|
|
Post by Gary Cook on Feb 10, 2014 18:34:38 GMT -5
As mentioned previously I've been looking for a replacement for my 16 year old DIY subwoofer amp. It had plenty of grunt but perhaps was a bit lacking in sound quality I thought. The thread seeking suggestions here; emotivalounge.proboards.com/thread/35257/emotiva-amp-subwooferWhen the recent Secret Warehouse sale popped up I grabbed an XPA-100 on the basis that if it doesn't work out as a sub amp I can always grab another, a pair of monoblocks would never goes astray. UPS did their customary (for me) good job and delivered it on time, in 6 days door to door and in unmarked condition. No so much as a dent on the outer box. With some companies warehouse clearances can be a bit of pot luck, but no so with Emotiva, the XPA-100 arrived in perfect condition looking about as new as new looks. All accessories and the manual were there, the only thing I noticed was the absence of the usual silica gel bags, not one in sight. Unpacked it, changed the power plug to Aussie style (I'm getting rather good at modding Emotiva power cords), plugged it in, 4 metre RCA connection to the USP-1, 1 metre bare copper wire speaker cable. 2 x 2 metre trigger cable (solder joint with heat shrink insulation). Power it up, standby orange, trigger from the UMC-200, red test led then the solid blue OK to go. I didn't have a lot of time, so I tried a couple of well known to me CD's (Dire Straights Hybrid SACD) and a Dianna Krall (Redbook CD) in the ERC-3 with the USP-1 doing the pre amp duties. I picked those 2 as the first had strong bass guitar the second jazz double bass to give the sub some material to work with. I expected some improvement in sound quality, but what I got was a huge jump, one of those rare night and day experiences. It's just better in all aspects, tighter control of the large sub woofer, less boom (not that it was boomy before), cleaner, clearer and most noticeably more integrated with the FL and FR. Volume wise I certainly didn't find any deficiencies, plenty of grunt at rather loud (party) volumes. It's the integration that really stands out to my ears, the sub now sounds to be more in tune with the stereo speakers. It's like the XPA-5 has grown a 6th channel and it's one amp powering the speakers. Even with such a short listen it's still obvious that the Emotiva sonic signature bridges from the XPA-100 to the XPA-5, very impressive. Next test was a very quick replay of a 5.1 sound track from a cable movie via the UMC-200, hardly BluRay quality, that will come when I have more time. There's a car crash in the scene I chose with a car rolling several times, lost of crash, screech, thump, tinkle from broken glass etc. There was plenty of impact from the sub, speed, response, rumble etc, pretty impressive actually for what was a rather average source material. I'll report more on the BluRay LFE sound quality and quantity when I have a chance. In summary, for stereo music, OMG what a difference, big ported subs often don't have a good reputation for music, well with a quality amp I don't believe that's the case. For LFE, pretty impressive so far, but needs a real work out from a decent source, I have a couple of BluRays in mind. Cheers Gary |
|
|
|
Post by ansat on Feb 10, 2014 18:39:07 GMT -5
looking forward to your thoughts as this is against recommendations I have heard previously.
Tony
|
|
|
|
Post by frenchyfranky on Feb 10, 2014 19:00:34 GMT -5
A nice AB power amp should do for sure a nice job to power subs.
|
|
|
|
Post by Gary Cook on Feb 10, 2014 19:08:56 GMT -5
looking forward to your thoughts as this is against recommendations I have heard previously. Tony Yep Tony, I had the same doubts I've always worked to the rule of thumb of 3 to 4 times the FL and FR wattage for the sub. With an XPA-5 powering them that means I was looking at sub amps in the 750 watts and above range. After quite a few listens I didn't find any that liked, I even tried a few of the pro amps that I use and I just didn't like the fan noise. Keeping in mind that the room is large but the listening area itself is not so much. So I don't need a lot of sub to fill it. The DIY sub amp was rated at 400 watts, so the XPA-100 is similar in that regard, and I never had any lack of volume issues previously. I was really holding out for a dedicated Emotiva sub amp and what really swayed me was Keith's comment that any Emotiva power amp could be used as a sub amp. This, added to my thoughts that what I really wanted was not more sound quantity but higher sound quality. I've always been very satisfied with the subs LFE performance for movies but I would have liked it to be a tiny bit more "musical". I was confident that the driver and its ported enclosure had the capability. The amp change has reinforced that opinion. Cheers Gary |
|
|
|
Post by repeetavx on Feb 10, 2014 21:30:21 GMT -5
I'm using a UPA-1 for sub duties and couldn't be happier. Like Gary said, it's very musical while sounding powerful.
