XPA-1 #s 68 & 69

[Mike Ronesia]

Great review and I love those L250's. Some of the best looking speakers I've ever seen. I've been hunting for a pair of Ti's for some time now. If I ever find them I guess I'll need some XPA-1's as well.

[lewers]

Apr 14, 2009 21:23:09 GMT -5 Mike Ronesia said:

Great review and I love those L250's. Some of the best looking speakers I've ever seen. I've been hunting for a pair of Ti's for some time now. If I ever find them I guess I'll need some XPA-1's as well.

Yup - they're like hen's teeth it seems. Though I've seen them pop up once in a while at www.audiogon.com

[samco]

i may get n xpa-2 for my rear surround asvell......
gnna use 3 xpa-1 for the fronts n centre speaker 8)

[f1nels]

Man, you guys are running some crazy power for HT systems. Gotta love it!!

[rudy]

Hey lewers.

Thanks for the great review. What speakers are you using in bathroom, and how are they holding up?
I used my Advent Minis in the bathroom but after a couple of years the foam surrounds have rotted away.
So now I'm trying to figure out if I should replace them at $30 or simply buy new drivers for them from Madisound for $60. But that's another story.
I'm curious how your speakers are holding up to all that moisture and humidity in the bathroom.

Rudy

[darkvisions]

There is a sure way to cure your bathroom speaker problem.



Turn up your main system loud enough to hear it in the bathroom.... ;D

[lewers]

Jul 9, 2009 16:12:28 GMT -5 rudy said:

Hey lewers.

Thanks for the great review. What speakers are you using in bathroom, and how are they holding up?
I used my Advent Minis in the bathroom but after a couple of years the foam surrounds have rotted away.
So now I'm trying to figure out if I should replace them at $30 or simply buy new drivers for them from Madisound for $60. But that's another story.
I'm curious how your speakers are holding up to all that moisture and humidity in the bathroom.

Rudy

Hey there Rudy,

They're fine - but I often force air through the bathroom from the inside out (a 20" fan in the bedroom window pushing in) so I typically don't have much moisture collection.
That being said I don't always remember to do that so there are times when the mirror needs a wipe before I can use it
They've been in there for a couple of years and the surrounds are peachy.
I'm no expert on foam surrounds and the reasons that they degrade, but might it be that they were ready to go and the last couple of years just happened to be the ones spent in the bathroom?
Anywho, I've used speakerrepair.com for parts on replacing all of my current woofers' surrounds and the results have been very good.

Hope this helps!

[lewers]

oops!
I've neglected to update with the addition of XPA-1s four and five. Maybe it's been all the music and movies I've been enjoying Ok, and other stuff like changing the center and surrounds. Lots of changes for sure, but this is about the XPA-1s.

Pull the XPA-2. Run the RCAs to the surround locations it was feeding. Move in and connect XPA-1s. Enjoy!
In one way this made more difference than the upgrade to the main or center amplification. Instead of just affecting the space between the main left and right channels, or the integration of the center with them, these completed and then pulled that same sense of integration into and filled the whole room with it.

The sound field around me is much more palpable. With better recordings it is simply enveloping.
One example is near the beginning of the movie The WaterHorse. Starting at about two minutes in I'm sitting at the coast watching the scene play out. Birds cawing, kids playing, the surf striking the rocks. Instead of hearing excellently reproduced effects distinctly from the surround speakers and the front three, that superbly integrated front sound field is now extended around me.

Of course those same characteristic noticed in the mains and center are present here too. There's just never any sense of strain. Effortless reproduction of anything needed and the finesse is not lost here either. Multichannel music with distinct vocals in the surrounds really shows off these amps' musicality. I find that after listening to one thing, I'm reminded of how good something else had sounded before. Then of course enjoying that reminds me of another…

I could go on, but I'll just close with recalling that I was a bit uncertain about adding these last two XPA-1s. (unless there's 7.1 in my future, then who knows)
The XPA-2 did a fine job - not a single complaint. There was no need for an upgrade. However, the consistency and effortless musicality of the XPA-1s all around the room completes the (audible) picture in a way that I can't imagine doing without.

[ny1pr2009]

My Pair of XPA-1 Monoblocks. Will be writing a review shortly after a few weeks of break-in period. So far they sound outstanding.

My two channel audio system consists of,

Parasound Halo P3 Preamplier(to be replace by the Emotiva XPA-2)
Marantz 8003 SACD/CD Player
Emotiva XPA-1 Monoblocks
Dali Helicon 800 MK1 Full Range Speakers
Acoustic Zen Silver Reference II Interconnects (RCA) from CD player to Preamp
Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference II (XLR) from preamp to Emotiva Monoblocks
Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun 6ft. biwired per speaker from Monoblocks to Dalis Helicon 800
Acoustic Zen Tsunami Plus Power Cords 6ft. (4) for monoblocks,preamp and cd player
RGPC 400 Pro connected to the Emotiva XPA-1 monoblocks

My home theater consists of,

Pioneer Elite 60" Kuro Pro Plasma TV Professionally Calibrated for maximum picture quality.
Pionner Elite SC-07 Receiver used only as a Preamp
Pioneer Elite BDP-05 Blue Ray Player
Emotiva UPA7 , 7 channel amplifier connected to the Pioneer Elite Receiver
Monster HTPS SS MKII Power Conditioner
Elan Speaker Systems 7.1 channels including subwoofer.
Canter Channel made by Selah Audio with 8" Saes Drivers