Post by alaskaaudiophile on Jan 22, 2011 18:38:23 GMT -5
I've had my XPA-3 now for almost 2mo, my wife bought me one for Christmas. Luck i know....!
To tell you a little about it for those of you who were once in my shoes wondering if they should start the upgrade to Separates and if it was worth its wait in gold i can tell you my short answer is a definite Hell Yes!
But thats not enough is it.....because its just my opinion right?
Well not exactly you see because i actually measured my before and after
of my system on an RTA (Real-Time-Analysis).
All you need to do this is a program like True Audio RTA (Level4 is the best to use) a preamp for your microphone such as an M-Audio one with a usb to hook up to your computer ive got the MobilePreUSB
and a good quality Omnidirectional Microphone which is key to getting the best results when recording in an home theater environment. I used a Behringer ECM8000. I was able to get my whole setup for under $500 so shop around check ebay and other sites. Or if you wanna just be real simple you can head down to Radio Shack and pick up an SPL meter...preferably the cheaper Analog meter because it is truly more responsive.
Now back to my Setup and Results...
I bought this amp as a supplement amp to my ONKYO TX-SR875 which is rated at 140WPCx7 although upon further investigating it truly delivers 128WPCx7 with (ALL channels Driven) soo you can see my problem.
I'm running Paradigm Reference Studio 60s V5 and Studio CC690 v5 for my front three, respectively requiring around 200W ea.
SO after hooking it up to my system and running a test my inital results were as follows:
+6dB gain in overall Loudness at the same listening volume as i had been reading before. That's a perceived doubling in sound to those of you who aren't sure exactly how much louder that really sounds.
Then i used my less accurate Radio Shack SPL meter and found a (+/-3dB) +7dB gain at my listening position.
But as they say that's not all you gain, from you XPA-3...!
The sound itself was more full and really brought my Paradigm speakers to life....it was almost like i had went out and purchased a new set of speakers it was truly amazing. Boy am i ever glad that i went this route!
And as an extra added benefit now my Onkyo receiver was able to go from 7-channels driven down to 4-channels. Meaning i gained almost +20 more watts per channel going from 128WPC to 147.5WPC for my surrounds which are 4ea Axiom QS8's Quadrapole Speakers.
Here are some very helpful links that i've found where they give you ACTUAL RMS WATT ratings for different Receivers:
www.soundandvisionmag.com/category/site-channel/tests-reviews/receivers
Look for "TEST BENCH"
Here's another link but to make this work you have to COPY the whole LINK
and then PASTE it in the URL, From there pick a date and it will show you tons of data on all sorts of different receivers. Enjoy!
web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/3401/ratevsac.htm
Thanks soo much Emotiva and i'll definitely be back in the future to upgrade my system further to a totally Separates System!
I hope that my article has help shed some light for other people out there who are Audiophiles looking for the best bang for your buck and not giving up any quality in the process. Take care everyone and have a Happy New Year!
Jeff Adams
aka: alaskaaudiophile
;D
To tell you a little about it for those of you who were once in my shoes wondering if they should start the upgrade to Separates and if it was worth its wait in gold i can tell you my short answer is a definite Hell Yes!
But thats not enough is it.....because its just my opinion right?
Well not exactly you see because i actually measured my before and after
of my system on an RTA (Real-Time-Analysis).
All you need to do this is a program like True Audio RTA (Level4 is the best to use) a preamp for your microphone such as an M-Audio one with a usb to hook up to your computer ive got the MobilePreUSB
and a good quality Omnidirectional Microphone which is key to getting the best results when recording in an home theater environment. I used a Behringer ECM8000. I was able to get my whole setup for under $500 so shop around check ebay and other sites. Or if you wanna just be real simple you can head down to Radio Shack and pick up an SPL meter...preferably the cheaper Analog meter because it is truly more responsive.
Now back to my Setup and Results...
I bought this amp as a supplement amp to my ONKYO TX-SR875 which is rated at 140WPCx7 although upon further investigating it truly delivers 128WPCx7 with (ALL channels Driven) soo you can see my problem.
I'm running Paradigm Reference Studio 60s V5 and Studio CC690 v5 for my front three, respectively requiring around 200W ea.
SO after hooking it up to my system and running a test my inital results were as follows:
+6dB gain in overall Loudness at the same listening volume as i had been reading before. That's a perceived doubling in sound to those of you who aren't sure exactly how much louder that really sounds.
Then i used my less accurate Radio Shack SPL meter and found a (+/-3dB) +7dB gain at my listening position.
But as they say that's not all you gain, from you XPA-3...!
The sound itself was more full and really brought my Paradigm speakers to life....it was almost like i had went out and purchased a new set of speakers it was truly amazing. Boy am i ever glad that i went this route!
And as an extra added benefit now my Onkyo receiver was able to go from 7-channels driven down to 4-channels. Meaning i gained almost +20 more watts per channel going from 128WPC to 147.5WPC for my surrounds which are 4ea Axiom QS8's Quadrapole Speakers.
Here are some very helpful links that i've found where they give you ACTUAL RMS WATT ratings for different Receivers:
www.soundandvisionmag.com/category/site-channel/tests-reviews/receivers
Look for "TEST BENCH"
Here's another link but to make this work you have to COPY the whole LINK
and then PASTE it in the URL, From there pick a date and it will show you tons of data on all sorts of different receivers. Enjoy!
web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/3401/ratevsac.htm
Thanks soo much Emotiva and i'll definitely be back in the future to upgrade my system further to a totally Separates System!
I hope that my article has help shed some light for other people out there who are Audiophiles looking for the best bang for your buck and not giving up any quality in the process. Take care everyone and have a Happy New Year!
Jeff Adams
aka: alaskaaudiophile
;D
This amp is sure to provide you with many years of listening pleasure.
