Post by Bonzo on Aug 17, 2011 13:22:33 GMT -5
Hello all,
This is my first post on this forum, and I hope to learn a bunch from ya'all. Once I get into this forum more I'll add my equipment list to my signature, so know that's coming at some point. For starters, I'm a music guy first and foremost, and a movie guy second. For me, if it sounds great with music, then it will be good enough for movies (not the other way around). I'm sure I'll share more in the future, but that should tell you where my feelings are. Thanks for having me.
I don't know where I've been but I've just only recently even heard of Emotiva. I've been a stereo guy for more than 20 years now, so I'm surprised about this. In the past month I've been searching for all the Emotiva information and reviews I can find. So far, everything I've found has been more than positive.
So here's my story. As does everyone who's into great sound, I, like the rest of you, would love to have that crazy expensive high end system that blows everything away. But as with life and money, there just hasn't been the ability or time to realize those dreams. I've done the best I could along the way, and what I have now is the best it's been.
The problem I've been having over the last few years is where to go next in the upgrade plan. I currently own a receiver without HDMI, and a Panasonic Blu-ray player (that came out literally just months before Oppo released their first player). I also have a great DVD player that does everything well except play Blu-ray. Since BR music titles are far from the norm, I've decided that while an upgrade to the Oppo is something I want to do in the future, it's not the first priority. I've decided that what I really need is some better amplification. I'm tired of living in the "just upgrade the receiver land" for the last 20 years. If I just settle on that again it will for sure be yet another 5 years (or more) before I can even think to make the jump. I have to make that jump.
Until now, I've been depressed about buying a new separate amp. They are just so damned expensive that it's almost impossible for me to imagine having one. There is no way I'll ever talk my wife into spending in excess of $5000 for something like that. Of course I've checked out the lower cost options from Outlaw and the others, but none of them have ever made me step back and say wow. None of them come across to me as doing anything that says "this is really special," except for maybe the Outlaw stuff. Until now, I was planning to work Outlaw stuff into the system, albeit at a slow pace since it's not exactly inexpensive either.
But enter Emotiva. At first I was like, this stuff can't be for real. I mean it's built like a tank, has gobs of power, looks friggin' awesome (especially compared with the drab Outlaw stuff), and is cheaper money wise than literally anything else out there. I just knew there had to be some sort of drawback or catch. But then I saw free shipping, 5 year warrantee, and a 30 day free trial. No drawbacks there. So I was certain it had to be that the sound sucked, and that's when I started looking for reviews. To my pleasant surprise, I found everything to be as positive as I could have ever expected, or dreamed. People have actually compared this stuff to Krell and Mac and Bryston and Classe and Anthem and came out talking positively. I was blown away with what I've read over the past month. I seriously felt that Emotiva may finally allow me to fulfill my stereo equipment dream. I'm excited!!! ;D
So I started looking at the actual equipment, what features each amp has, and after liking what I saw in ways things would work out, I came up with my plan, and I think it's a good one.
1. Buy the 300wpc 2 channel XPA-2 amp as a test. I can use this to drive my 2 main floor standing speakers (while the receiver still does the center and surrounds) to see how I like it for music. I'll play as much as I can in 3 weeks time and see how it goes. This will lack some for movies and TV, but hopefully, it will be awesome for music. If I'm sadly disappointed, I just send it back for minimal money and go back to my depressed life with no real amplification. But, if it all goes well, and I really like it, then I keep it and wait until I can afford step #2. This will also allow me to move up from 5.1 to 7.1. I have the extra speakers already, but I've never upgraded because I've read time and time again that with a modest receiver, switching to 7.1 can actually be a down grade due to a lack of power. So while I'm ready to do it, I've never taken the weekend to run wires in walls etc to get it done. With the Emotiva amp running the mains, the receiver can now still only run 5 channels, which I know is alright.
2. When I get the coin, I will buy the 200wpc 5 channel XPA-5 amp to drive my center, sides and back surrounds. This will bring the movies up to a more even sound all around. Actually, it's not so much about the amp as it is physical room and other stuff. In order to have 2 large amps, we are going to need a new wide TV stand to make room for these puppies (my current equipment rack is stuffed to the gills). In order to do that, I'm going to need a new TV (the old one is an old 1999 big black monolith of a widescreen HD box, not a flat screen). So this one change is actually going to be a lot of money, not just spent on better amplification.
3. Then, as a final step, when I really get the money, I will buy 2 of the 500w XPA-1 mono-blocks to run the fronts, and bridge the 2-channel amp to run the center which will bring it in line with the 2 mono blocks. I might have considered doing this first, but it would be a very hard sell to the wife, and would require an immediate purchase of a new TV and stand to make room.
So not that anyone really cares about all this; me and my plans. But if you have spent the time to read all this, do you have any other thoughts about the plan? Do you see any flaws, or any other ways you might go first? Any input is welcome.
The only question I think I have is how much power does the 2 channel make when it's bridged into a mono block? On other amps this usually effectively doubles the power. Is that the case here too? 600 watts?
Anyway, thanks for having me, and I'm sure I'll have more questions as time rolls on. Hopefully Emotiva will turn out to be one the best audio discoveries ever!!! I have high hopes.
