Emotiva RMC-1 Meltdown

[theSven]

I've had issue with my Emotiva RMC-1, and I've even sent the unit in to Emotiva for service. I was out of town for work travel for 2 weeks, and upon returning I wanted to watch a movie and spend some time in my theater. I go to turn on the Emotiva and it doesn't boot. I get the typical error ARMC-1 error or something like that. I try the usual, unplug for a couple of minutes, power on again. No luck. I unplug all of the cables and pull the Emotiva from the shelf and begin to remove the lid. Emotiva support had informed me that I need to unseat a ribbon cable between two boards and then re-seat for the unit to work properly. This time when I went to do that, I noticed that the some of the ribbon cable connectors had melted!!! I've not done anything crazy with the unit. I power it on to watch Blu-ray or stream content through an nVidia nShield. Nothing wild... My frustration was at a peak now, the RMC was out of support and Emotiva doesn't sell that item anymore. They do have a newer version coming out I found out after checking the website. It's time to find a new processor that will hopefully 1; work, and 2; be reliable. I don't think that is too much to ask, do you?

Below are some photos of the melted connectors















I did get the unit to boot again! I had to unplug the power connector to top board and the board on the lower left of the last image. The unit needed to sit for about an hour with the power cables unplugged. Upon plugging the connectors back in the unit did boot. I don't want to even attempt to use it though with the ribbon connector cables melted. Literally a meltdown...

[Reet]

Those grey ribbon cables are horrible things. You have to get the ribbon lined up perfectly when the connectors get crimped, otherwise the wires all get shorted together. Not likely to be the problem with your unit, but it's a very common problem with those cables.

Finding a nice Pre-Pro that a normal human can afford is becoming more and more difficult. There is a market gap between AVRs, most of which offer fairly mediocre audio quality, however the average consumer doesn't seem to notice or care. To get high end audio there is very expensive high end Pre-Processors with 16ch Atmos blah blah, when all I really want is 5 channels of Hi-Fi quality audio. Emotiva seems to be the only company attempting to offer a budget pre-pro. I have an Outlaw 976, which is great in that it is both affordable and has balanced outputs, but missing some modern features and chip shortage during Covid killed it off. Outlaw only offers a $3200 Marantz unit now, another Pre-Pro from them doesn't appear to be coming.

[JonMarsh]

As I mentioned to you directly, Sven, this reminds me so much of the issues with some of the newer higher power GPU boards and melting power connectors (also pin block) due to the current demands running full steam on a demanding game.

It's a lot harder to fathom in the case of a preamp control unit...

[theSven]

The unit has been very unstable for the last 2 or 3 years. I had sent it in and it was working, but started acting up again. Every couple of months the unit would not boot and I had to pull the processor out, take the lid off, and re-seat the ribbon cable. Then within the last year I needed to unplug the power from the boards and let it sit for an hour. Put it back together, plug all the connectors back in, and then it was usable. This time though there was a meltdown. I did nothing different, and my guess is that something has worn out on one of the boards that let too much current flow. The unit is on a shelf with good ventilation, the cabinet has the back cut out that allows for good airflow.

My plan is to try out the Arcam AV41. There is a sale on Crutchfield, and there is a 60 day return policy. This feels like the safest move to try this device and have good support if I need to return it. Plus the store is only 1.5 hours driving from my location. I will start another thread for the AV41 once I get back home. I had to fly down to Florida for a meeting today and will not be able to start till Thursday or Friday.

[Steve Manning]

Dude that sucks ..... glad it did nothing more than melt the cables.

[Scareurpasenger]

Yikes! I was looking at that preprocessor. Glad I didn’t pull the trigger. I wish there were better options out there.

[theSven]

Yikes! I was looking at that preprocessor. Glad I didn’t pull the trigger. I wish there were better options out there.

It was a great move you did not to buy that. I need to get around creating a thread for the new processor. I've been using a lot and it makes me wish I would have bought that 2 years ago instead.

[JonMarsh]

Hind sight is 20-20, eh?

[theSven]

It sooooo is!

[deewan]

Sucks the RMC-1 had these issues and you were forced to deal with it for such a long time. The quality and ribbon cable issue could likely happen to any brand, but Emotiva normally has fairly good customer support. However, one experience with Lonnie at Emotiva when I was a beta tester for the RMC-1 several years ago made me decide to sell every piece of Emotiva equipment I owned and I'll never go back. Long story short, I discovered an issue with the RMC-1 firmware that could cause damage to speakers only if running all 15 channels. After calling Damon at Emotiva and confirming the issue, Damon stated they could have the issue fixed in a day. I made the decision to post a warning if anyone was running 15 channel to be aware of the potential issue and a fix was forthcoming. Just wait a day and avoid danger.

I received a private message from Lonnie stating I was being malicious and I forget how many times he stated how disappointed he was in me. Keep in mind I had spent hours and hours testing and reporting back to Emotiva to help flush out bugs in the RMC and I had done that all for free. One owner has spacers fired due to the RMC and I warn others about it and Lonnie is upset because the warning made Emotiva look bad.

I am happy you made the switch to Arcam!!

[theSven]

I just got back from a week overseas, came down to finish binge watching Silo season 2. The Arcam powered up flawlessly and the theater is in good order. It's embarrassing to say how much that would not happen in the past. I'm glad I made the switch and I have also started looking at amps to replace the Emotiva I have.

[JonMarsh]

It was a great move you did not to buy that. I need to get around creating a thread for the new processor. I've been using a lot and it makes me wish I would have bought that 2 years ago instead.

You do know that in theory hind sight is usually 20:10, right? Everything is twice as clear...