XPA-3 and a Onkyo 5507

[12elfthfloor]

Just received my first emo product, an XPA 3. Hooked it up to my relatively new Onk 5507 using the balanced interconnects after pushing aside my beastly Pio VSX AX10i which was doing sole amp duty (now its doing 7 surrounds for a 9.2 system), and flicked the switch. Holy s*&t what a difference. Fantastic.

Only downside is a flickering blue status light, but ive passed that problem back to the Emo tech chaps. i live in Singapore so the return option is out.

The XPA 3 is driving the front Polk RT20p's, very old and somewhat challenging and a Polk CS400i as centre.

[solarrdadd]

very nice, congrats on the XPA-3 & the 5507. i have owned the 5507 for about 6 months and you see what i have connected to it. my XPA-5 is connected via XLR cables to the 5507 & the UPA-2 is connected via XLR to RCA hybrid cables; they both sound great too! you are correct, it is a fabulous pre-amp and teamed up with an emo X series amp it's an incredible team. glad you like it, keep us posted.

[Erwin.BE]

Jul 25, 2010 21:32:26 GMT -5 12elfthfloor said:

Just received my first emo product, an XPA 3. Hooked it up to my relatively new Onk 5507 using the balanced interconnects after pushing aside my beastly Pio VSX AX10i which was doing sole amp duty (now its doing 7 surrounds for a 9.2 system), and flicked the switch.

Welcome!
XPA's are great amps.

I am building a new house, and a HT is planned with 10.2 DSX surround (with one back only). But if I had to pick a new pre-pro today, the Onkyo would be my choice too. Can you comment on the DSX? Are you using wides or heights, since these cannot run simultaneously on the 5507?

[12elfthfloor]

Thank you! yes the Onkyo only gives one choice, running wides at the moment based on the recommendation from Aud although not quite at the 60 deg point more like 45-50 with mains at about 35 and they do sound good. Watched star trek on blu ray last night and yes there is a difference. i switched them off and on at various points and made for a nicer movie experience.

My main aim was to see if my RT20p's could be made to sound warmer (term?) when playing 2 channel by adding a seperate amp. The resounding answer was yes. Especially when playing 24bit 192 through my htpc xonar card using it as the DAC instead of the Onkyo.

My 2 year old also agrees after we played the wonky donkey song for the 20th friken time.

Wonder what XPA-1s would sound like? hmmm

[Erwin.BE]

Jul 26, 2010 0:06:15 GMT -5 12elfthfloor said:

Thank you! yes the Onkyo only gives one choice, running wides at the moment based on the recommendation from Aud although not quite at the 60 deg point more like 45-50 with mains at about 35 and they do sound good. Watched star trek on blu ray last night and yes there is a difference. i switched them off and on at various points and made for a nicer movie experience.

My main aim was to see if my RT20p's could be made to sound warmer (term?) when playing 2 channel by adding a seperate amp. The resounding answer was yes. Especially when playing 24bit 192 through my htpc xonar card using it as the DAC instead of the Onkyo.

My 2 year old also agrees after we played the wonky donkey song for the 20th friken time.

Wonder what XPA-1s would sound like? hmmm

Mains at 35° off axis is more than the recommendations from Audyssey DSX:
www.audyssey.com/technology/dsx.html
10-15° between mains and wides is only half the recommended distance. But I presume you have no other option. Which speakers are you using for the wides?

Most people who have both XPA-2 an XPA-1 claim that the difference is very subtle at best. But my Jamo's just screamed "Give us a big mono-block each!" to me...

I plan to use the upcoming XPR-7 in the HT for the 5 traditional channels and the 2 wides. A XPA-3 would be handy for the heights and the one back. Depending on the processors available when I purchase, I might skip the one back channel. The upcoming Onkyo 5508 should be able to do wides and heights simultaneously without the back channels. I want only one back channel because that was the original Audyssey 10.2 set-up anyway. And you need at least 3 Emo amps for 11 channels, instead of 2 for 10 channels. Unless Emotiva has some surprise up their sleeve. Chris from Audyssey assures that the difference between 1 and 2 back channels is very marginal, except for the widest rooms.

