Emotiva XPA-5 - this Amp is the real deal

[emig5m]

I now use a XPA-5 to drive a pair of 802D's (mains), HTM1D and a pair of 803D's (rears) with no problem. Just last night I listened to over 2 hours of music (Porcupine Tree (DVD-A), Beck (DVD-A) and Genesis (SA-CD)) and then watched the Quantum of Solace Blu-ray at an average of well over 85dB (peeks to over 105dB). The amp was 100% cool to the touch and never stressed at all. I plan to upgrade to 3 XPA-1s for the fronts and I KNOW for a fact that they will be far more than adequate (except on the snob factor meter :W ) to do the job of driving the 802Ds and HTM1D.

Hmmmm. Mine gets pretty warm driving 600 series. In the back/top of the amp it gets pretty hot after a while.

[impala454]

Old thread I know, but I thought this was another nice story showing Emotiva's customer service. I recently moved and somehow lost my XPA-5's power cable in the process, and they sent me a replacement via 2 day fedex free of charge. I sent them an email Thursday afternoon and received the cable the following Saturday. Another thumbs up for Emotiva from me! I wish more businesses in general out there would treat their customers this way.

[Armbender]

Old thread I know, but I thought this was another nice story showing Emotiva's customer service. I recently moved and somehow lost my XPA-5's power cable in the process, and they sent me a replacement via 2 day fedex free of charge. I sent them an email Thursday afternoon and received the cable the following Saturday. Another thumbs up for Emotiva from me! I wish more businesses in general out there would treat their customers this way.

wow...that is great...im still extremely happy with my XPA-5. Still deciding on whether i should go the classe ssp600 route or go with the UMC-1

[jamesdaman]

It sounds interesting at the price, I'd Love some classe but the intergrated here in the uk is £3800 which is is what $7000. The 5200 is £6800 I simply can't afford that but I'd love to get close in the quality. I have some 805s hooked to quad hear I wonder if this stuff is better???

[wettou]

I just ordered them. Will let you know what I think. Looking for the sweet highs of the mc-402 and the bass of my cav-180. Not enough bass in the mac so I sold it and the Classe is like Having the dolby on with a old car radio. SSP-300, 802D's and Emotiva. Lol :huh: only the open minded need to apply!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rofl:

So what is the verdict?

[wettou]

I plan to upgrade to 3 XPA-1s for the fronts and I KNOW for a fact that they will be far more than adequate (except on the snob factor meter :W ) to do the job of driving the 802Ds and HTM1D.

Did you?

[DM3000 Owner]

...Classe is like Having the dolby on with a old car radio...

Really? Are you sure? Come on now, fess up. An old radio with the Dolby on. :roll:

[Grasynoll]

I'll be happy to take any inferior Classe products off your hands.

[Hammie]

Heck, I've been more than pleased with the performance of my Emotiva XPA-5 and my 804S's, HTM3S, and CWMDS8S's.

Now, I'm debating on what pre/pro to upgrade to from my Denon 3808 receiver.

If I go Emotiva, it will only be the XMC-1. Rotel is out because it doesn't support DSD over HDMI. Classe and McIntosh is out of my budget. Since it might be a 2010 upgrade, I'll start looking at more options in the $2-3K price range.

[Race Car Driver]

DIP'S, DIP'S, DIP's The 802D's DIP'S into a 2 Ohm Load. All speakers DIP.
Enough Said.

Agreed. This is one thing I have noticed with "the home theater comunity" vs "the car audio comunity"

HT guys seem to "look to much into it" CA guys seem either ignore it or dont understand it.

Its NEVER a topic on CA forums, yet gets brought up often over here.

Music is transient. Dips Dips Dips.

Anyways, 3 of those XPA-1s up front are tempting...

[Armbender]

Heck, I've been more than pleased with the performance of my Emotiva XPA-5 and my 804S's, HTM3S, and CWMDS8S's.

Now, I'm debating on what pre/pro to upgrade to from my Denon 3808 receiver.

If I go Emotiva, it will only be the XMC-1. Rotel is out because it doesn't support DSD over HDMI. Classe and McIntosh is out of my budget. Since it might be a 2010 upgrade, I'll start looking at more options in the $2-3K price range.

the Integra 9.9 looks promising

[Hammie]

the Integra 9.9 looks promising

Actually, the DHC.80.1 is more in line with what I am looking at. I like more HDMI inputs than less. But thanks for the heads-up on Integra. I keep forgetting about them.

