Post by vincedog3 on Jan 31, 2009 15:48:10 GMT -5
The Emotiva XPA-2 Power Amplifier.
Some thoughts and observations on how this amplifier is bending my paradigm on how I buy and enjoy audio electronics.
A little history of me and why hifi changed everything about me.
Since I was 5 I had been an annoying little hyper ADHD critter that drove everyone crazy that teachers and my parents were
sure that the only thing I would succeed in is ending up over someone knee getting my back side worn. However what is this, my
father brings home this amazing new magical toy in the early 1960s a reel to reel Roberts 3 motor 3 head tape machine. Big, heavy
amazing sounding and made in Japan with care by Akai. All of sudden the transformation process had begun, and I had been now
captured by this hypnotic spinning reel music maker. Hifi had now entered my life that helped curb my ADHD mode.
The big change also came when I had started to play Clarinet in 6th grade. My fathers audio system would steadily get better with a decent
Heathkit Receiver, a Garrard 100c turntable, and a Sony reel to reel and Teac cassette deck to play through his crap home made speakers, "egad".
With no concession to cabling and proper set up this audio system was held back a lot. I still loved it, and I continued to age and listen and
finally get my gear later just after high school.
Fast forward to now and at 49 what in the world am I doing?
My audio compliment now includes after a long time of searching for the best simple system I could build the following.
Magnepan MMG Planar loudspeakers
NHT Subwoofer 12"
Vincent SP-331 Power Amplifier Hybrid/Vacuum Tube/Solid State
Vincent SA-T1 Preamplifier Hybrid/Vacuum Tube/Solid State
Vincent CD-S6 Compact Disc Player Hybrid/Vacuum Tube/Solid State
Sony XA-7es Compact Disc Player
Teac A-2000r Reel to Reel tape recorder
Teac A-3300s Reel to Reel tape recorder
Tascam 122 mk.3 Cassette Deck
Tascam 52 Reel to Reel 2 track mastering recorder/reproducer
Tascam CDRW-5000 Compact Disc Recorder/player
Tascam CDRW-700 Compact Disc Recorder/player
Mackie 16-4 VLZ 4 buss/stereo Mixer
Apple Imac 24" Core 2 Duo Computer
Clone Quad Core Windows Vista Computer
and the Emotiva XPA-2 of course.
Ok with gear out of the way lets talk about why I felt I needed the Emotiva XPA-2, then we'll talk about how the Emotiva XPA-2 fits
into my audio system and my listening experience.
As much as the Vincent SP-331 had filled the bill in humanity and harmonic richness throughout the bandwidth, I wanted more dynamics
and more control, and detail that as much as I loved the Vincent, it just fell short on. Strange this considering the 300 watt per channel rating
into 4 ohms which the Magnepans operate at.
It was just frustrating having to crank up more and more to attempt to get the detail that I wanted and up to the point where compression and
distortion would rear its ugly head. I don't really listen loud per se, but I just felt the Vincent was maybe a bit too laid back and polite.
Enter the Emotiva XPA-2 Experience.
The first amplifier I got was not a cooperative sort and I had to have it replaced. Thank you to the great folks at Emotiva, the replacement
amplifier came to me faster than the original did. Now that is service folks, and when I complain that most businesses foist just product and
no service it just seems we accept it as snob appeal or whatever. Refreshing that Emotiva is a great company with service and product that
is showcased.
Opening this big heavy double boxed amplifier is a game for the wise and cagey, (asking for help from a family member or friend is a good idea if
possible) and not for the false macho crazed individual.
This amplifier will challenge your muscles as you pull this "beast" out of the double box. I use the open the box on a foamed cushioned area and gently roll the up
after I pull the boxes off. The packing is well done and included is a standard I.E.C. Power cable and Velo bound instruction manual.
Heaving this beast onto my newly acquired audio rack was not easy, but not impossible. I used the top deck so ventilation and hook up will not
be a problem. So far so good, and anticipation is making me wait, but I followed all precautions and connected the Emotiva with great care and
patience. Experience in my technical background taught sometimes doing it slow is fast, and doing it fast is slow because you mess something up.
With my Audioquest Monte Blanc speaker cables and my Virtual Dynamics David interconnects joined to the Emotiva and my Vincent preamplifier
finally power is connected and the master rear switch is toggled on.
The Emotiva goes through it protection cycle with no incident at all. A very encouraging sight to see.
What did I do here on my sound. Did I make a mistake??
