Post by lewers on Dec 22, 2008 0:43:58 GMT -5
Review of the XPA-1
12/21/08
I've been lurking here in the Emotiva forums since early this year. True, a couple of posts, but nothing of note until now. I'd have started reviewing with the XPA-2 which was delivered a few months ago, but I knew that I'd be either replacing it with a pair of XPA-1s, or adding another XPA-2 for a bridged pair.
After a conversation with Lonnie I decided that the ones were what I wanted. Well, the holiday pricing along with the free shipping pushed my timetable forward. (hey I'm in CA, so thats a total of $340.00 off!)
In a former life I used to spend my time listening to and talking about what I'd call upper mid-fi. This is where the goal is to get 90% of the uber-high end sound at about 1/10th the price. Instead of carrying brands like Krell, we'd go after ones like the line that their lead designer created. Yep, we had the specially designed room without any parallel surfaces, nearly completely inert walls, live end/ dead end room treatment, etc. I've auditioned some amazing gear as well as some *interesting* things like the Peter Belt devices and the Tice clock.
A couple of kids, a change in occupation, and more attention toward home theater than two channel music led me away from stereo listening for quite a while. In the last couple of years I've been getting back toward this area of listening and that led me to these forums.
The delivery
Luckily the Fedex guy was big enough to handle the two 92lb. boxes at once. He even reached over one-handed and lifted one off of the hand cart in order to maneuver around a corner. My back hurt just watching that!
Once sitting in the living room I snapped a few pictures for fun which you can see below. After I'd wrestled them out of the boxes and onto their amp platforms (OK, cheap cutting boards cut to size - I'm a frugal guy
they were slid as close as possible to the speakers to minimize the length of the speaker cables. 28 inches per side of speaker cable later they were ready to be fired up! All other preparations happened prior to the delivery, but I needed the amps in place to get the wire no longer than needed.
Listening to them in the first few minutes the impressions were very good. Before the brandy-new speaker cable had broken in (I know, some agree and others don't that this makes a difference, this is all in my room, my components, and of course my ear-brain driven perceptions so take all the salt with this that you need to) I could already tell that these were something special.
The ones immediately showed me very good separation between instruments in the sound field along with hints of what I would recognize later as an unflappable ability to deliver whatever I ask. At this point these were just hints, more on that in a bit.
With a couple of hours on the cables the sound field had stabilized into one that, depending on the source material, starts just about even with the speakers, extends to somewhere around the end of the block (not kidding, really) and out to a couple of feet beyond the speakers on either side. I'm anxious to get a decent preamp in front of these instead of the NAD receiver's preamp stage.
I have a few different recordings that I use for evaluating components. Starting withe the soft, ending with the loudest material, here are my thoughts on each with the XPA-1s.
Barbra Streisand The Broadway Album - CD
Track 4. Not While I'm Around
Barbra is placed where I'd expect, dead center. Details like hearing when her mouth opens are apparent at medium levels, yet the upper and lower registers are in balance - very nice, it sounds as if she's not just in the room, but that presence of being there is heard without the unnatural upper midrange lift that can sometimes be used to create the impression of detail. To be clear - the tonal balance is dead-on, always musically correct.
Track 6. I Have Dreamed/We Kiss In a Shadow/Something Wonderful
Remember the down the block reference above? Well here it is. In the beginning of this song there are sounds coming from so far back in the sound stage that, when pressed to say how far away I have to say just that - somewhere down the street.
Leading up to this point there are layers upon layers of instruments and effects (yes some of this is not being created by real instruments, but they still fit into the presentation decently enough) that the XPA-1 places in well defined spaces each.
Track 7. Adelaide's Lament
OK, this one lets me hear the "room" she's in. I know its a bunch of effects, but if the system can do it the echo of he "atchoo!" in the beginning can intrude into the room and beyond the speakers. And it does here.
Track 11. I Loves You Porgy/Porgy, I's Your Woman Now (Bess, You Is My Woman Now)
Her vocal range is well represented here. From deep in the chest to upper register tones she's using much of her range and the XPA-1s don't disappoint. From the deep to the high, everything has that "you're there" quality I'd hope for from this recording.
Claire Martin - (Studio Master FLAC Burned to DVD)
He Never Mentioned Love
Track 4. Trav'llin' light
The stand up bass is full, tight, tonally right, and just plain fun to listen to. Again - "in the room". This can get messy very easily. Its recorded so well and its so dynamic that it can be revealing of inadequacies - sorry none here, just a superbly played stand up bass in my room.
I also feel Claire in the room. She's placed forward of the instruments in the piece, but she's not shrill. Nope, she's just there singing to me a bit closer due to how the recording was produced. The other instruments flank her as expected. They're intended to complement her, so as not to be "in front" of her yet they have their own distinct space and stand out musically.
