XPA-3 as a mono for my center

[haugesynsar]

My first amplifier XPA-3 gave me an introduction to HT-paradise. But how long did Adam stay in paradise.. I ate of the tree of knowlegde and had to get more of the same..I bought the XPA-2, which gave me a new dimention..
To make it short..XPA-3 is the only remaining amp in my HT, for the time being. An Xpa-2 is under way and I am thinkin` of using my xpa-3 only for my center, since I have a large yamaha-reciever for the ERD`s.

So my question is; Does the xpa-3 give all its power through one connection, or do i miss out on something?
The solution for me ofcourse is to sell my xpa-3 and go for a xpa-1l.

[haugesynsar]

XPA-1L Power Supply: 450 VA heavy duty toroidal transformer. 90,000 uF of storage capacitance.

XPA-3 (working perfektly and already situated in Norway) Power supply: 850 VA toroidal transformer with 60,000uF storage capacitance.

If all three channels in the XPA-3 is "hooked up" to all the capacitance-power than that will be good enough for me. For now..
My center is SVS-MCS-1 and needs a lot of power.

I have also been thinkin`of using xpa-3 for my L&R, and using XPA-2 for my center in bridge-mode..
By now I should have learned that in my HT, my ears are the decision makers;-) It is my brain that is giving me a hard time..;-)

[hemster]

Jan 20, 2014 13:45:18 GMT -5 haugesynsar said:

By now I should have learned that in my HT, my ears are the decision makers;-) It is my brain that is giving me a hard time..;-)

Just wait until your heart gets involved! It'll be a real ménage à trois! 

[haugesynsar]

Had to google that;-)

I have also found that when the homosapiens/naked-monkey are making logical assumptions, the heart and feelings are the "mastermind" ;-)
Sometimes twice as much, should have stayed at, half as much:-) (stolen John Mayer, Gravity) Gravity live, one of my favorites in the Ht.

[jlafrenz]

I would let the XPA-3 take over the amplification duties from your Yamaha.

[Gary Cook]

Personally I let the numbers clarify my thinking, an XPA-2 has 300 watts (@ 8 ohms) and an XPA-3 has 200 watts (also @ 8 ohms), so the difference in max volume is 1.5 db. If you are running your pre amp at more than 1.5 db below maximum volume then mixing an XPA-2 and an XPA-3 will be no problem. Having had an XPA-2/XPA-3 combo I can't say as I ever heard any volume difference between them. I currently have an XPA-5 and it doesn't sound any different to me than the XPA-2/XPA-3 combo. A lot of people happily run the XPA-2/XPA-3 combo and I see no reason why the same wouldn't be the case for most people.

There isn't an AVR that I have heard that an XPA-2, XPA3 or XPA-5 won't walk all over as far as sound quality and quantity is concerned. Admittedly I haven't listened to every AVR.


Cheers
Gary

[haugesynsar]

Jan 20, 2014 19:45:00 GMT -5 Gary Cook said:

Personally I let the numbers clarify my thinking, an XPA-2 has 300 watts (@ 8 ohms) and an XPA-3 has 200 watts (also @ 8 ohms), so the difference in max volume is 1.5 db. If you are running your pre amp at more than 1.5 db below maximum volume then mixing an XPA-2 and an XPA-3 will be no problem. Having had an XPA-2/XPA-3 combo I can't say as I ever heard any volume difference between them. I currently have an XPA-5 and it doesn't sound any different to me than the XPA-2/XPA-3 combo. A lot of people happily run the XPA-2/XPA-3 combo and I see no reason why the same wouldn't be the case for most people.

There isn't an AVR that I have heard that an XPA-2, XPA3 or XPA-5 won't walk all over as far as sound quality and quantity is concerned. Admittedly I haven't listened to every AVR.


Cheers
Gary

I was hoping my xpa-3 would do even better if it only had one speaker to control. MCS- 6-ohm, ERD-1 4-ohm if it matters. The xpa2/3 combo is also familiar to me. It is awesome. But my xpa-2 has been on a "sick-leave"/resurected and I am ready to try something "new".

The "problem" is not my receiver or amplifiers, but my svs-mcs speaker. It sound great, but when female vocalists are singing really high pitch notes, I wish it could do even better

I called the company that sold me the yamaha and asked if they would use it only as a pre-amp, but the person i talked to, told me that the pre-amp-bit only used a minimal of volts. He recemended that I gave it the surround duty..

But okey, I will just have to try for myself. I was hoping for an answer that backed up my thinking , I guess When the xpa-2 is coming back in a week or two, there will be no time for writing, only for listening.

By the way the yamaha I have is RX-V3067.

[Gary Cook]

The Yamaha RX-V3067 isn't a terrible AVR, it should output the usual 1.8 volts pre amp, which is what the XPA1/2/3/5 Gen 1's were design for with their 32 db gain. I would have no hesitation in using the XPA-2 / XPA-3 combination with an RX-V3067. For sure the SVS-MCS is not the most efficient centre around @ 88 db (from memory), but one channel of the XPA-3 should still be able to blow you out of the room, unless it's a huge room.

Personally I'd be looking at a processor upgrade rather than amp's.


Cheers
Gary

[haugesynsar]

Jan 21, 2014 4:46:34 GMT -5 Gary Cook said:

The Yamaha RX-V3067 isn't a terrible AVR, it should output the usual 1.8 volts pre amp, which is what the XPA1/2/3/5 Gen 1's were design for with their 32 db gain. I would have no hesitation in using the XPA-2 / XPA-3 combination with an RX-V3067. For sure the SVS-MCS is not the most efficient centre around @ 88 db (from memory), but one channel of the XPA-3 should still be able to blow you out of the room, unless it's a huge room.

