Post by dreamwarrior on Sept 30, 2010 23:13:51 GMT -5
Can anyone tell me what the idle current draw is on the XPA-1, XPA-2, and XPA-3 amplifiers is? Either the official specification, which isn't listed anywhere that I can find, or an empirical measurement from, say, a kill-a-watt.
I'm looking to upgrade my Parasound Halo A-21 when I move into my new place. I'll have a much bigger space to fill and, thusly, will likely need more power. I will also likely be upgrading my speakers as well and moving from my current stereo setup to a 5.1 setup.
To that end, I'm looking to go to either three mono-block amplifiers on the front stage and a two channel amplifier on the rears or two mono-block amplifiers for the l/r pair and a three channel amplifier for the center and surrounds.
That being said, I'm interested in the idle current draw of the Emotivas because I've been looking at a few amplifiers, however, the others in the running list their idle current draw and it seems rather high.
I take the idle current draw figure to mean that from the moment I flip the amplifier on to the time I switch it off that is the minimum power it's going to suck down. The other mono-blocks I've been looking at have spec'd this figure at over 200 watts. So, putting three of them in the system, I assume I'll be sucking down over ten 60 watt light bulbs worth of power just to listen to the TV; that seems...excessive.
So...can anyone provide me with the spec for the Emotiva so I may compare. Even if it's similar, at least it's cheaper than its competitors so the savings can be put to the inevitable higher electric bills, lol. Otherwise, if I am misunderstanding idle current draw as it relates to my concern of excessive power draw and, thusly, damage to my pocket book when the monthly electric bill comes, please clue me in.
Finally, if anyone would like to shed some other info about this spec, I'd be interested. I'm thinking that it may be a indication of the Class A bias of the amplifier. I would think maybe the more class A bias the more idle current draw...but I may be way off there. Anyone know what would cause two amplifiers to differ a lot in the spec and, better, why the heck it is so high.
Thanks!
I'm looking to upgrade my Parasound Halo A-21 when I move into my new place. I'll have a much bigger space to fill and, thusly, will likely need more power. I will also likely be upgrading my speakers as well and moving from my current stereo setup to a 5.1 setup.
To that end, I'm looking to go to either three mono-block amplifiers on the front stage and a two channel amplifier on the rears or two mono-block amplifiers for the l/r pair and a three channel amplifier for the center and surrounds.
That being said, I'm interested in the idle current draw of the Emotivas because I've been looking at a few amplifiers, however, the others in the running list their idle current draw and it seems rather high.
I take the idle current draw figure to mean that from the moment I flip the amplifier on to the time I switch it off that is the minimum power it's going to suck down. The other mono-blocks I've been looking at have spec'd this figure at over 200 watts. So, putting three of them in the system, I assume I'll be sucking down over ten 60 watt light bulbs worth of power just to listen to the TV; that seems...excessive.
So...can anyone provide me with the spec for the Emotiva so I may compare. Even if it's similar, at least it's cheaper than its competitors so the savings can be put to the inevitable higher electric bills, lol. Otherwise, if I am misunderstanding idle current draw as it relates to my concern of excessive power draw and, thusly, damage to my pocket book when the monthly electric bill comes, please clue me in.
Finally, if anyone would like to shed some other info about this spec, I'd be interested. I'm thinking that it may be a indication of the Class A bias of the amplifier. I would think maybe the more class A bias the more idle current draw...but I may be way off there. Anyone know what would cause two amplifiers to differ a lot in the spec and, better, why the heck it is so high.
Thanks!