So the XPA-1s can present an incredibly believable soundstage - detailed without any tonal aberrations. But can they rock and roll?
Peter Gabriel - Growing Up Live -DVD
Track 14 Sledgehammer
I like this track for a couple of reasons. Tony Levin's bass-work is recorded at a good level so that even in this song when the foot pedal bass drum is trying to compete with him, he's present throughout. There are also the vocals, Peter's voice should be consistent as well as the backup vocals.
With the XPA-1s meters pushing over toward the middle of the scale (which did I mention is incredibly loud in my room?) everything is well balanced. My chest is being slammed with the drum, My whole body feels every note Tony plays while Peter's and the other vocals are right there with them. Nothing out of place, no strain, no feeling that I should be turning this down just to be safe.
AC DC - CD
Highway to Hell
Nothing fancy here recording-wise. Just Bon Scott wailing along with drums, lead and bass guitar, just great rock and roll. (imo of course)
How to put it... these babies rock my ass off! There are certain songs that just beg to be played loud...
Track 4. Touch Too Much
Step one.
Turn up until the bass drum sounds right and let 'er rip! (there is no step two
In this room the meters are barely showing signs of life, but yikes. Bonn and the boys are here in the room kicking my ass and I'm lovin' it! Awesome!!
Cloverfield (Blu-Ray)
The "Air is on fire" scene.
You know the one - Just before they bail into the subway station, Hud's friends are trying to be heard over the military firing at the monster as it whomps down the street howling back at them. The weapons fire and monster's effects are intended to overwhelm the senses - they do. Yet I can make out what Hud and his friends are shouting to each other more than ever before. At the risk of sounding like a broken record - nothing is out of place or strained. It just feels and sounds as if I'm in the scene with these folks during an insanely out of control situation.
The XPA-1 meters dance just a bit over the halfway point... ok, what happens if I add some more? Its already INSANELY LOUD!! - It gets louder, just like it should.
Its as if they're somehow plugged directly into the power company's main distribution point and are dutifully providing whatever I ask!
Conclusion
As if I needed to say it - these amps are staying right where they are, no thirty day return for them. I'm so pleased to have amplification that will not only satisfy my need for refined, balanced and properly presented instruments and singers, and also feed my desire to have scary monsters and rock and roll sound and feel like its right here in the room at a price that is ridiculously out of proportion with their performance.
[Edit]
Figured I'd ease loading this page on those who may not care about the pictures. Here's a link to a little gallery of the photos that were here and a couple new ones.
gallery.me.com/ichris#100039&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=4
12/21/08
I've been lurking here in the Emotiva forums since early this year. True, a couple of posts, but nothing of note until now. I'd have started reviewing with the XPA-2 which was delivered a few months ago, but I knew that I'd be either replacing it with a pair of XPA-1s, or adding another XPA-2 for a bridged pair.
After a conversation with Lonnie I decided that the ones were what I wanted. Well, the holiday pricing along with the free shipping pushed my timetable forward. (hey I'm in CA, so thats a total of $340.00 off!)
In a former life I used to spend my time listening to and talking about what I'd call upper mid-fi. This is where the goal is to get 90% of the uber-high end sound at about 1/10th the price. Instead of carrying brands like Krell, we'd go after ones like the line that their lead designer created. Yep, we had the specially designed room without any parallel surfaces, nearly completely inert walls, live end/ dead end room treatment, etc. I've auditioned some amazing gear as well as some *interesting* things like the Peter Belt devices and the Tice clock.
A couple of kids, a change in occupation, and more attention toward home theater than two channel music led me away from stereo listening for quite a while. In the last couple of years I've been getting back toward this area of listening and that led me to these forums.
The delivery
Luckily the Fedex guy was big enough to handle the two 92lb. boxes at once. He even reached over one-handed and lifted one off of the hand cart in order to maneuver around a corner. My back hurt just watching that!
Once sitting in the living room I snapped a few pictures for fun which you can see below. After I'd wrestled them out of the boxes and onto their amp platforms (OK, cheap cutting boards cut to size - I'm a frugal guy
they were slid as close as possible to the speakers to minimize the length of the speaker cables. 28 inches per side of speaker cable later they were ready to be fired up! All other preparations happened prior to the delivery, but I needed the amps in place to get the wire no longer than needed.Listening to them in the first few minutes the impressions were very good. Before the brandy-new speaker cable had broken in (I know, some agree and others don't that this makes a difference, this is all in my room, my components, and of course my ear-brain driven perceptions so take all the salt with this that you need to) I could already tell that these were something special.
The ones immediately showed me very good separation between instruments in the sound field along with hints of what I would recognize later as an unflappable ability to deliver whatever I ask. At this point these were just hints, more on that in a bit.
With a couple of hours on the cables the sound field had stabilized into one that, depending on the source material, starts just about even with the speakers, extends to somewhere around the end of the block (not kidding, really) and out to a couple of feet beyond the speakers on either side. I'm anxious to get a decent preamp in front of these instead of the NAD receiver's preamp stage.
