Runnin
I'm not sure what your intent was in referencing Emotiva, who for all intents and purposes haven't done any better with processors having released 2 UMC's. They've failed with Sherbourn, TacT and thus far the XMC-1, now over 2 years late with no release date in sight.
Not going to argue with you on your larger point but I don't see Sherbourn as a failure. By most accounts, their PT-7030 seems to be a good pre-pro (if you don't want auto room correction), and until very recently, a 7-channel amp was included for the $1700 asking price. That deal is gone but the price on the pre is now $999. Price-wise and performance-wise, it seems to fill a pretty good niche.