Personally I'd be looking at a processor upgrade rather than amp's.


Cheers
Gary

Last time I did a big upgrade, I had a smaller Yamaha(861) and the xpa-3 to drive my fronts. The yam was pushing on a pair of smaller svs, that where not as practical for my small HT. I went for xpa-2, UMC-1 and erd-1. So I have tried a processor with xpa2/3.

Now I am satisfied with what I have, until the XMC-1 comes out (I believe...

I have been satisfied with having my yam3067 as a pre, but when I heard that it was not using any power..I started thinkin`,too much perhaps
Maybe I will try xpa3 for my L&R and xpa2 for the centre in bridgemode. Than I will find out if I will ever get more out of my mcs-speaker.

BUT if the xpa-1L would be better/sweeter in the top, than I would have sold my xpa3 and ordered a xpa-1L
I think I am getting tired of this electronic-philosophy-stuff. My wife calls me "man with the plan"..

[Gary Cook]

Jan 21, 2014 8:23:30 GMT -5 haugesynsar said:

Jan 21, 2014 4:46:34 GMT -5 Gary Cook said:

The Yamaha RX-V3067 isn't a terrible AVR, it should output the usual 1.8 volts pre amp, which is what the XPA1/2/3/5 Gen 1's were design for with their 32 db gain. I would have no hesitation in using the XPA-2 / XPA-3 combination with an RX-V3067. For sure the SVS-MCS is not the most efficient centre around @ 88 db (from memory), but one channel of the XPA-3 should still be able to blow you out of the room, unless it's a huge room.

Personally I'd be looking at a processor upgrade rather than amp's.

Last time I did a big upgrade, I had a smaller Yamaha(861) and the xpa-3 to drive my fronts. The yam was pushing on a pair of smaller svs, that where not as practical for my small HT. I went for xpa-2, UMC-1 and erd-1. So I have tried a processor with xpa2/3.
Now I am satisfied with what I have, until the XMC-1 comes out (I believe...
I have been satisfied with having my yam3067 as a pre, but when I heard that it was not using any power..I started thinkin`,too much perhaps
Maybe I will try xpa3 for my L&R and xpa2 for the centre in bridgemode. Than I will find out if I will ever get more out of my mcs-speaker.
BUT if the xpa-1L would be better/sweeter in the top, than I would have sold my xpa3 and ordered a xpa-1L
I think I am getting tired of this electronic-philosophy-stuff. My wife calls me "man with the plan"..

It can be a complex decision making process, but I find that a whole of of fun. The big advantage of the XPA-1L is the ability to run in Class A, which for a HT use with a not highly efficient centre speaker I believe would be a bit of a waste. It would be spending most of its time in Class AB so might as well save some money and use an XPA-100.

From memory the SVS-MCS recommended amplifier power is 20-225 watts, which one channel of the XPA-3 will do easily let alone one channel of an XPA-2. So I'd suggest being careful with the 1000 watts that a bridged XPA-2 will provide.


Cheers
Gary

[haugesynsar]

True , true. Its fun and complex. I will take your advice and completly debunk the xpa2-bridging.
Your argument conserning the xpa-1L seems solid too.

But when I am going to spend the money it will be on Emotiva-gear!

[jlafrenz]

Jan 21, 2014 3:12:00 GMT -5 haugesynsar said:

Jan 20, 2014 19:45:00 GMT -5 Gary Cook said:

Personally I let the numbers clarify my thinking, an XPA-2 has 300 watts (@ 8 ohms) and an XPA-3 has 200 watts (also @ 8 ohms), so the difference in max volume is 1.5 db. If you are running your pre amp at more than 1.5 db below maximum volume then mixing an XPA-2 and an XPA-3 will be no problem. Having had an XPA-2/XPA-3 combo I can't say as I ever heard any volume difference between them. I currently have an XPA-5 and it doesn't sound any different to me than the XPA-2/XPA-3 combo. A lot of people happily run the XPA-2/XPA-3 combo and I see no reason why the same wouldn't be the case for most people.

There isn't an AVR that I have heard that an XPA-2, XPA3 or XPA-5 won't walk all over as far as sound quality and quantity is concerned. Admittedly I haven't listened to every AVR.


Cheers
Gary

I was hoping my xpa-3 would do even better if it only had one speaker to control. MCS- 6-ohm, ERD-1 4-ohm if it matters. The xpa2/3 combo is also familiar to me. It is awesome. But my xpa-2 has been on a "sick-leave"/resurected and I am ready to try something "new".

The "problem" is not my receiver or amplifiers, but my svs-mcs speaker. It sound great, but when female vocalists are singing really high pitch notes, I wish it could do even better

I called the company that sold me the yamaha and asked if they would use it only as a pre-amp, but the person i talked to, told me that the pre-amp-bit only used a minimal of volts. He recemended that I gave it the surround duty..

But okey, I will just have to try for myself. I was hoping for an answer that backed up my thinking , I guess When the xpa-2 is coming back in a week or two, there will be no time for writing, only for listening.

By the way the yamaha I have is RX-V3067.

Powering the surrounds with the XPA-3 isn't going to take anything away from the benefits it will provide your center channel. It is designed to power multiple speakers so my suggestion would be to use it that way.