zimm. I didn't go with dedicated pre/pro because I'm still learning and when I got the denon at least I knew it would be a great receiver with the proper number of hdmi jacks and good video stuff. Thought it would be the end of the road, but then I've kinda tweaked my analog setup and wanted to be sure I was doing what I could with that. I have a crazy setup and room is at a premium. I'll try to post an image somehow, but I also run a simultaneous quadraphonic system (wait 'till you see the huge La Scala fronts) with all that dedicated hardware (that is all upgraded and/or in great condition) and even a small panasonic receiver that now uses analog out of directv hd-dvr to drive my bose outdoor speakers mounted on my patio (old yamaha did this, but denon uses those two channels to run my channels 6 and 7, so bought used little receiver). I love my quad stuff when I'm in that mode, but I love my more pristine sounding 2 channel and hi-rez stuff when I'm in that mode, so I guess I have a nice system for a schizophrenic! I like what I like, so some people just wouldn't get it, but it is cool. Anyway, I digress. I will try to put a picture here and you might get to see my 1963 Ami/Rowe Continental Jukebox too (all this is why I have fun but not the savings account!). Thanks for the input, everyone, on amps. I'll be watching audiogon most likely - I'm scared to try anything with modules again, so will probably stick to the bryston-type amps. And, in the meantime, I may just find that the denon is fine. Oh - big thanks on the room treatment idea. I believe that will be a weak link and maybe hard to remedy - and wish I understood about the curve things, but all I have done is setup with audyssey (too many times to count). Someday I might get there. Thanks again. Happy beer in a tree!
Laura

Oops - I see you have to have some sort of url to post a pic. I have no idea about all that. I was hoping for a cut and paste type thing. If I figure anything out, I will post a pic, but doubtful. Sorry.

Laura:
Posting photos on the Axiom boards isn't too bad.

Open a free account at Photobucket.com. Check out this FAQ and the "Photobucket Overview" questions on the left. You'll want to make your photos smallish so they don't end up gigantic when posted.

After you've uploaded images, hover over the image that you want to post here in the forums. A little box will pop up under the image. Move your mouse over the bottom one and click it to copy it (on some computers it will copy the info as you click it, others you'll have to copy the info).

Now, in the Axiom forums, click "paste" in a text box when composing a message and it'll put in all the right info. You can preview your Axiom post to make sure it worked!

Laura, Zimm has given great advice yet again.

You can use photobucket to host pictures and then paste the img tags here.

Murph, it was both