Gen I vs Gen II

[aceinc]

I own Gen I (2)XPA-1, (1) XPA-2 and (1) XPA-3. Is there some place that shows side by side comparison of the the XPA Gen I vs Gen II?

Some of things I am interested in include power, THD, channel separation (if applicable), amount of capacitance, DB Gain, etc.

One thing that seems very different is the amount of capacitance (based on the pictures).

Also anyone that has personal experience with both versions, subjective comparison would be interesting as well.

[garbulky]

The main differences that stood out for me are the 29db gain on gen 2 and 32 db gain on gen 1.
On the XPA-1 there is a 60 watts per monoblock class A setting gen 2 vs 10 watts class A on gen 1 which is very nice!

[cheglie]

Could someone explain in "laymans" terms the real-life difference the 29 vs 32 db gain makes?

[Gary Cook]

Really simply, we have to turn the pre amp / processor up 3 db less with a Gen 1.

Gen 1's were designed with AVR's in mind as their source ie; it was pre UMC-1 and early pre amp days and Emotiva was selling way more power amps than pre amps or processors. Typically AVR's have less output than designated pre amps / processors so more gain was desirable in the power amps. Now Emotiva sells and has more pre amps and processors available, so the Gen 2 power amps can revert to a more common gain.

Cheers
Gary

[cheglie]

Does this effect the noise floor?  Making Gen 2 amps have a lower noise floor?  Trying to see the advantage to one over the other?

[knucklehead]

Apr 5, 2014 17:48:06 GMT -5 cheglie said:

Could someone explain in "laymans" terms the real-life difference the 29 vs 32 db gain makes?

The real world difference would be most noticed if you have high efficiency speakers like Klipsch - some of them are 101db efficient. With the lower amp gain you are less likely to hear a slight hiss with the amp on and nothing playing. Other than the $100 increase in price and lowered gain and improved appearance - not much difference between the amps.