Cheers ---- Bonzo
This is my first post on this forum, and I hope to learn a bunch from ya'all. Once I get into this forum more I'll add my equipment list to my signature, so know that's coming at some point. For starters, I'm a music guy first and foremost, and a movie guy second. For me, if it sounds great with music, then it will be good enough for movies (not the other way around). I'm sure I'll share more in the future, but that should tell you where my feelings are. Thanks for having me.
I don't know where I've been but I've just only recently even heard of Emotiva. I've been a stereo guy for more than 20 years now, so I'm surprised about this. In the past month I've been searching for all the Emotiva information and reviews I can find. So far, everything I've found has been more than positive.
So here's my story. As does everyone who's into great sound, I, like the rest of you, would love to have that crazy expensive high end system that blows everything away. But as with life and money, there just hasn't been the ability or time to realize those dreams. I've done the best I could along the way, and what I have now is the best it's been.
The problem I've been having over the last few years is where to go next in the upgrade plan. I currently own a receiver without HDMI, and a Panasonic Blu-ray player (that came out literally just months before Oppo released their first player). I also have a great DVD player that does everything well except play Blu-ray. Since BR music titles are far from the norm, I've decided that while an upgrade to the Oppo is something I want to do in the future, it's not the first priority. I've decided that what I really need is some better amplification. I'm tired of living in the "just upgrade the receiver land" for the last 20 years. If I just settle on that again it will for sure be yet another 5 years (or more) before I can even think to make the jump. I have to make that jump.
Until now, I've been depressed about buying a new separate amp. They are just so damned expensive that it's almost impossible for me to imagine having one. There is no way I'll ever talk my wife into spending in excess of $5000 for something like that. Of course I've checked out the lower cost options from Outlaw and the others, but none of them have ever made me step back and say wow. None of them come across to me as doing anything that says "this is really special," except for maybe the Outlaw stuff. Until now, I was planning to work Outlaw stuff into the system, albeit at a slow pace since it's not exactly inexpensive either.
But enter Emotiva. At first I was like, this stuff can't be for real. I mean it's built like a tank, has gobs of power, looks friggin' awesome (especially compared with the drab Outlaw stuff), and is cheaper money wise than literally anything else out there. I just knew there had to be some sort of drawback or catch. But then I saw free shipping, 5 year warrantee, and a 30 day free trial. No drawbacks there. So I was certain it had to be that the sound sucked, and that's when I started looking for reviews. To my pleasant surprise, I found everything to be as positive as I could have ever expected, or dreamed. People have actually compared this stuff to Krell and Mac and Bryston and Classe and Anthem and came out talking positively. I was blown away with what I've read over the past month. I seriously felt that Emotiva may finally allow me to fulfill my stereo equipment dream. I'm excited!!! ;D
So I started looking at the actual equipment, what features each amp has, and after liking what I saw in ways things would work out, I came up with my plan, and I think it's a good one.
1. Buy the 300wpc 2 channel XPA-2 amp as a test. I can use this to drive my 2 main floor standing speakers (while the receiver still does the center and surrounds) to see how I like it for music. I'll play as much as I can in 3 weeks time and see how it goes. This will lack some for movies and TV, but hopefully, it will be awesome for music. If I'm sadly disappointed, I just send it back for minimal money and go back to my depressed life with no real amplification. But, if it all goes well, and I really like it, then I keep it and wait until I can afford step #2. This will also allow me to move up from 5.1 to 7.1. I have the extra speakers already, but I've never upgraded because I've read time and time again that with a modest receiver, switching to 7.1 can actually be a down grade due to a lack of power. So while I'm ready to do it, I've never taken the weekend to run wires in walls etc to get it done. With the Emotiva amp running the mains, the receiver can now still only run 5 channels, which I know is alright.
2. When I get the coin, I will buy the 200wpc 5 channel XPA-5 amp to drive my center, sides and back surrounds. This will bring the movies up to a more even sound all around. Actually, it's not so much about the amp as it is physical room and other stuff. In order to have 2 large amps, we are going to need a new wide TV stand to make room for these puppies (my current equipment rack is stuffed to the gills). In order to do that, I'm going to need a new TV (the old one is an old 1999 big black monolith of a widescreen HD box, not a flat screen). So this one change is actually going to be a lot of money, not just spent on better amplification.
3. Then, as a final step, when I really get the money, I will buy 2 of the 500w XPA-1 mono-blocks to run the fronts, and bridge the 2-channel amp to run the center which will bring it in line with the 2 mono blocks. I might have considered doing this first, but it would be a very hard sell to the wife, and would require an immediate purchase of a new TV and stand to make room.
So not that anyone really cares about all this; me and my plans. But if you have spent the time to read all this, do you have any other thoughts about the plan? Do you see any flaws, or any other ways you might go first? Any input is welcome.
The only question I think I have is how much power does the 2 channel make when it's bridged into a mono block? On other amps this usually effectively doubles the power. Is that the case here too? 600 watts?
Anyway, thanks for having me, and I'm sure I'll have more questions as time rolls on. Hopefully Emotiva will turn out to be one the best audio discoveries ever!!! I have high hopes.
Cheers ---- Bonzo