When I first turned on the Emotiva, it was startling how much more bigger its sound was compared to my Vincent power amplifier. However even after hours it
sounded harsh and hard and painful in the mid band and mid treble that it just drove me nuts. After further run in, and changing a few cables around
and more run in the amplifier to this date has become very much more neutral without losing that big powerful presentation and detail.
Running the Virtual Dynamics Power 3 power cable is the magic blue pill to the Matrix of great sound. I had even more expensive power cables that made
this amplifier sound worse. The VD Power 3 is all the power cable this amplifier needed says my ears at least.
Hey how about the sound Mate? Is the Kit worth the money or what?
Up to the most current time, the Emotiva XPA-2 exceeds my Vincent power amplifier in depth and sound stage image. Detail and micro and macro dynamics
are amazing. I hear background movement of the artists that the Vincent just ignored. My Sheffield Labs recordings often keep the tape rolling and you hear
feet shuffling and sheet music paged etc. and the Emotiva picks up that faint set of noises clearly.
So details are great and low level detail especially shines with the Emotiva XPA-2. I used to sell high end audio for a long time before and after I worked for Xerox
Corporation working on high end duplicators/printers/copiers, and networks.
The Emotiva reminds me a lot of a Krell on the detail front and the has great bottom end control like a Krell at least I think. The mids are more at me than the Mark Levinson
and Audio Research I have heard, but not to the Emotiva's weakness. This amplifier has no fluff or filler in its presentation which I love. I think I was getting too much of the
Vacuum Tube mushiness that just drove me nuts. Conrad Johnson stuff does that to me in that it is just too mushy and not decisive like say an Audio Research or the Emotiva
here does. I like that detail without the edge and pain that goes with it. The Emotiva does not have a fatness around the instruments like the Vincent did, but it does have great sense of pace and tonality about it. It is a synergistic match with my preamplifier and the Vincent Cd player especially, though my Sony Cd player still slays the Vincent Cd player
in just the facts mam, just the facts mam, that the Vincent tends to leave out a bit. Multi Grammy Award winning recording studio Markeson Sound in Hollywood California uses
the Sony XA-7es for their product testing as a sort. Gives me confidence that I chose a good high end Cd player.
All my music from 60's to present music is just fleshed out with the detail I didn't have before. The Rotel's and Nad's I had which would be in this range just could not compete
with this amplifier. I must confess though the new Rotel Digital Switching amplifiers I think will give the Emotiva a run for the money, but for lots more money though. From the Beattles, to Beethoven and Mozart to well you know, this amplifier just does it so well. I wish maybe a bit more meat around the bones of the music, but what get is so good. Frank Sinatra, Karen Carpenter, and Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fiztzgerald, and Matt Monro and Tony Bennett are my vocal references and this Emotiva does well. I have to go to much more expensive kit to beat the Emotiva. My buddies Audio Research would beat the Emotiva in a few areas but I would have to spend 5 times as much.
So what I like part of the show the most.
The Bass response is so tight and controlled and timbre accurate. Being a musician helps me understand and appreciate pitch and the Emotiva makes this so easy vs. the slight
vague showing the Vincent has. The midrange is really best I like in the detail and accuracy. Sound stage depth is just amazing and it rivals my other favorite expensive amplifiers
I have heard and owned. Image width is very good too.
The build quality rivals my Vincent SP-331 but just in greater quantity, a good thing yes? I love the faceplate and blue L.E.D. lamps that give the Emotiva a sense of class.
The Meter L.E.D. lamps are fun to watch but I will probably at some point toggle them off maybe, but since most of my listening is eyes closed, it is not important really.
If anyone else had built this amplifier, it would probably be easily $2000.00 plus after everyone gets their cut.
What I would like to see better
would have liked bi wire binding posts, a bit less mid treble bite, but I am wondering if more time will tame that. Time so far has done wonders for the rest of the bandpass.
Final thoughts, I like what Steven Covey said "expecting change while doing everything the same is insanity". The Emotiva is a good case in point for me in that. For so short
money, I get a very capable musical instrument though while not perfect,(what is?) it changes my paradigm about how I spend my hard earned money on audio gear. I am now
of the camp that maybe you don't need to spend a lot to get a lot. Sure there is a minimum of course, but Emotiva is changing my idea of the minimum. I have been suggesting
to friends to at least check Emotiva first before you part with your hard earned cash. I am going to be enjoying the XPA-2 for quite a long time to come. It just does for me
what I have been wanting other gear to do for a long time, and because either technically or financially was not possible. So now that the word is out on the internet, everyone who loves music and quality and service and value should definitely be adding Emotiva to their shortlist.
Now where is that CD player Emotiva. My next investment.
