XPA-5 GEN2 & OPPO 105 XLR Volume issue

[solarrdadd]

howdy everyone, i have a friend (online) that has recently purchased a 105 & a 5-gen2 amp. he has the 105 connected directly via XLR to the 5. he says that when he has the volume at 0 which is effectively mute that when he turns the volume up to 1 (one) the level of volume from his speakers is super incredibly loud to the tune of 68db's on his SPL. the 105 volume goes from 0 to 100.

he was told (by someone online) that it's an emotiva issue because of the voltage input sensitivity level of the 5-gen2 on XLR which is 1.8v the 105 XLR output is rated at 4.2vrms (i do not know if that's a fixed voltage or if it's dependent on the level that the volume is set to, no idea). that same person who told him this said he had the similar problem with connecting his 95 via XLR to an emotiva amp and he eventually had to go to RCA's to solve the problem and that because of the input level of the emotiva amp(s) you couldn't use a pre-amp with a high voltage output like the 95.

i of course am not saying it is or is not an emotiva issue so i'll ask you people this, do any of you have an oppo 105 connected directly to a 5-gen2 via XLR and if so, is yours working without incident or did you have the same issue has my friend?

i currently own a 105 and it too is connected directly to an emotiva amp but it's a UPA-200 via RCA and i have no problems. i don't own a 5-gen2 so i am not in a position to comment on this one way or another.

i do know for a fact that there are many, many people who have their 105 & 95 oppos connected via XLR directly to amps and they have no problems.

i have read a person or two had to use 20db attenuators and they were happy but they said it was because of the quality of sound not the incredibly super high level of volume and this was with an emotiva amp.

i'd love to hear back from you guys. i've told my friend to contact both emotiva & oppo to see what they had to say about it. i don't believe he should have his ears blown out when the volume goes from 0 to 1.

can you guys put your experiences in here. any tech people from emotiva, feel free to post; but please be civil doing it.


please & thank you.

[Gary Cook]

Comparing the input sensitivities;

UPA-200
Input sensitivity (for rated power; 8 Ohm load): 1.1 V.
Gain: 29 dB

XPA-5 (Gen 2)
Input Sensitivity (for rated power; 8 Ohm load): 1.8 V.
Gain: 29 dB

Based on the above I would say it's not an amplifier sensitivity issue, after all yours works with a higher level, ie; 1.1V versus 1.8V

I assume he is setting the input (the switches on the rear of the XPA-5) to "XLR"?
From memory the Oppo 105 only has XLR outputs for stereo (ie; FL and FR) are the other 3 channels connected?

BTW the Oppo XLR output voltage is -2.1 volts and +2.1 volts hence quoted as 4.2 volts.


Cheers
Gary

[solarrdadd]

thanks gary for your response. i'm hoping to hear input from others especially someone who has their 105 connected to an emotiva amp via XLR.

you did make sense with the voltage thing for XLR's.

[MP27]

Same problem here, XLR's from 105 to XPA5, volume 0 = mute, volume 1 = Loud.




Btw, anybody knows how the XPA5's XLR input is labeled in regard to PIN 1 = Ground, 2 = + & 3 = -. which will match the OPPO, or is it inverted?









Thanks.

[geebo]

Jan 22, 2014 3:45:48 GMT -5 MP27 said:

Same problem here, XLR's from 105 to XPA5, volume 0 = mute, volume 1 = Loud.




Btw, anybody knows how the XPA5's XLR input is labeled in regard to PIN 1 = Ground, 2 = + & 3 = -. which will match the OPPO, or is it inverted?



Thanks.

The XPA-5 uses the same XLR wiring arrangement as the Oppo and most other modern equipment. A standard XLR cable will work fine.