[Erwin.BE]

More proof that getting an Emotiva amp is a good idea:
A link to a review of the Onkyo combo from Home Cinema Choice:

hcc.techradar.com/reviews/new_reviews/review-onkyos-thx-triple-pack-cinephiles-dream-–-and-great-value-money-25-07-10
Mmm, link seems to be cut in half...

The Onkyo 9-channel amp PA-MC5500 is supposed to be good for 9 x 220 Watts. Onkyo clearly prints that this is @ 6 ohms and only one channel driven, but still. Few speakers are 6 ohms, 8 ohms is the most common. And why do you only print for 1 channel when you need at least 2 for stereo?

The reviewer had no interest in more than the "traditional" 7.1 and he measured power for 2/5/7 channels @ 8 ohm:
2 ch: 160 Watt
5 ch: 120 Watt
7 ch: 110 Watt
So there you go, a UPA-7 that cost around half the price of the Onkyo amp is still producing more power, be it that you cannot use the balanced connections (not that the reviewer bothered to use the XLR...)

What's wrong with these reviewers? It's their job to review ALL the features of the gear, not only the ones they have decided to fancy. Come on, use the DSX channels. And THEN write what you didn't like about it. I'd call the 5.1 traditional, but if you don't like the wides and heights, please don't talk about the back channels neither.

[12elfthfloor]

Hi Erwin,

Yes you are right, constrained by cabinetry at the moment. Next step is either amps or racks. Considering middle Atlantic or a more dedicated hi-fi type approach. the Jury is still out. For the wides Im using KEF Cresta 2's. Stolen from my NAD 2 channel.

First though for me is to understand how Emo will go about resolving the winking LED issue. Once i get a direction then things will become clearer. All going well it will be definably another XPA 3 and 3 x XPA 1s. My rears (ahem!) are very close together on a book shelf some 3 meters away from the listening position. They are polk RT38i and they pump out some very nice sounds. Believe it or not i find them very important to the listening experience.

i did check out the onkyo amp here in Singapore and it was retailing at $2400. I nearly went that way as it was a very nice piece of kit but the Emo ideal kept pulling me closer. The XPA 3 landed here was about 950 ish so multiply that by 3 and i get $2850 and of course if there is a fault, its only 3 km back to the shop on my trusty vespastang.

i had a nosy at the xpr-7 specs and well, i wouldn't say no, but jeeez, all i could visualise was a somewhat nuclear glow in the corner of the room! However, 1 power cord after looking at the birds nest i have could just sway me... but oh for monoblocks. Surely they would help my nasty RT20ps.

Whats the ERC 1 like? i have a Marantz CD4000 and was waiting for the Emo DAC, but for the price i could be tempted.

As for the 5508.... i ll wait a while. the 5507 is more than enough for me at the moment and I'm learning a lot.

[Erwin.BE]

Jul 27, 2010 8:58:14 GMT -5 12elfthfloor said:

My rears (ahem!) are very close together on a book shelf some 3 meters away from the listening position.

Whats the ERC 1 like? i have a Marantz CD4000 and was waiting for the Emo DAC, but for the price i could be tempted.

No sweat! If you can use the rears, you might as well go ahead, since the 5507 will not let you use width and height at the same time, but only one of them, combined with the rears, like you do. The 5508 would give more options, since you can choose any 2 out the 3 (width, height, back). I just can't agree to people who say width and rear is bollocks, but OTOH backs are essential? There is hardly any 7.1 material out there, so give me a break!

As it happens, I have the Njoetjoeb Reference 4000 CD in another setup! This is a heavily modded Marantz 4000!
www.hifi-planet.com/hpah1.htm
As Lonnie claims, the ERC-1 sounds better with the XDA-1 anyway, so my guess is that the Marantz + XDA-1 would be better than the standalone ERC-1. I love mine though! Christal sharp imaging, tight bass, a killer remote... For 399$, it's a bargain. So my advice is, get the XDA-1 first. And with a bit of luck, the ERC-1 will be in the end of the year sale again, so get it then!

[12elfthfloor]

Nice looking CD player you have, i agree with your advice on the XDA-1, thank you.

It seems like the transport is a very good start point so the XDA should be the business i think.