|
|
|
|
Post by Gary Cook on Feb 10, 2014 23:06:05 GMT -5
I'm using a UPA-1 for sub duties and couldn't be happier. Like Gary said, it's very musical while sounding powerful. I believe I may have read that mentioned previously and it was another reason for me to give it a try, thank you. Cheers Gary |
|
|
|
Post by moko on Feb 11, 2014 8:53:53 GMT -5
nice review, gary. i'm glad it performs above your expectation. btw, how much did get this xpa-100 ?
|
|
|
|
Post by Gary Cook on Feb 13, 2014 17:28:38 GMT -5
nice review, gary. i'm glad it performs above your expectation. btw, how much did get this xpa-100 ? It was $US325 in the Secret Warehouse Sale, I wish it cost that much for us Aussies, it was close to $A600 by the time I added the exchange rate plus freight. Still a bargain in my view. Cheers Gary |
|
|
|
Post by frenchyfranky on Feb 13, 2014 18:58:53 GMT -5
nice review, gary. i'm glad it performs above your expectation. btw, how much did get this xpa-100 ? It was $US325 in the Secret Warehouse Sale, I wish it cost that much for us Aussies, it was close to $A600 by the time I added the exchange rate plus freight. Still a bargain in my view. Cheers Gary Nice country, nice temperature (a little hot), nice place to live but it's small disadvantages accompanied.  |
|
|
|
Post by Gary Cook on Feb 13, 2014 20:30:07 GMT -5
It was $US325 in the Secret Warehouse Sale, I wish it cost that much for us Aussies, it was close to $A600 by the time I added the exchange rate plus freight. Still a bargain in my view. Nice country, nice temperature (a little hot), nice place to live but it's small disadvantages accompanied. I've visited many countries and many States in the US and Canada is a little too cold for me, I like living here. It's not too bad when you think about it, freight was about 1 cent per kilometre. Cheers Gary |
|
|
|
Post by Gary Cook on Feb 15, 2014 17:47:28 GMT -5
This morning I finally had the chance to give the XPA-100 and sub woofer a short work out for HT. I chose a well known, to me anyway, soundtrack with plenty of bass action, the stealing of Tesseract chapter from Avengers Assemble. The XPA-100 acquits itself extremely well, for those that know the scene, the SHIELD station self destructs and collapses onto itself. There is a great deal of LFE action and a sub woofer amp can easily loose control of the complex and the frequently multiple overlaying of sound effects. This is where I felt my previous DIY sub woofer amp displayed it shortcomings, with occasional drifts into low frequency vibration rather than sounding out the effects accurately. The XPA-100 displays none of this, even at way above normal listing levels. For those familiar with the UMC-200 volume settings, I would normally watch this movie at +35, at which volume the XPA-100 powers the sub so eloquently that is just fits in with the other 5 channels seamlessly.
Also for this test I did a couple of runs through the same scene at +40, same result, the XPA-100 was easily able to keep the sub powering along with the other channels. I then thought I 'd try to find the upper limits, to where the XPA-100 just ran out of power, where it clipped and/or the sound deteriorated into a muddy mess. Leaving the volume at +40 I then added db progressively to the sub woofer channel alone, until it completely drowned out the other channels at around +7.5db. The XPA-100 just kept on delivering. I honestly don't know where its upper limits are, other than it's beyond my volume tolerance levels not to mention the shaking of my wife's favourite decorations. Time to stop, before I get into deep trouble.
In summary, the sound quality improvement I was chasing has been well and truly achieved by the XPA-100. The improvement for music listening is way above my expectations, as is the LFE quality for movies, while the grunt is as much as I think I will ever need. For anyone with a passive sub woofer or an active one that doesn't have the quality of amplification that the rest of your Emotiva gear does then I'd recommend that you give an Emotiva mono block a try. Just pick one with the appropriate amount of watts and you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results.
