I haven't listened to the download yet, but can you relate any information on how you went about making the recording and your opinion re sound quality?
Emotiva Amps - Are they the real thing?
- Thread starter Johnny Vinyl
- Start date
My opinion is biased, its my recording. Its an A- quality audience recording from inside a club. Those mics had a great direcional pattern, but lacked the thick lowend I like.
I stealthed a video camera that day too.
I stealthed a video camera that day too.
I was finally able to audition the Emotiva Amps at RMAF.... and I must say.. they were one of the shows worst. I really could not wrap my head around why anyone would want to own these. Just not musical at all, lacking with any dynamics or musicality..
How does one determine what an amp sounds like in a room they have never been in with equipment the r not intimately familiar with?
I own one of their amp and I consider it a steal and use it for my surrounds. It ain't no Audio Research but it's also not at all bad.
I own one of their amp and I consider it a steal and use it for my surrounds. It ain't no Audio Research but it's also not at all bad.
True.. it's not like I had them in my system as a comparison with a familiar space or with my equipment. However, if their idea of what good sound is what was going on in their room... it had to be one of the worst.. just terrible. I couldn't see that they could be a value.
It remains however that you cannot with any certainty put the blame on the amps...
I haven't seen or heard one. This brand seems to disturb some audiophiles, possibly because the pricing is incredibly low. Stereophile has stayed away so far.
I was considering an XPA-3 for my surrounds too. Probably way better than the amplifiers in my Denon 4806 AVR that I currently use for the surrounds.
Lee
Lee
Still like mine (XPA-2 and XPA-3)... Haven't compared to anything except various AVRs recently (older Yamaha, newer Sony and Denon midrange <~$1k> units, and my Pioneer SC-27) but they do the job for me. I tend to think most of the sound comes from the source recording, followed by speakers/room. I have a friend with them (XPA-1s) on B&W 803Ds and he's happy, but what do we know... I gave up my high-zoot tastes in favor of the house and putting the kids through college. - Don
Well, I should have my XPA-3 on Monday 12/20. For driving the surround speakers in my system, it'll fill the bill just fine until I can save up for the KAV3250.
Lee
Lee
This is just one person’s experience to share with everyone curious about Emotiva. The experience is limited to only the XPA-1’s.
PRO
The XPA-1 is relatively neutral. It can reveal obvious and subtle sonic differences caused by cable and component switching upstream.
It claims to be “high current” capable and proves it by maintaining total mastery over a pair of current-hungry Thiel CS3.7s. The 3.7’s practical impedance measures 2.5-ohm over the entire audible spectrum.
The XPA-1 is relatively noise-free, at least in my system. When paired with a good line stage, there is no hiss or hash or ringing as the volume goes up. No ear-piercing highs, no ear-drum thumping hardness and no listening fatigue. Totally without strain or distortion that we can hear at higher db in our listening space.
High, mid and low are seamless and has no obvious “voice” of its own. CDs with varying recording characteristics show through. Bad recordings sound bad, decent to good recording sounds decent to good. Excellent recording puts a performance right in our room.
I have no way to measure if the CD player or the stylus is able to retrieve “all” information off the CD or LP. With that in mind, the XPA-1 seems very capable of reproducing everything it is fed. Whatever it is we can hear is always clear and easy to hear. There are no "what's that?" moments.
CON
On a few occasion, it may be a hair less tout in some low end? I cannot tell if it is the low end limitation of the 3.7s or the amp. For example, it is always capable of delineating complex low end instrument lines but on very rare occasion, it would seem to be just a hair less tout for a certain instrument. Hard to pin down if it is the amp, the recording or the speaker. Not something we care about because it does not impact the performance but readers may want to know.
XLR input has no locking tab. This is normally not a problem for normal use but irritating.
In a few rare instances, it may sound a hair less fast? I am not totally sure because it is only hinting at it. For example, it plays most snare drums passages perfectly with attacks, distinct fullness of the notes and so on. On rare occasion, in a complex passage, the distinctive note would not be as distinct. I cannot tell if it is the recording or the amplifier. Again, not something we care about because it does not detract from the overall musical presentation but you may wish to know.
The XPA-1 will not make poor quality upstream components sound good. Solid state line stage or preamplifier that exhibit any sort of tipped-up or "thin-bodied" sonic characteristics will really sound bad through the XPA-1. It requires a good line stage or preamp that can pass along good uncolored signals. Use of thin low quality cables is a no-no.
GENERAL
Our system started with:
ARC CD2 / ARC PH3 / Bryston BCD-1 + ARC LS25 / ARC LS26 + ARC VT200 / Bryston 7BSST2 + Thiel CS3.7.
The VT200 could not do the 3.7 justice. The Bryston 7BSST2 gain structure does not match well with the ARC's. The 7B also has a sonic quality that does not match our tastes.
After some experimentations, we settle down to:
ARC PH3 / BCD-1 + ARC LS26 + XPA-1 + CS3.7.
Our original candidates to replace the 7BSST2 were the ARC Ref 210 or Bryston 28BSST2. The XPA-1 were temporary replacement meant to set a low-end baseline for comparison to “high performance” products. We are now satisfied enough with the XPA-1 to suspend our amplifier search.
PRO
The XPA-1 is relatively neutral. It can reveal obvious and subtle sonic differences caused by cable and component switching upstream.
