Post by Porscheguy on Apr 6, 2013 18:44:45 GMT -5
Fanboy
Web definitions
A fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something. Fans of a particular thing...
Web definitions
A fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something. Fans of a particular thing...
Yeah, so I admit I’m an unabashed Emotiva fanboy, but with good reason. I have always maintained that these amplifiers, preamps and CD players (at least) are exceptional performers not only for their price, but they are just great performers period. This along with an after sales support system that is second to none has placed Emotiva squarely on the map as a driving force in audio. What’s more is Emotiva has stood the traditional AV community on their collective heads by producing such fine sounding, well made, but truly affordable equipment for a fraction of the price of the “audiophile establishment”. It’s to that end that I wear the Emotiva Fanboy moniker, and wear it with pride.
I know it’s been a long time coming, but I really wanted to thoroughly test these amps with many musical genre’s and movies. I’ve had a lot of Emotiva amps, UPA-7, XPA-2, XPA-5, XPA-1’s and now XPR-5 and two XPR’1’s. Over the years I’ve almost always owned separates and have had some nice power amps along the way by B&K, Denon, Marantz, Audio Research and MacIntosh. Having said that, here’s my take on the XPR series.
I mostly tested the XPR-5 as a stand alone with movies even though that’s not my usual configuration (I use the XPR-1’s for L/R and the XPR-5 for C/LR/RR). The other two channels are used for zone two in another room. I did this because I feel that most people will use the XPR-5 in this way and not make that huge investment for the mono blocs. I tested the XPR-1’s in 2 channel, pure direct with no subwoofer. The preamp is a Sherbourn SR-120 receiver, which has a UMC-1 as a preamp and sonically it’s dead on in SQ with my UMC-1. CD’s only, ERC-1 with Emotiva inter connects, Tributaries inter connects, and Monster Cable interconnects were all rotated in and out of the testing. Speaker wire to my Snell CV (Peerless drivers and titanium tweeter) was Emotiva, or Kimber. Speaker wire to my Snell Type J7 Reference (Seas driver and silk dome tweeter) is Monster Cable. Movies were played on an Oppo 93 w/HDMI and Blue Jean inter connects.
I won’t go into a great deal of detail on the operating principal of these amps, which is better left to someone more knowledgeable. To learn a bit more go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplifier
I will say the build quality on these amps is very nice with a thick billet plate on the front of both models and 1st quality binding posts in inputs on the rear. The XPR-1’s transformer is clearly visible trough the air slots and it is a thing of beauty to behold. Not to mention its about the size of a good sized chocolate cake! Never once did these amps run even the slightest bit warm, even after hammering them for an hour or more. It should also be noted that I run everything in my signature on the same 15 amp circuit with no issues whatsoever. Trust me, I was at ear splitting volumes at times too. And I will not argue with Emotiva about getting a dedicated 20 amp circuit, because I’m going to but so far, no issues at all.
So in two channel, I thought I’d start out with little acoustic stuff. Keb Mo’s “Am I Wrong” from Six String Theory sounded rich in the vocal details and the slide guitar was presented perfectly with great pinch harmonics. The harp was also presented without any harshness and the bass was deep and muscular without being boomy. This is a superb recording, and these amps did nothing to change that. On to Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo’s Melody Magic. This is another terrific recording by two acoustic guitar virtuosos. The Beatles medley of “If I fell” and “Here There Everywhere” is lush and rich and you can even hear the soundboard of the guitar resonating. “Eye of the Tiger” is a true tour de force from these two with lots of staccato playing and big bass guitar. The XPR-1’s presented this in all its glory. It’s a great show off piece for your system, especially with the dynamics that the XPR-1’s have. Just fabulous. More good sounds from YoYo Ma’s Goat Rodeo Sessions. This is sort of a bluegrass meets classical undertaking and it’s very well done. “Quarter Chicken Dark” is a very complex piece but violin, guitar and Yo-Yo Ma’s cello are all in balance and presented in full rich detail, never sounding strident or forward in the treble. For female voices, I listened to several tracks from Shawn Colvin’s Polaroids including “Steady On” and “Sunny Came Home”. Shawn’s voice had a shimmering breathy quality, as did Dido in “Thank You” from No Angel. Kompendium’s Beneath the Waves is another effort that makes me love these amps. Simply superb vocals and acoustic instruments. What a soundstage! In jazz, Hiromi's Spiral was great with a very accurate portrayal as to how the piano should sound.
Classical was well acquitted too. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons recorded by the BSO is a very interesting take. This Telarc recoding was made in the Houghton Chapel at Wellesley College. The natural reverb and its decay of that intimate venue is quite apparent and well conveyed by the XPR-1’s. Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (Robert Shaw) simply was fabulous as it built to its exciting crescendo!
I didn’t listen to a lot of rock because for most part, its poorly recorded with few exceptions. Too compressed among other limitations. One exception is Demons Dream by Dave Martone. This album to my mind, is one of the finest electric guitar instrumental collections available and a great recording to boot. "Big Church" comes off as it should, big and meaty with Martone’s guitar crunching power chords, but the 5th harmonics are quite evident here and those details are not easily resolved by many amplifiers. No problem for the XPR-1’s. Drums sound like instruments with even the cymbals have that shimmering quality without being overbearing. No different with Porcupine Tree’s Deadwing. Spot on vocals, deep soundstage and yeah, dynamic as hell.
On to movies. Just using the XPR-5 I found all the above to be the same. The opening of Master and Commander made two wine glasses fall off my bar! Tron, The Grey, Battleship, War of the Worlds you name it, this amp played to earsplitting levels but never got shouty or forward in its presentation. I also listened to several DVD-A’s and SACD’s and the sound quality was nothing short of fabulous. This is one serious MoFo for home theater or 2 channel!!
So in the end, these two amps have more or less the same sonic signature. The XPR-1’s "bring it" like no other but the XPR-5 is no slouch and may be the best value. The mono blocs have another appeal, one that may or may not matter to you. Do the XPR-1 amps sound better than the XPA-1’s?? Well, gulp, yes I think they do. They have woken up my tweeters in a nice way with this shimmering presentation (I know I use shimmering here a lot ) and the mids are just more in balance and slightly more neutral. The bottom? Big, tight and make no doubt about it, this amp has a firm grasp on your woofers. No, it’s not night and day between the XPA-1 and XPR-1, but it is an evolutionary step up by virtue of its design and the way it makes power.
So here we have powerful, yet detailed, nuanced amps that really are phenomenal. The trump card for the XPR-1’s is they can play extremely loud and almost never get shouty or fatiguing. Composure is what they are all about, not to mention they can drive any speaker on the planet with authority all the while sounding “audiophile”. Even at ridiculous volumes, they are loafing..
In the end, I’m glad I bought them, they are easily worth the money, and like another reviewer once said “ If you want to get these amps back from me, you will have to pry them from my cold dead hands”.
I can think of no greater compliment.......