Thank you for reading. V.C. ;D ;D
Some thoughts and observations on how this amplifier is bending my paradigm on how I buy and enjoy audio electronics.
A little history of me and why hifi changed everything about me.
Since I was 5 I had been an annoying little hyper ADHD critter that drove everyone crazy that teachers and my parents were
sure that the only thing I would succeed in is ending up over someone knee getting my back side worn. However what is this, my
father brings home this amazing new magical toy in the early 1960s a reel to reel Roberts 3 motor 3 head tape machine. Big, heavy
amazing sounding and made in Japan with care by Akai. All of sudden the transformation process had begun, and I had been now
captured by this hypnotic spinning reel music maker. Hifi had now entered my life that helped curb my ADHD mode.
The big change also came when I had started to play Clarinet in 6th grade. My fathers audio system would steadily get better with a decent
Heathkit Receiver, a Garrard 100c turntable, and a Sony reel to reel and Teac cassette deck to play through his crap home made speakers, "egad".
With no concession to cabling and proper set up this audio system was held back a lot. I still loved it, and I continued to age and listen and
finally get my gear later just after high school.
Fast forward to now and at 49 what in the world am I doing?
My audio compliment now includes after a long time of searching for the best simple system I could build the following.
Magnepan MMG Planar loudspeakers
NHT Subwoofer 12"
Vincent SP-331 Power Amplifier Hybrid/Vacuum Tube/Solid State
Vincent SA-T1 Preamplifier Hybrid/Vacuum Tube/Solid State
Vincent CD-S6 Compact Disc Player Hybrid/Vacuum Tube/Solid State
Sony XA-7es Compact Disc Player
Teac A-2000r Reel to Reel tape recorder
Teac A-3300s Reel to Reel tape recorder
Tascam 122 mk.3 Cassette Deck
Tascam 52 Reel to Reel 2 track mastering recorder/reproducer
Tascam CDRW-5000 Compact Disc Recorder/player
Tascam CDRW-700 Compact Disc Recorder/player
Mackie 16-4 VLZ 4 buss/stereo Mixer
Apple Imac 24" Core 2 Duo Computer
Clone Quad Core Windows Vista Computer
and the Emotiva XPA-2 of course.
Ok with gear out of the way lets talk about why I felt I needed the Emotiva XPA-2, then we'll talk about how the Emotiva XPA-2 fits
into my audio system and my listening experience.
As much as the Vincent SP-331 had filled the bill in humanity and harmonic richness throughout the bandwidth, I wanted more dynamics
and more control, and detail that as much as I loved the Vincent, it just fell short on. Strange this considering the 300 watt per channel rating
into 4 ohms which the Magnepans operate at.
It was just frustrating having to crank up more and more to attempt to get the detail that I wanted and up to the point where compression and
distortion would rear its ugly head. I don't really listen loud per se, but I just felt the Vincent was maybe a bit too laid back and polite.
Enter the Emotiva XPA-2 Experience.
The first amplifier I got was not a cooperative sort and I had to have it replaced. Thank you to the great folks at Emotiva, the replacement
amplifier came to me faster than the original did. Now that is service folks, and when I complain that most businesses foist just product and
no service it just seems we accept it as snob appeal or whatever. Refreshing that Emotiva is a great company with service and product that
is showcased.
Opening this big heavy double boxed amplifier is a game for the wise and cagey, (asking for help from a family member or friend is a good idea if
possible) and not for the false macho crazed individual.
This amplifier will challenge your muscles as you pull this "beast" out of the double box. I use the open the box on a foamed cushioned area and gently roll the up
after I pull the boxes off. The packing is well done and included is a standard I.E.C. Power cable and Velo bound instruction manual.
Heaving this beast onto my newly acquired audio rack was not easy, but not impossible. I used the top deck so ventilation and hook up will not
be a problem. So far so good, and anticipation is making me wait, but I followed all precautions and connected the Emotiva with great care and
patience. Experience in my technical background taught sometimes doing it slow is fast, and doing it fast is slow because you mess something up.
With my Audioquest Monte Blanc speaker cables and my Virtual Dynamics David interconnects joined to the Emotiva and my Vincent preamplifier
finally power is connected and the master rear switch is toggled on.
The Emotiva goes through it protection cycle with no incident at all. A very encouraging sight to see.
What did I do here on my sound. Did I make a mistake??
When I first turned on the Emotiva, it was startling how much more bigger its sound was compared to my Vincent power amplifier. However even after hours it
sounded harsh and hard and painful in the mid band and mid treble that it just drove me nuts. After further run in, and changing a few cables around
and more run in the amplifier to this date has become very much more neutral without losing that big powerful presentation and detail.
