The new guy's first piece of new gear

[crash6]

Unpacking, hookup and a completely subjective/non-scientific review to follow...

[garbulky]

That's the best kind! Let us know!

[DavidR]

Nice.
Looking forward to your review/impressions.

[crash6]

Double boxed, dual-pillar styrofoam supported and sleeved in a nice tyvek/cheesecloth material. Almost identical to how Oppo packages their items (a very good thing).


Includes a stout ac power cord that feels like it has silicone in the outer insulation, similar to power cables used by Apple (except bigger), a 12v trigger cable and (x2) 250V tube fuses.




Average width of 17", 4" height (not pictured) and deceptively deep at 17" to the tips of the speaker cable connections. With my speaker cables attached, the overall depth was pushing 19" which pushed it slightly outside my cabinet.

(Continued)

[crash6]

Pretty girl...



...with a nice clean and tight backside.  LED kill switch is a nice touch for those that don't want/need the distraction.



Blue Jeans Cable LC-1 (Belden) 3' analog interconnects for signal duty.




Blue Jeans Cable 12awg speaker cables (Belden) with locking caps

(Continued)

[crash6]

She's hooked up....



...to this ancient monstrosity!  Actually, its a really nice HK 3490 2 channel Ive been using in my bedroom, but recently moved to the living room to stand in for some misbehaving NAD equipment (for sale if anyone is interested)



Its Alive!!

Continued

[novisnick]

So very happy for you!!
Welcome to the land of " Never going Back!" 

[LCSeminole]

Welcome to the world of Emotiva!!! I only have one complaint, as per say, the clear plastic sticker on the front display that says, "Please Remove Before Use". I've actually been known to leave these on as a protector against scratches and such. Now that it actually has printing on it, I'd feel stupid if I didn't remove them now, especially if a non "home theater geek" friend asked why I haven't removed it since Emotiva clearly does say to remove it.

[klinemj]

Like good! Looking forward to how it sounds.

Mark

[crash6]

"Surprised" really sums up my impressions so far.  First off, this amp is deceptively heavy.  I'm used to visually comprehending a taller unit for amplification which justifies its weight, so the lower profile of this amp threw me off.  Not only is it stout, but its solid.  It has a really nice substantial feel and all materials appear to be top notch.

Aesthetically?  Come on.  Its Emotiva.  The styling of these units is awesome.  I cant wait to get my matching pre/pro in August.

So the real question is how does it sound?  First, the equipment responsible for presentation:

Oppo BDP 105D (not pictured)

 

NHT Classic Three bookshelf speakers (I looooooooove these things)




SVS SB2000




My personal reference material for new systems or new components is Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories".  If anyone here has done recording or sound engineering, I challenge you to find a better example of a well recorded or 'cleaner' album.  It just sounds so good.  It covers nearly the entire audible spectrum with both synthesized sounds and true instrumentation (strings and piano).  Its also great for testing low frequency performance as numerous tracks contain both a tight driving bass line and a more melodious mid range bass guitar line.

This amp absolutely rocks.  It's a two channel amp and I'm using 2 channels, pushing 8 ohm speakers with an approx sensitivity of 87 db (not very efficient).  Despite that, these NHTs are singing with this amp.  

For comparison, the amp built into the HK 3490 receiver is rated at a respectable 120w per channel.  It sounds great for a stand alone 2 channel stereo receiver.  However, I can hear far more detail at measurably lower volumes with the Emotiva.  The Emotiva is much cleaner sounding than I expected as well.  The older units (I think they were XPR somethings) I auditioned previously sounded warmer and somehow softer with these very same speakers.  This BASX model sounds more precise to me and somewhat colder and more analytical (thats good for me).  

Compared to my previous NAD 275bee 2 channel amp (also rated at 150w per channel), I'd say its close.  The NAD component itself was just all around bigger, more robust with a much more industrial feel.  It was also 10 years old, so consider the tech and engineering approaches.  Soundwise, I think I might still give the edge to the NAD, but just barely, and I may amend that once I fell like turning up the volume and actually pushing the BASX.  The NAD equipment exceeded my fear factor and I always chickened out before hitting the soft clipping.  It was just that strong.  So far, with the new BASX unit, the volumes displayed on the receiver for my preferred listening levels are within 5 dB of where they were previously, which leads me to believe the NAD was probably stronger at higher volumes.  But that's like bench racing a car that can do 225mph against one that can 'only' do 200mph; its stupid and not realistically important for my use.  What I'm REALLY happy about is I get all of this in a newer, betting looking package, for $800 LESS than that NAD unit.

My initial impression is that this XPAS amp is a steal at $400.  Absoultely amazing value for its performance/price ratio.  I'll post more in the future, particularly when I get my new pre/pro in August.

Hit me up with any questions or requests.  See you around the forums! 

