XPA-2 Disappointment

[toshio]

Today, I finally had a chance to seriously listen to the newly purchased amplifier. Once my equipment had warned up, I played 2 very high quality discs. The results were disappointing, to put it mildly.

Cymbals, bells, and high-pitched vocals that once sounded silky and strong, sounded brash and, frankly, hurt my ears.

Most of the mid and deep bass completely disappeared.

I don't buy all the BS about this amplifier being so much better than my much more modest Harmon Kardon receiver. If I wanted to vastly improve the listening experience, I could have saved myself half the cost of this amplifier and spent it on professionally tuned bass traps. The proof is in the test results. This is a toy. Plain and simple. That said, toys are not supposed to screw things up.

[garbulky]

I'm not discounting what you heard.

But when I've auditioned it myself it was definitely not a toy I also found the amplifier a little harder to drive. For instance my passive pre-amp sounded rather poor connected directly to it. The USP-1 pre-amplifier helped quite a lot and it had quite a lot of dynamics. The XPA-2 does have a slightly forward quality to it. But not enough to cause it to give one the impressions you mentioned. In cymbals and drums, it felt there was a drumkit at my house!

What was your source? And what are your speakers?
Is this the first time you are using a power amplifier using pre-pro outputs?
I suspect it has something to do with the pre-pro.

[rocky500]

Dosn't make much sense. The Emotiva amps are pretty flat through there entire frequency range.
Unless something is setup not quite right you should be hearing a sound equal to what you are feeding into your system.
I have heard the XPA-2 on a few occasions and it is an excellent amp.
Even had it in my system compared to a Modwright amp and I was impressed.

[hemster]

Hey toshio, welcome to the lounge.

Sorry that your amplifier disappoints you. The XPA-2 is indeed a superb amplifier and has robust output that makes most receivers sound great. Please feel free to post your equipment details, how you have it all hooked up and a little about your room acoustics (carpet, tile, lots of glass windows?) so we can make suggestions for improvement. However your experience above is rare and most people love their XPA-2. It could be that something is not right with yours so as it's a new purchase, contact Emotiva and they'll sort you out. Ultimately your enjoyment of your gear counts the most so if it doesn't make you happy, it's best to resolve that consultation with Emotiva.

[dragonV]

removed

[jake81]

Dude, it ain't no toy.

[Deleted]

73lb toy?

Please list your speaker models, HK receiver model number and details of how do you have the HK connected to the XPA-2? 

[Gary Cook]

I've had 2 x HK AVR's and auditioned probably another half a dozen and my current XPA-5 / UMC-200 combo walks all over all of them. That's impact, response, clarity, imaging, punch, etc, there isn't anything audible that the HK's did better. My previous XPA-2 / XPA-3 / UMC-1 set up did similar. Obviously that's in my room, with my speakers and listening with my ears.

Personally I would be looking for another reason, because I seriously doubt it's the power amp causing the less than satisfactory performance.


Cheers
Gary

[rocky500]

I owned some not bad gear up till I needed the money last year and needed to sell most of it off unfortunately. I am slowly building it back up but it will take a long while me thinks.
When I had the Modwright gear, I also had some nice Wilson Benesch ACT speakers, Nad M51 Dac, 2 turntables - Clearaudio and Well tempered simplex running through a Tom Evans phono stage.
This is when I tried a XPA-2 in my system and it was not shamed at all and held its own.
They really are great amps for the price.

This what makes me think you might have a problem in your setup? Compatiabilty to your preamp, speakers etc.

[garbulky]

If you are using an AVR, you may have set the pre-outputs to "small" speakers. You also may need to re-run any room correction.

[audiobill]

Toshio, time to look at your speakers!!!

[repeetavx]

For the last ten years, my girlfriend has been running a "modest Harmon Kardon receiver". The original poster has apparently become used to the boosted bass and rolled off treble that these receivers feature. Going between my system and my girlfriends, I can appreciate the night and day difference, especially in the treble, that he experienced. He may be more comfortable with a tube amplifier, or one of the Parasound Classic amplifiers.

[alobar]

"Cymbals, bells, and high-pitched vocals that once sounded silky and strong, sounded brash and, frankly, hurt my ears."

I had this EXACT same result with an XPA-3 also moving from a modest receiver set up. You are definitely going to get a lot of "your speakers aren't placed correctly" and "something is wrong with the set up" type replies. I REALLY hoped this was the case for me, but in the end I tried EVERYTHING to get this amp to sound deep and full and it just sounded thin and harsh to me. I was really bummed. The great thing about Emotiva is that you can send it back within 30 days no questions asked. My set up is on the way back to them as I type this.

Good luck, hope you figure it out.

[alobar]

Also I def realize that I had got used to the bass boost and warm sound from my old receiver. I A/B'd the two set ups all last week over and over, and while the XPA did bring greater clarity to the music it still sounded awful to me and barely moved my speakers at all. My old receiver does definitely sound muddy though compared to the XPA.

[Bonzo]

Well, this sounds strikingly familiar with what I heard. When I first got mine running I hated it. Everything was shrill and harsh. After just a few days I was ready to send it back. My Denon Receiver sounded much much better.

But then, as a last ditch effort, I tried one more thing. I plugged the XPA-2 into my Belkin PF-60's high power outlet plug. Wow, what a change. Everything was back to sounding terrific.

However, with my speakers, which are a bit out of the norm (92 sensitivity with built in powered subs), I noticed no sound improvement over my Denon. I only kept the XPA-2 because of build quality, higher quality electronics, and chest beating bragging rights.

Proof to me that in my house in my system, I will never be without line conditioning.

[alobar]

Yeah I have a Furman Power Conditioner for my guitar amp and pedal board. Tried that too. No change.

[audiobill]

Poor source material will sound worse with a revealing amp.

Throw out all poor recordings!

[Porscheguy]

I would return it and move on. Emo is not for you I guess. 99% of people who buy these amps rave about them, as do EVERY pro review I have read.

Not sure what this post is for. We love Emotiva here, that's why we are here.....

[typea]

Mar 3, 2014 11:36:51 GMT -5 repeetavx said:

For the last ten years, my girlfriend has been running a "modest Harmon Kardon receiver". The original poster has apparently become used to the boosted bass and rolled off treble that these receivers feature. Going between my system and my girlfriends, I can appreciate the night and day difference, especially in the treble, that he experienced. He may be more comfortable with a tube amplifier, or one of the Parasound Classic amplifiers.

This was my first thought. This is why HK has always been labeled "warm."

[alobar]

Mar 3, 2014 12:08:32 GMT -5 Porscheguy said:

I would return it and move on. Emo is not for you I guess. 99% of people who buy these amps rave about them, as do EVERY pro review I have read.

Not sure what this post is for. We love Emotiva here, that's why we are here.....


I think maybe he was trying to find a "cure". At least that's why I posted about my experience. Also those "reviews" are largely all BS and should be taken with a grain of salt in 90% of the cases.