Will the UPA 700 make a big difference?

[jsully]

I have a onkyo 809 avr running 7.1, with my klipsch icon series VF 36 - Fronts, VB15- Surrounds (4), VC25- Center, Klipsch SW450- Sub.  Everything just seems weak and off.  I called the emotiva customer support to see if they would suggest the upa 700, or the xpa 3.  At first he suggested the xpa3 then I asked about bi amping my towers with the upa 700, and also letting the upa run the center and front surrounds, and then let the onkyo run the rear surrounds.  He said that if i bi amp, he would suggest the upa 700 since the klipsch are pretty efficent, plus it would save $200.  I know the vf 36 runs at 150 rms, and the surround and center run at 80 rms.  From various forums about the onkyo some claim it runs about 70 wpc at 7.1 but others say your lucky to hit 50 wpc, but is it worth getting upa 700 if maybe the onkyo puts out 50-70 wpc.  ?? 

[Canuck_fr]

Let's start from the beginning: How large is your room? Length, width & Height.

[ausman]

I would say it would likely be a better option to buy another 2x xpa-3 and preamp the onkyo.....

or you could step into a 5509 if you so choose too

[drtrey3]

Hey Sully, welcome! Receivers have so much to do, that amps can be single purpose and rock out very well. I too will be upgrading from a receiver to amps, and the differences I have heard in other people's systems make it very attractive. Tell us how it turns out!

Trey

[jsully]

its 16x16, but its open concept so it has a hallway and dinning room connected plus its a condo so i have somebody living below me but she is pretty much deaf, it took a long time to get the bass to stay somewhat in the living room. I am selling the condo and looking for a house so someday I hope to have the movie room 12x15 and upgrade to a 65 inch. Sometimes I think I should wait till I get the house to buy a amp, but with the sale goin on it makes me trigger happy. I had a enclosed room prior and the setup sounded good, but felt like it lacked, and the onkyo for volume sits at 60 for movies depending on the blu ray some have to go louder to sound good. Probably to much info about non sense.

[dougc]

I would highly suggest the UPA 700. I had the same question a few months ago about my Yamaha RXV596 vs. UPA 700. Finally I bought it and the difference, well there is no comparison. The UPA 700 blows my Yammy away. I have a 1,000 sqft. open concept down stairs and the 700 has no problem filling it. The sound quality is FAR BETTER than your going to get with any AVR period. Doug C.

[Deleted]

I noticed a big improvement when I went from my pioneer vsx-32 to a upa -700 last year but I noticed a bigger difference when I upgraded the upa-700 to an mps-2 which is 200 watts a channel.... I would suggest a sherbourn pa 7-150 (if money permits of course) for the extra headroom