Cheers
Gary
|
|
|
|
Post by rickhawk on Feb 15, 2014 18:01:12 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing this. How would I give this a try if my sub already has a plate amp on it?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2014 20:48:26 GMT -5
Thanks Gary. I love my dual XPA-100s on my AR9s, just love them. The tight, deep, well controlled bass is stunning. On heavy LF material I too had to turn it down before I got to find out when they clipped -except for the 9s, EVERTHING in the unit was rattling and my ears were bleeding... I have future plans to add 2 more with a pair of Maggie 1.7s (when I move house and get a bigger room)  |
|
|
|
Post by Gary Cook on Feb 16, 2014 1:54:09 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing this. How would I give this a try if my sub already has a plate amp on it? I requires a little bit of work but not too difficult for anyone with a screw driver and the knowledge on how to use it. Unplug the plate amp from the power supply and from the pre amp/processor. Unscrew it from the enclosure and unplug the wires from the plate amp to the driver, that should enable you to remove the plate amp. Then connect the wires from the driver to the external amp that you want to test. For a full on test you will need to close the hole (where the plate amp was). If there is clearance for the wires to the external amp then you might want to just pop the plate amp back in the hole and screw it back in making sure not to pinch the wiring. Or it maybe necessary to cut a small piece of timber the same dimensions as the plate amp mount and screw that it its place. I have in desperation used a piece of thick cardboard, gaffer taped over the hole as a temporary solution. Cheers Gary |
|
|
|
Post by rickhawk on Feb 16, 2014 9:11:37 GMT -5
Thanks for the reply. I may just go on and make a plate the same size as the plate amp with matching screw holes and put some speaker terminals on it. Then I'll be ready to try different amps easily. Thanks again.
|
|
|
|
Post by Gary Cook on Feb 16, 2014 19:05:36 GMT -5
Thanks for the reply. I may just go on and make a plate the same size as the plate amp with matching screw holes and put some speaker terminals on it. Then I'll be ready to try different amps easily. Thanks again. That'll work, please let us know how it goes. Do you have a target amp in mind to try? Cheers Gary |
|
|
|
Post by rickhawk on Feb 17, 2014 8:51:54 GMT -5
Probably the XPA-100 based on your review and the fact it's the only monoblock I can afford right now. If I'll keep you posted if I decide to go for it.
|
|
|
|
Post by imcloud on Feb 17, 2014 11:27:35 GMT -5
I'm not sure which sub you have and why you would want to change the amplifier {is your amp not working correctly}, But I would have to imagine that any sq improvement you hear from switching to a different amp is going to be very small {if any} and not worth your investment... If I were looking for an external sub amp I would be considering the crown xls series, they are nice and very powerful for short money. If you do want an emo amp for sub duty I would just save up until you can afford an xpa2 {you can get gen 1's for a fair price probably around what a new 100 would cost}, at least that will give you around 1000 watts in mono mode, but give you much more room for improvement in the future, you can run 2 4 ohm subs at 500w each, or a single 8 at 1000, or dual 8's at 300, ect, ect, ect .....
I owned a pair of xpa1's, xpa3 and others, and now own a pair of xpa2's, an xpa5, mini x, upa 200... as well as owning a crown 2500 {amazing amp for sub duty, I don't like class d and tweeters, even if its just a myth}, a pair of outlaw 2200's {also a really nice unit}, tube amps, tripaths, a few others, and I can tell you first hand that I have swapped and switched them all over the place, and for the most part they all sound good and its hard to tell the difference between them, {tripath and tube excluded}... The things that I notice change how an amplifier does its job is age and temps {some amps don't age well or take being ran hot well for some reason, noises appear sound degrades, my bk's were evidence of this}, headroom {to me more of it is better}, ect. Brand/model, class, ect has little to do with what you get in the end, in my experience anyway....
|
|
|
|
Post by Gary Cook on Feb 17, 2014 17:48:06 GMT -5
I did consider an XPA-2, but they only do bridged at 8 ohms and my sub is 4 ohms. I did also consider an XPA-1 but I felt I would be wasting all that Class A goodness. I have easy access to heaps of pro amps, Behringer, Crown, AVE etc but I'm not a fan for music, however they do a fine job for HT though.
I regards to rickhwk's question I got the impression he wanted to do quick comparison of different amps powering his sub. Sounds like a bit of fun and may yield some interesting sonic differences, make a good review, something different. Most people just select and buy a powered sub while living with the amp it comes with, swapping amps appeals to my sense of audio exploration.
Cheers
Gary
|
|
|
|
Post by red5ive on Feb 17, 2014 19:22:33 GMT -5
I was following your other thread as I was contemplating an XPA-100 myself for the same purpose. I'm not surprised about your impressions. I powered an MFW-15 off of my XPA-5 temporarily when I was troubleshooting an issue with the sub (long story). Compared to the MFW v2 plate amp, similar to your impressions the XPA-5 had more control of the sub. With the plate amp, I was convinced the MFW was mediocre at music, but with the XPA-5 it was much cleaner, more control, and no boominess like with the plate amp. Glad you found a solution.
|
|
