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Post by DavidR on Jun 17, 2015 19:51:03 GMT -5
I have decided to sell my modified Carver gear and go new with Emotiva as my exerience with the XPA-2 is very positive. I will be exchanging the XPA-2 Gen2 with an SA-250 and my Rotel RC-1082 pre with the XSP-1 Gen2. The XPA-2 and Rotel pre will be replacing a modified Carver M500t and BillD modified C-1 pre (nice sounding but despite the mods is still an old design/unit) in the Family Room HT/2-channel system driving Bose 901_II. The new system got set up today and I installed the new Emotiva SA-250 amp and Emotiva XSP-1 Gen2 preamp. The other gear includes my Acoustic Research AR90s, Grant Fidelity CD327A, Carver TX-11b tuner and a Sansui SR717 TT. I want to state that the Rotel pre is a very nice unit and sounded wonderful with the XPA-2 Gen2 driving either my Acoustic Research AR90 or my restored (all new polypro caps and refoamed) AR91's. I first ran the AR91's with the Carver TX-11b tuner as a source in the middle of reassembling the rack system. I was stunned with the bass response. I then finished up with the rest of the gear and hooked up my AR90's. The background is totally silent - DEAD SILENT !!! The bass is different than the XPA-2. Its more full and rich sounding. Its hard to say what is making the biggest difference as I am now using balanced connectors, a different amp and pre. The system is just totally refined. The amp seems effortless at driving a difficult load. I'm not sure I want to say the amp is more musical than the XPA-2 but clarity and detail is astounding. I now know why the amp is called Stealth. PROSExtremely well built gear Lots of flexibility with the XSP-1 Totally quiet background Very sweet sounding CONSNo VU meter lights (I can live with it) I don't like the amp ON/OFF button (switch) I don't care for the volume control system. Its nice but just not for me. No left/right channel balance    |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Jun 17, 2015 21:50:02 GMT -5
Damn you! I've been trying to convince myself to pass on the SA-250, but you just made another great argument for it.  |
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Post by novisnick on Jun 17, 2015 22:14:01 GMT -5
Looks and I bet sounds great.
Enjoy your new toy!
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Post by roadwar on Jun 18, 2015 14:19:58 GMT -5
Very nice! Congrats and enjoy.
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Post by wilburthegoose on Jun 18, 2015 14:40:08 GMT -5
Just ordered one. Oh boy |
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Post by DavidR on Jun 18, 2015 17:15:59 GMT -5
I got in some more listening time today. I spun some vinyl and enjoyed some jazz, more blues and rock on CD and a little tuner time. All I can say is WOW ! --- what a great combo.
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Post by DavidR on Jul 19, 2015 19:22:29 GMT -5
Just ordered one. Oh boy Well? What'd ya think? |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Jul 19, 2015 21:05:44 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I had to return it because it kept faulting into protection mode. I tried everything without luck. Even swapped cables and tried unbalanced vs balanced. I also hooked up my XPA-200 with exactly the same cabling, and it worked perfectly.
Got an RMA, shipped it back, and got a refund. But I had every intention of ordering another once Emotiva confirmed that the unit was defective. Three weeks later, with a number of unanswered e-mails and phone calls, and I'm still waiting.
Honestly, I'm disheartened by the time to get back to me, so I've decided to go in another direction.
I'm hoping that it's vacation time in Franklin and everybody is out of the office, because it's certainly not the level of Emotiva customer service that I've become accustomed to.
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Post by brutiarti on Jul 19, 2015 21:20:48 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I had to return it because it kept faulting into protection mode. I tried everything without luck. Even swapped cables and tried unbalanced vs balanced. I also hooked up my XPA-200 with exactly the same cabling, and it worked perfectly. Got an RMA, shipped it back, and got a refund. But I had every intention of ordering another once Emotiva confirmed that the unit was defective. Three weeks later, with a number of unanswered e-mails and phone calls, and I'm still waiting. Honestly, I'm disheartened by the time to get back to me, so I've decided to go in another direction. I'm hoping that it's vacation time in Franklin and everybody is out of the office, because it's certainly not the level of Emotiva customer service that I've become accustomed to. That sucks man! I think emotiva at this moment they don't have the resources to do a better job with customer service in that particular matter. I think that they rather give you a refund so you can purchase another one and not deal to try to find out if that particular unit was defective unless you are passed the 30 days so then it will be considered warranty work and probably they will fix it and get back to you as soon is repaired. I will give it another try, if not you can always bump it up to the XPR-2 or go in another direction like you said but that will probably more costly if you expect same audio quality. Hope you get your system running again asap |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Jul 19, 2015 21:26:51 GMT -5
Thanks - I'm fine - back to running the F/C/L/SR/SL through my XPA-5 and my RL/RR thru the XPA-200. It was just swapping cables to get it all back. I've ordered something different to drive my L/R, but we don't need to go into that here, if you know what I mean  |
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Post by brutiarti on Jul 20, 2015 6:47:11 GMT -5
Now you made me curious about what you got for your mains......
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Lsc
Emo VIPs 
Posts: 3,434
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Post by Lsc on Jul 31, 2015 16:19:18 GMT -5
Thanks - I'm fine - back to running the F/C/L/SR/SL through my XPA-5 and my RL/RR thru the XPA-200. It was just swapping cables to get it all back. I've ordered something different to drive my L/R, but we don't need to go into that here, if you know what I mean What did you get? |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Jul 31, 2015 18:26:17 GMT -5
Parasound Halo A21
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Post by DavidR on Jul 31, 2015 19:18:27 GMT -5
Can XLR balanced connectors really make that much difference in sound?
Like better bass response.
Had to box up the XSP-1 Gen2 for a check up. It gets very warm on the right side and begins to smell of electronics after an hour use. The only thing I can see in there, on that side, are a few caps. My Rotel RC-1082 was put in its place for now. SQ is not near what it was using RCA cables in place of XLR (no balanced conns on the Rotel). Had I not had the XSP-1 and just tried that amp compared to my XPA-2 using RCA's, it would probably be going back.
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Post by seppo on Jul 31, 2015 20:22:53 GMT -5
How do you like A21? I was really interested in it but went with cheaper SA-250. |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Jul 31, 2015 20:34:16 GMT -5
Seppo - I can't compare to the SA-250 because I couldn't get it to work at volume, but the A21 is a beautiful sounding amp that's a big improvement in my L/R from my XPA-5.
I'm still very happily using the XPA-5 to run my center, surrounds, and back. It works great there, and, to be honest, it worked great when I had it running my L/R too. But the A21 has more punch and more clarity. Listening to acoustic music is great because you can hear every instrument, every string, every reed.
And, for the first time, I'm using "reference stereo" on my beloved XMC-1. I now understand its benefits.
Yeah - it's very expensive, but we don't have kids, and we spend a LOT of time down there watching sports, movies, concerts, and listening to a sweet FLAC collection.
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