My only concern is that I was never a fan on the Onkyo receiver sound. Not sure how close the Integra line will sound (granted the DHC-80.1 has no amps).

:huh:

[dan87951]

I just ordered one of these today. Hope to have it in Feb since they are on back order since everyone is taking advantage of the sale. I have Rotel amp currently. From all the good things I heard from them I should expect the same quality for alot less! There paper specs are pretty impressive for the price. Just got to hear it!

[emig5m]

I'm waiting to see how the XMC-1 pans out before thinking about upgrading anything. I have the same fear that Lou has with Integra - I'm too worried that it will be too close to a regular Onkyo than something in another league. I don't really need a bunch of features over what my Yamaha 663 does. I briefly had a Yamaha 3900 and there's so much to it that I just didn't need or would ever use, and the sound quality was the same. I would of been willing to pay the extra amount for added sound quality but there was none....it was all added features on the same baseline sound quality.

When I upgrade my pre/pro I'm going to be wanting a noticeable increase in sound quality than more fancy features then I already have. Somehow I feel that in this day and age of all lossless digital connections and refined designs that the bridge between high end gear and low end has become too close make that much of a difference to justify the prices of the higher end stuff. When I drop in my B&W dealer I'm just not blown away by the high end electronics. I really would need to do a in home demo back to back on the same system to tell the difference. I doubt I'm going to get the difference in fidelity I'm looking for like I did with the jump from Cerwin Vega speakers to B&W on the electronics side especially when the general consensus that most people will agree on is that speakers, placement, and room acoustics make the most difference anyway.

But I'm always curious what the next level of sound quality sounds like and you don't know better until you've experienced better. I doubt I'd be willing to spend over the price of a XMC-1 just to "test" and "fulfill curiosity" though...

[Armbender]

I'm waiting to see how the XMC-1 pans out before thinking about upgrading anything. I have the same fear that Lou has with Integra - I'm too worried that it will be too close to a regular Onkyo than something in another league. I don't really need a bunch of features over what my Yamaha 663 does. I briefly had a Yamaha 3900 and there's so much to it that I just didn't need or would ever use, and the sound quality was the same. I would of been willing to pay the extra amount for added sound quality but there was none....it was all added features on the same baseline sound quality.

When I upgrade my pre/pro I'm going to be wanting a noticeable increase in sound quality than more fancy features then I already have. Somehow I feel that in this day and age of all lossless digital connections and refined designs that the bridge between high end gear and low end has become too close make that much of a difference to justify the prices of the higher end stuff. When I drop in my B&W dealer I'm just not blown away by the high end electronics. I really would need to do a in home demo back to back on the same system to tell the difference. I doubt I'm going to get the difference in fidelity I'm looking for like I did with the jump from Cerwin Vega speakers to B&W on the electronics side especially when the general consensus that most people will agree on is that speakers, placement, and room acoustics make the most difference anyway.

But I'm always curious what the next level of sound quality sounds like and you don't know better until you've experienced better. I doubt I'd be willing to spend over the price of a XMC-1 just to "test" and "fulfill curiosity" though...

good points...

[pasadena]

I was going to suggest Integra's DHC-80.1 as an excellention option for a pre-pro but it has already been mentioned. For what it has for its price is really unbeatable.

As for amps, if you ever stumble upon a NAD 208THX amp, give a try. Underrated by most.

The 208 delivers 250 watts continuos into 8 Ohms. During high level transient periods the amp can deliver 600 watts into 8 Ohms, 800 watts into 4 Ohms, and 1000w into 2 Ohms. The 208 is one of very few power amps rated into 2 Ohms. The 208 can drive a speaker down to 1 ohm stable.

In Bridged mode, the amp delivers 500w continuous into 8ohms. During transient periods it will do 1.6kw in to 8ohms and 2kw into 4ohms. I know people who have these have 2 of them and will rarely part with them.

Until recently I used my 208 to drive the low pass section of my speakers and Pass-Labs XA-100 monoblocks for the high pass. Due to room contraints, I now only use the 208 whilst the rest is in storage and very happy with it. I was using a meridian 568.2mm as my source.

Cheers