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Monoprice HTP-1 Home Theater Processor Review

TommyTwoTone

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@amirm, if Monoprice could address the jitter issue and worked with you to resolve HDMI issue that was preventing you from testing it would that be enough to upgrade your your final impression to a headed panther?
 

TimoJ

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Monoprice really should update their website's HTP-1 pictures. In those it looks bad, doesn't even have case screws installed and the back panel picture is from some early test model. HTP-1 looks much better in user pictures, I think the best one is Amir's review picture (just edit the headless panther out...).
 

audioBliss

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Some of the best products out there usually don't have that much marketing going on. They let the products speak for themselves and the people in the know will enjoy.
 

Bghead8che

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I have the desire to participate here at ASR to provide measurements for surround processors and AVRs. However, I believe that a different criteria for evaluation is needed. IMO, applying Amir's DAC testing parameters does not translate well to real world performance. Most consumer amplifiers will not accept a preamp signal as high as 4Vrms.

I'm wondering if I should create a single thread for surround processor measurements or a seperate thread for each. Opinions?

SSPs I hope to have measured by Monday:
Monoprice Monolith HTP-1
Trinnov Altitude 16
Bryston SP4
Lyngdorf MP-50
Acurus Act 4
NAD M15HD (unbalanced version of M17v2, additional AM17 outputs are balanced)

SSPs I should have access to soon:
Marantz AV8805
Arcam AV40

Did you ever post the results?
 

RammisFrammis

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The question is whether it is even poor engineering.

Getting tied up in knots about a "flawed" or "poorly engineered" product when no-one even knows what the *time constant* on the mute function is is just plain silly.

This is a question I was going to ask; surely there's some non-zero time constant before the circuitry mutes. Perhaps that time constant is simply too short for "measurements" but with actual music/soundtracks it would be a non-issue?

I ask because I'm a software engineer doing exactly this kind of stuff; among other things, writing muting functions into software on audio components (but I had nothing to do with the Monoprice).
 

Francis Vaughan

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As it turned out it was a bit more subtle. The output to the DAC was always muted until the processor decided what format the input signal was, and therefore whether it needed decoding first. The difficulty being that very low level signals don't have enough information to be able to differentiate signal types. So no time constant was at play here. This is something of a flaw in the format - nobody imagined that anything other than PCM would flow down the digital stream, and there is no mechanism for conveying metadata about the stream format.
This is none-the-less a step up from many systems that rely on the owner correctly setting the parameters, so that they match the input devices. If not done right they are simply greeted by an ear splitting wall of noise, and need to fix the settings.
The question of time delays is always painful. The user always wants the minimum possible. More advanced action can include asymetric time to mute and unmute (aka hysteresis) and in the face of situations where you see many mute inducing actions occurring in a row, increasing the mute time, with some form of reset on the time when it stops being silly.
So many systems seem to have inordinate mute times when anything changes. I wonder if some suffer from cascading mutes, with each sub-system muting its output until it decides things are stable. This would fit with a system (which seems to be case with HT products) where the internals are a set of proprietary black boxes integrated by the final physical black box vendor.
 

tparm

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Anyone still alive on this thread? Seems to me this is a pretty high performing device if you already own a Umik-1 (I do), use low input sensitivity amps (such Monoprice's own Monoliths) and take time to property set it up. I see there have been a couple of firmware updates; whats the general consensus of the HTP-1 now?
 

TommyTwoTone

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Anyone still alive on this thread? Seems to me this is a pretty high performing device if you already own a Umik-1 (I do), use low input sensitivity amps (such Monoprice's own Monoliths) and take time to property set it up. I see there have been a couple of firmware updates; whats the general consensus of the HTP-1 now?

Not sure how many owners there are here but there a ton of happy owners over in the owners thread on avsforum. See for yourself here:

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/90-r...l-monoprice-monolith-htp-1-owners-thread.html

If you want Dirac and need 16 channels of processing I think it's the best option of what's available and Monoprice has certainly stood behind their product with firmware updates and they've been responsive to its user base. It's been out of stock for a while and based on what I see in the owners thread there are folks ready to pull the trigger when it's back in stock.
 

tparm

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Not sure how many owners there are here but there a ton of happy owners over in the owners thread on avsforum. See for yourself here:

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/90-r...l-monoprice-monolith-htp-1-owners-thread.html

If you want Dirac and need 16 channels of processing I think it's the best option of what's available and Monoprice has certainly stood behind their product with firmware updates and they've been responsive to its user base. It's been out of stock for a while and based on what I see in the owners thread there are folks ready to pull the trigger when it's back in stock.
Thanks very much and yes, I probably should have cruised the owner's thread before posting here! Takes me a while on this whole forum-thing... Thanks for the link.
 