I have a few different recordings that I use for evaluating components. Starting withe the soft, ending with the loudest material, here are my thoughts on each with the XPA-1s.
Barbra Streisand The Broadway Album - CD
Track 4. Not While I'm Around
Barbra is placed where I'd expect, dead center. Details like hearing when her mouth opens are apparent at medium levels, yet the upper and lower registers are in balance - very nice, it sounds as if she's not just in the room, but that presence of being there is heard without the unnatural upper midrange lift that can sometimes be used to create the impression of detail. To be clear - the tonal balance is dead-on, always musically correct.
Track 6. I Have Dreamed/We Kiss In a Shadow/Something Wonderful
Remember the down the block reference above? Well here it is. In the beginning of this song there are sounds coming from so far back in the sound stage that, when pressed to say how far away I have to say just that - somewhere down the street.
Leading up to this point there are layers upon layers of instruments and effects (yes some of this is not being created by real instruments, but they still fit into the presentation decently enough) that the XPA-1 places in well defined spaces each.
Track 7. Adelaide's Lament
OK, this one lets me hear the "room" she's in. I know its a bunch of effects, but if the system can do it the echo of he "atchoo!" in the beginning can intrude into the room and beyond the speakers. And it does here.
Track 11. I Loves You Porgy/Porgy, I's Your Woman Now (Bess, You Is My Woman Now)
Her vocal range is well represented here. From deep in the chest to upper register tones she's using much of her range and the XPA-1s don't disappoint. From the deep to the high, everything has that "you're there" quality I'd hope for from this recording.
Claire Martin - (Studio Master FLAC Burned to DVD)
He Never Mentioned Love
Track 4. Trav'llin' light
The stand up bass is full, tight, tonally right, and just plain fun to listen to. Again - "in the room". This can get messy very easily. Its recorded so well and its so dynamic that it can be revealing of inadequacies - sorry none here, just a superbly played stand up bass in my room.
I also feel Claire in the room. She's placed forward of the instruments in the piece, but she's not shrill. Nope, she's just there singing to me a bit closer due to how the recording was produced. The other instruments flank her as expected. They're intended to complement her, so as not to be "in front" of her yet they have their own distinct space and stand out musically.
So the XPA-1s can present an incredibly believable soundstage - detailed without any tonal aberrations. But can they rock and roll?
Peter Gabriel - Growing Up Live -DVD
Track 14 Sledgehammer
I like this track for a couple of reasons. Tony Levin's bass-work is recorded at a good level so that even in this song when the foot pedal bass drum is trying to compete with him, he's present throughout. There are also the vocals, Peter's voice should be consistent as well as the backup vocals.
With the XPA-1s meters pushing over toward the middle of the scale (which did I mention is incredibly loud in my room?) everything is well balanced. My chest is being slammed with the drum, My whole body feels every note Tony plays while Peter's and the other vocals are right there with them. Nothing out of place, no strain, no feeling that I should be turning this down just to be safe.
AC DC - CD
Highway to Hell
Nothing fancy here recording-wise. Just Bon Scott wailing along with drums, lead and bass guitar, just great rock and roll. (imo of course)
How to put it... these babies rock my ass off! There are certain songs that just beg to be played loud...
Track 4. Touch Too Much
Step one.
Turn up until the bass drum sounds right and let 'er rip! (there is no step two
In this room the meters are barely showing signs of life, but yikes. Bonn and the boys are here in the room kicking my ass and I'm lovin' it! Awesome!!
Cloverfield (Blu-Ray)
The "Air is on fire" scene.
You know the one - Just before they bail into the subway station, Hud's friends are trying to be heard over the military firing at the monster as it whomps down the street howling back at them. The weapons fire and monster's effects are intended to overwhelm the senses - they do. Yet I can make out what Hud and his friends are shouting to each other more than ever before. At the risk of sounding like a broken record - nothing is out of place or strained. It just feels and sounds as if I'm in the scene with these folks during an insanely out of control situation.
The XPA-1 meters dance just a bit over the halfway point... ok, what happens if I add some more? Its already INSANELY LOUD!! - It gets louder, just like it should.
Its as if they're somehow plugged directly into the power company's main distribution point and are dutifully providing whatever I ask!
Conclusion
As if I needed to say it - these amps are staying right where they are, no thirty day return for them. I'm so pleased to have amplification that will not only satisfy my need for refined, balanced and properly presented instruments and singers, and also feed my desire to have scary monsters and rock and roll sound and feel like its right here in the room at a price that is ridiculously out of proportion with their performance.
[Edit]
Figured I'd ease loading this page on those who may not care about the pictures. Here's a link to a little gallery of the photos that were here and a couple new ones.
gallery.me.com/ichris#100039&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=4