[tchaik]

emotiva have always made 'price conscious' amps. they have never made a cheap amp. glad you like it.

tchaik…………

[rik]

Crash6 you are the person I have been wanting for.  I am thinking of buying the A300 and would like to pick your brain a bit.  You stated that you heard more detail at lower volume using the A300, could you expand on this please.  How much lower would you say you could turn the receiver down and get the same output that just the receiver put out.  The reason I'm asking is I have the Marantz SR5010 Rated at 100 watts 2 channels into 8 ohms 140 into 6 ohms.  I want to use the A300 to power (2) RBH R55TI @ 6 ohms.  And my fear is I will not see any different between Marantz and the A300 at a given volume setting.  Right now I have to turn up the Marantz to between 40 to 45 o a scale from 0 to 98 to get a sound level I like.

[rik]

PS.  Really nice looking system. 

[vneal]

Thanks for the pictures

[vcautokid]

Wow Congratulations Crash 6. I sold many of those NHT speakers. Welcome to the Emotiva Audio Family. Enjoy. Great review. Science is only one part. How you like it is the most important one.

[crash6]

Jun 8, 2016 22:41:06 GMT -5 rik said:

Crash6 you are the person I have been wanting for.  I am thinking of buying the A300 and would like to pick your brain a bit...

Thanks for the compliments rik!

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure the XPAS amp is enough of an 'upgrade' from your Marantz. What exactly are you trying to do? Your 5010 is a HT receiver, so would the A300 be integrated somehow as a dedicated amp for the front channels to 'beef up' their presence amongst the other 3 speakers? Or are you thinking of just two channel listening? I believe you would hear an imporvement, but it would be somewhat incremental and perhaps not justify the purchase.

Completely up to you. I wont tell how to spend your money. At $400, Its not such a major investment to where you'd feel bad about it either way. I'm just not sure you'll get what you're thinking you'll get out of it. If it were me with your gear, I'd go bigger or not at all (like monoblock amps or better speakers).

To me, upgrading because you want something better than what you have is different than buying something completely new or replacing something outright. It should be a noticeable difference. I'm building a new system for my living room, replacing older (and now faulty) gear. In my review above, I used my HK receiver as a basis for comparison only. If it was my sole unit and thats all I needed, I wouldnt feel compelled to upgrade unless it was a REALLY good upgrade. The HK 3490 is a really good 2 channel reciever with all the power I need (a true 120w pc), and the A-300 isnt THAT much better to justify getting rid of the HK. I highlighted the differences of clarity at lower displayed volume levels simply to compare/contrast and attempt to quantify the difference. The A-300 as a separate amp is superior to the integrated amp of the HK, as it should be.

Once I get my PT-100 in August, the HK 3490 goes back in the bedroom.

[Jessica]

Crash6, thank you for documenting your experience with the a-300 and welcome to the Emotiva family! I know this response is a few months after your initial reaction. I found it as I was searching for feedback on the BasX products. The Lounge is very informative for us, and especially after product launches and product updates, we comb through the data and testimonials.

I recently reviewed our Amazon reviews for our brand new a-300 and a-500 pages. We don't have a lot of reviews yet. In fact, until today we had a review that someone wrote for both pages that didn't even own or use the a-300 or a-500. It wasn't necessarily a bad review in any way (it was still 4-star), but the writer did question quality issues he's heard about (hence the forum investigation on my end to see if we need to look at anything). It didn't seem fair to be evaluated that way, but that's the great thing about the Internet I suppose, all voices have a chance to be heard! It's up to the customer to use their judgement regarding which reviews are relevant to their decision to buy or not buy. It's just tough when it's the only review on the page and not from an actual owner or someone who's evaluated a product in person, and they're going off specs and speculation. I'm sure will change in the future as more people experience and evaluate BasX.

If anyone out there has a BasX a-300, or a-500, and likes to review products on the forum or Amazon, we'd love to hear from you! It would be great to be rated by the actual people that own the new products. We'd love to hear your thoughts via email and phone as well.


Best regards,

Jess

[srpawski]

FWIW, I just purchased a pair of Bas X 300s directly from Emo this week for my 3.1 channel system. I have some reconfiguring to do before I install them along with new cabling but will be willing to post a review on Amazon and on here if anyone is interested.

[Jessica]

Aug 26, 2016 12:15:24 GMT -5 srpawski said:

FWIW, I just purchased a pair of Bas X 300s directly from Emo this week for my 3.1 channel system. I have some reconfiguring to do before I install them along with new cabling but will be willing to post a review on Amazon and on here if anyone is interested.

Thanks, srpawski, looking forward to it.


The XPA Gen 3 amps are also for sale on Amazon. Look for inventory soon. We don't have any reviews yet, so if you like writing them, we'd love to hear from you!

www.amazon.com/dp/B01KZHP5KM/ref=sr_ob_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1472236962&sr=1-6

[hosko]

Random Access Memories is what I always play first too, ridiculously clean recordings and high res.