Running the Virtual Dynamics Power 3 power cable is the magic blue pill to the Matrix of great sound. I had even more expensive power cables that made
this amplifier sound worse. The VD Power 3 is all the power cable this amplifier needed says my ears at least.
Hey how about the sound Mate? Is the Kit worth the money or what?
Up to the most current time, the Emotiva XPA-2 exceeds my Vincent power amplifier in depth and sound stage image. Detail and micro and macro dynamics
are amazing. I hear background movement of the artists that the Vincent just ignored. My Sheffield Labs recordings often keep the tape rolling and you hear
feet shuffling and sheet music paged etc. and the Emotiva picks up that faint set of noises clearly.
So details are great and low level detail especially shines with the Emotiva XPA-2. I used to sell high end audio for a long time before and after I worked for Xerox
Corporation working on high end duplicators/printers/copiers, and networks.
The Emotiva reminds me a lot of a Krell on the detail front and the has great bottom end control like a Krell at least I think. The mids are more at me than the Mark Levinson
and Audio Research I have heard, but not to the Emotiva's weakness. This amplifier has no fluff or filler in its presentation which I love. I think I was getting too much of the
Vacuum Tube mushiness that just drove me nuts. Conrad Johnson stuff does that to me in that it is just too mushy and not decisive like say an Audio Research or the Emotiva
here does. I like that detail without the edge and pain that goes with it. The Emotiva does not have a fatness around the instruments like the Vincent did, but it does have great sense of pace and tonality about it. It is a synergistic match with my preamplifier and the Vincent Cd player especially, though my Sony Cd player still slays the Vincent Cd player
in just the facts mam, just the facts mam, that the Vincent tends to leave out a bit. Multi Grammy Award winning recording studio Markeson Sound in Hollywood California uses
the Sony XA-7es for their product testing as a sort. Gives me confidence that I chose a good high end Cd player.
All my music from 60's to present music is just fleshed out with the detail I didn't have before. The Rotel's and Nad's I had which would be in this range just could not compete
with this amplifier. I must confess though the new Rotel Digital Switching amplifiers I think will give the Emotiva a run for the money, but for lots more money though. From the Beattles, to Beethoven and Mozart to well you know, this amplifier just does it so well. I wish maybe a bit more meat around the bones of the music, but what get is so good. Frank Sinatra, Karen Carpenter, and Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fiztzgerald, and Matt Monro and Tony Bennett are my vocal references and this Emotiva does well. I have to go to much more expensive kit to beat the Emotiva. My buddies Audio Research would beat the Emotiva in a few areas but I would have to spend 5 times as much.
So what I like part of the show the most.
The Bass response is so tight and controlled and timbre accurate. Being a musician helps me understand and appreciate pitch and the Emotiva makes this so easy vs. the slight
vague showing the Vincent has. The midrange is really best I like in the detail and accuracy. Sound stage depth is just amazing and it rivals my other favorite expensive amplifiers
I have heard and owned. Image width is very good too.
The build quality rivals my Vincent SP-331 but just in greater quantity, a good thing yes? I love the faceplate and blue L.E.D. lamps that give the Emotiva a sense of class.
The Meter L.E.D. lamps are fun to watch but I will probably at some point toggle them off maybe, but since most of my listening is eyes closed, it is not important really.
If anyone else had built this amplifier, it would probably be easily $2000.00 plus after everyone gets their cut.
What I would like to see better
would have liked bi wire binding posts, a bit less mid treble bite, but I am wondering if more time will tame that. Time so far has done wonders for the rest of the bandpass.
Final thoughts, I like what Steven Covey said "expecting change while doing everything the same is insanity". The Emotiva is a good case in point for me in that. For so short
money, I get a very capable musical instrument though while not perfect,(what is?) it changes my paradigm about how I spend my hard earned money on audio gear. I am now
of the camp that maybe you don't need to spend a lot to get a lot. Sure there is a minimum of course, but Emotiva is changing my idea of the minimum. I have been suggesting
to friends to at least check Emotiva first before you part with your hard earned cash. I am going to be enjoying the XPA-2 for quite a long time to come. It just does for me
what I have been wanting other gear to do for a long time, and because either technically or financially was not possible. So now that the word is out on the internet, everyone who loves music and quality and service and value should definitely be adding Emotiva to their shortlist.
Now where is that CD player Emotiva. My next investment.
Thank you for reading. V.C. ;D ;D
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