It claims to be “high current” capable and proves it by maintaining total mastery over a pair of current-hungry Thiel CS3.7s. The 3.7’s practical impedance measures 2.5-ohm over the entire audible spectrum.
The XPA-1 is relatively noise-free, at least in my system. When paired with a good line stage, there is no hiss or hash or ringing as the volume goes up. No ear-piercing highs, no ear-drum thumping hardness and no listening fatigue. Totally without strain or distortion that we can hear at higher db in our listening space.
High, mid and low are seamless and has no obvious “voice” of its own. CDs with varying recording characteristics show through. Bad recordings sound bad, decent to good recording sounds decent to good. Excellent recording puts a performance right in our room.
I have no way to measure if the CD player or the stylus is able to retrieve “all” information off the CD or LP. With that in mind, the XPA-1 seems very capable of reproducing everything it is fed. Whatever it is we can hear is always clear and easy to hear. There are no "what's that?" moments.
CON
On a few occasion, it may be a hair less tout in some low end? I cannot tell if it is the low end limitation of the 3.7s or the amp. For example, it is always capable of delineating complex low end instrument lines but on very rare occasion, it would seem to be just a hair less tout for a certain instrument. Hard to pin down if it is the amp, the recording or the speaker. Not something we care about because it does not impact the performance but readers may want to know.
XLR input has no locking tab. This is normally not a problem for normal use but irritating.
In a few rare instances, it may sound a hair less fast? I am not totally sure because it is only hinting at it. For example, it plays most snare drums passages perfectly with attacks, distinct fullness of the notes and so on. On rare occasion, in a complex passage, the distinctive note would not be as distinct. I cannot tell if it is the recording or the amplifier. Again, not something we care about because it does not detract from the overall musical presentation but you may wish to know.
The XPA-1 will not make poor quality upstream components sound good. Solid state line stage or preamplifier that exhibit any sort of tipped-up or "thin-bodied" sonic characteristics will really sound bad through the XPA-1. It requires a good line stage or preamp that can pass along good uncolored signals. Use of thin low quality cables is a no-no.
GENERAL
Our system started with:
ARC CD2 / ARC PH3 / Bryston BCD-1 + ARC LS25 / ARC LS26 + ARC VT200 / Bryston 7BSST2 + Thiel CS3.7.
The VT200 could not do the 3.7 justice. The Bryston 7BSST2 gain structure does not match well with the ARC's. The 7B also has a sonic quality that does not match our tastes.
After some experimentations, we settle down to:
ARC PH3 / BCD-1 + ARC LS26 + XPA-1 + CS3.7.
Our original candidates to replace the 7BSST2 were the ARC Ref 210 or Bryston 28BSST2. The XPA-1 were temporary replacement meant to set a low-end baseline for comparison to “high performance” products. We are now satisfied enough with the XPA-1 to suspend our amplifier search.
I have the xpa-2 for 2 channel and xpa-3 for surround. Price/performance ratio is off the chart in my view. Given that decent amplification ought to have the least negitve impact on music reproduction ie colouration etc, (followed by preamp, source and finally speakers) Then it stands to reason, as long as the power amp outputs good clean linear power with plenty of head room then other considerations become far less critical. I have no doubt the Krells of the world could give you 5% better, maybe more...but be prepared to pay 5x, even 10x more!
So for the value conscious...look no further, and enjoy a great holiday with what you save.
So for the value conscious...look no further, and enjoy a great holiday with what you save.
I'm running the Emotiva XPA-5 with Klipsch and I totally think it is well worth the money.
There seems to be a lot of debate on other sites about it's total power output, but works fine here.
There seems to be a lot of debate on other sites about it's total power output, but works fine here.
I also have an XPA-5 powering 2 Klipsch RF-7's, 2 RF-82's and an rc 64. It produces plenty of power and for a Chinese made product the build quality is good.
They are on sale right now if anyone wants one.
The XPA-5 from Emotiva is the Real Deal. After a few months of deciding which amp to purchase I decided on the EMO XPA-5, and have never looked back. We have been Very HAPPY with the Sound Quality (SQ) of the amp, and it has plenty of power output per channel to drive all five speakers at once with no problems. Just upgraded from the Denon 3311 to the 4311 w/ the EMO amp, and the sound quality got even better with the new Denon AVR-4311CI. Now, with the nine amps in the 4311 that are not being used, we can add some height or wide speakers and grow with the Denon/EMO amp. Now all we need is some cash for a couple Revel Salon 2's or Klipsch Palladium P-39F or Synchrony One Front Towers for Stereo Mode to replace the nice Klipsch RF-82II's but to take it up a few notches in Sound Quality.
You can go with RF-7's....I am loath to advertise for AVS, but they have the RF-7's for a very good price, $999. The 7's are a big step up from the 82's (and American made) suffering from none of the brassiness/sharpness that can be associated w/ some Klipsch speakers. The 82's make excellent wides.
Lee seems you would be a good person for their views on this.
Any update on the XPA-3 and your experience so far with the Emotiva?
Apologies if I have missed this in a different thread.
Thanks
orb
I just looked at their monoblock amp and I have to say it looks really nice. It's hard to believe that you can buy a pair of monoblock amps for around $1700 that look this good and they put out 500 watts into 8 ohms and 1000 watts into 4 ohms. Tempting...
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