Dherrmann717

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Anyone still alive on this thread? Seems to me this is a pretty high performing device if you already own a Umik-1 (I do), use low input sensitivity amps (such Monoprice's own Monoliths) and take time to property set it up. I see there have been a couple of firmware updates; whats the general consensus of the HTP-1 now?
Im very happy with my HTP-1
 

Sancus

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If it's within your budget this is probably the best available Dirac+everything else processor out there that has been reviewed so far. And Monoprice has been doing a much better job on the software side than literally every competitor. I don't think it deserves the headless panther, tbh, not when crap like the Arcam AVR850 got a shrugging one.
 

jgirado

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Anyone still alive on this thread? Seems to me this is a pretty high performing device if you already own a Umik-1 (I do), use low input sensitivity amps (such Monoprice's own Monoliths) and take time to property set it up. I see there have been a couple of firmware updates; whats the general consensus of the HTP-1 now?

It's a great soundind pre-pro with almost zero issues, and the ones it has are not important (in my opinion). I have mine since mid-Feb and couldn't be happier.
 

Maconi

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Honestly it seems like the HTP-1 got a less-than-stellar review because it was too complicated for Amir's liking (too many options to tweak). He was also never able to get HDMI working on this one. Once he figured out most of the settings everything measured acceptably (compared to other AVR units that have received better pink panthers) but since he has a policy of not revising reviews it will forever have a bad mark.

If you want a Dirac processor in this price range then the HTP-1 is the one to get IMO. The only real competitor is the SDP-55 which still has multiple issues to work out and will likely measure much worse (if the Arcam sister unit is anything to go by).

Lets not even mention the Emotiva RMC-1 (even though I just did). I can, from experience, say that's a waste of time lol.
 

Sancus

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The only real competitor is the SDP-55 which still has multiple issues to work out and will likely measure much worse (if the Arcam sister unit is anything to go by).

It has a different DAC, so we don't really know how much of the digital chain was changed/redesigned, basically jury's out until it gets reviewed, which I am certain it will sooner or later. That said yeah it's worthless until they get the software issues sorted out. And tbh, major software issues erode my trust in manufacturers pretty fast. I honestly wouldn't consider the SDP-55 at this point unless digital outs or Logic16 are really important to you.
 

Adam Bernau

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I just have recently bought Emotiva XMC2, because i couln´t find anything else, and i have mixed feelings, to say this mildly.
The Monoprice unit was also considered, but it is not sold here, in Czech republic..
The menu looks like IBM XT computer, but much much slower, and the HDMI handshakes are unbelievably long, and they happen very, very often, is there anyone, trying to figure out some hack for the HDMI HDCP handshake craziness? The XMC 2 is not just taking around 20 sec to show the picture, but it is also somehow handshaking everytime i play a movie from the NAS, or streaming service. The times are beyond acceptable, and the connection doesn´t always happen.
Also the fact, that XMC-2 doesn´t have any "no signal/connection lost" screen is not helping much, basically you are waiting for aboutt half a minute, being very often welcomed by black screen... of death.
My previous AV receiver (Yamaha RX-A 2070) was handling everything above mentioned at about 1/3 of the time.
Something very wrong is happening here, should we perhaps start a thread called HDMI HANDSHAKE TERROR or HDCP HELL? :)
 
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jgirado

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I just have recently bought Emotiva XMC2, because i couln´t find anything else, and i have mixed feelings, to say this mildly.
The Monoprice unit was also considered, but it is not sold here, in Czech republic..
The menu looks like IBM XT computer, but much much slower, and the HDMI handshakes are unbelievably long, and they happen very, very often, is there anyone, trying to figure out some hack for the HDMI HDCP handshake craziness? The XMC 2 is not just taking around 20 sec to show the picture, but it is also somehow handshaking everytime i play a movie from the NAS, or streaming service. The times are beyond acceptable, and the connection doesn´t always happen.
Also the fact, that XMC-2 doesn´t have any "no signal/connection lost" screen is not helping much, basically you are waiting for aboutt half a minute, being very often welcomed by black screen... of death.
My previous AV receiver (Yamaha RX-A 2070) was handling everything above mentioned at about 1/3 of the time.
Something very wrong is happening here, should we perhaps start a thread called HDMI HANDSHAKE TERROR or HDCP HELL? :)

I suggest asking over XMC-2 forum: https://www.avsforum.com/forum/90-r...736-official-emotiva-xmc-2-owners-thread.html
You'll probably have more luck there...
 

RichB

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I just have recently bought Emotiva XMC2, because i couln´t find anything else, and i have mixed feelings, to say this mildly.
The Monoprice unit was also considered, but it is not sold here, in Czech republic..
The menu looks like IBM XT computer, but much much slower, and the HDMI handshakes are unbelievably long, and they happen very, very often, is there anyone, trying to figure out some hack for the HDMI HDCP handshake craziness? The XMC 2 is not just taking around 20 sec to show the picture, but it is also somehow handshaking everytime i play a movie from the NAS, or streaming service. The times are beyond acceptable, and the connection doesn´t always happen.
Also the fact, that XMC-2 doesn´t have any "no signal/connection lost" screen is not helping much, basically you are waiting for aboutt half a minute, being very often welcomed by black screen... of death.
My previous AV receiver (Yamaha RX-A 2070) was handling everything above mentioned at about 1/3 of the time.
Something very wrong is happening here, should we perhaps start a thread called HDMI HANDSHAKE TERROR or HDCP HELL? :)

Make sure you have installed firmware 1.10.
Best to continue on AVS or the Emotiva forum.

- Rich
 
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