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Post by vcautokid on Mar 23, 2015 9:51:04 GMT -5
Yep, I agree, nothing wrong with allot of great clean power. Your room, speakers, and musical/movie listening habits, and taste prevail. This is why there isn't just 1 amplifier for everybody. Choice is a beautiful thing.
My XPA-2 still personifies for me the ideal plenty of get it done power with spare headroom builted in if you will. Other amplifiers I had were fine, but this amplifier stands out as the king of plenty for me. I loved that amp. My brother currently enjoys it now. As long he does not intend to reproduce 140dB or 747 on take off, anytime soon, he will be in power city for years.
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albe
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Post by albe on Dec 29, 2015 20:39:07 GMT -5
Kicking a dead horse or just an update...I recently added a XLS-1502 to my fronts, KEF Q700's, off my RX-A1020 and after about 10-12 hours of break in, I can report these amps ARE sonically clean, spatial and generally kick some butt. When I had a Pioneer Elite with Class D ICE amplifier section, I was not impressed, but this Class D amp just sounds right.
As you guys know the 02 series adds an mV selection ( even though I left mine on the lower and compensated with the receivers individual level control )
You can also shut the main display screen on/off called a sleep mode as well as the meters and the blue LED's on the front.
For $359.99, it's a bargain.
As one poster noted, I'm sure ( hoping ) the NEW series of Emotiva amps share this sonic marvel at this price point.
As far as the fan's, only after a heavy Pink Floyd's The Wall listening session, I heard them...AS I was putting the disc's back in the rack...they came on for 6 or 8 seconds and then went off...never heard them during the session.
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Post by copperpipe on Dec 30, 2015 10:48:58 GMT -5
Kicking a dead horse or just an update...I recently added a XLS-1502 to my fronts, KEF Q700's, off my RX-A1020 and after about 10-12 hours of break in, I can report these amps ARE sonically clean, spatial and generally kick some butt. When I had a Pioneer Elite with Class D ICE amplifier section, I was not impressed, but this Class D amp just sounds right. As you guys know the 02 series adds an mV selection ( even though I left mine on the lower and compensated with the receivers individual level control ) You can also shut the main display screen on/off called a sleep mode as well as the meters and the blue LED's on the front. For $359.99, it's a bargain. As one poster noted, I'm sure ( hoping ) the NEW series of Emotiva amps share this sonic marvel at this price point. As far as the fan's, only after a heavy Pink Floyd's The Wall listening session, I heard them...AS I was putting the disc's back in the rack...they came on for 6 or 8 seconds and then went off...never heard them during the session. You left the mV selection at 0.75, or 1.5? From what I understand, all pro-gear works in the 1.5v range and most home theatre is a little weaker and works better at 0.75. |
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Post by ekgajewski on Dec 30, 2015 10:54:34 GMT -5
I now have seven Crown XLS amps, five 1500's and two 2500's. I have three of the 1500's bridged to JBL 2206H's for LCR 50hz-1000hz and two running the LCR wave-guides from 1000hz up. I have an extra channel used for another zone's mono audio. The two 2500's are for 18" Dayton subs, although only one cabinet is built so far. In my old room, the single 2500 (along with everything else) would trip a 20 amp breaker on heavy bass notes. The new room has a dedicated two phase 120 amp circuit (60a x 2) to a Furman sequencer to power up the amps one 20 amp circuit at a time off the XMC-1's 12 volt trigger. I picked up the additional Crowns fairly cheap because the new ones were out. I didn't need the remote turn on or the extra sensitivity on the new models. From what I have researched, it been a few months, they use the same amplification sections. For my current setup, I love the Crown amps. If money was no object, I'd love to have six XPA-1's on my front stage. I'm pretty sure they would sound "better" than the Crowns and still have the power I'm used to. I recently picked up one of the Emotive Fusion Flex amps for my garage system. I must say I'm pretty impressed. It has me thinking about a dedicated two-channel setup using Emotiva amps/electronics sometime in the future.  |
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Post by geebo on Dec 30, 2015 11:03:16 GMT -5
Kicking a dead horse or just an update...I recently added a XLS-1502 to my fronts, KEF Q700's, off my RX-A1020 and after about 10-12 hours of break in, I can report these amps ARE sonically clean, spatial and generally kick some butt. When I had a Pioneer Elite with Class D ICE amplifier section, I was not impressed, but this Class D amp just sounds right. As you guys know the 02 series adds an mV selection ( even though I left mine on the lower and compensated with the receivers individual level control ) You can also shut the main display screen on/off called a sleep mode as well as the meters and the blue LED's on the front. For $359.99, it's a bargain. As one poster noted, I'm sure ( hoping ) the NEW series of Emotiva amps share this sonic marvel at this price point. As far as the fan's, only after a heavy Pink Floyd's The Wall listening session, I heard them...AS I was putting the disc's back in the rack...they came on for 6 or 8 seconds and then went off...never heard them during the session. You left the mV selection at 0.75, or 1.5? From what I understand, all pro-gear works in the 1.5v range and most home theatre is a little weaker and works better at 0.75. I do believe it's recommended to set it to the 1.4v setting if your system can supply the voltage. Setting it to .75v sensitivity can help with components that can't drive the amps to full power but at the risk of added noise. |
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Post by garbulky on Dec 30, 2015 11:25:41 GMT -5
Well, I spent most of the weekend "playing" with my system. So far, I'm not that impressed with the XPA-3's. I don't feel they are much of an upgrade from the Crown XLS-1500's. I was expecting a much warmer sound. I did a lot of two channel listening with the digital out of my Oppo-103D direct to my MiniDSP running 24/96 to the two XPA's. It took a while, but I finally got the levels balanced between the lows and highs. When I finally felt it was as good as it was going to get, I switched to multi-channel listening. For some reason, there seems to be a phase shift on the center channel's high frequency output. I don't notice it on the other amplifier, powering the center low frequencies. I have still not been able to actually measure the absolute phase of each amplifier channel, so I can't verify the technical reason for what I am hearing. In general, on very familiar concert Blu-ray's playing DTS Master Audio, the center is lacking. Kind of "falling back" from the L&R instead of coming forward. If I invert the phase on the center channel horns, it seems better, but still not "right." Until I find the solution, the Crown amps sound far better in multi-channel. One other small issue is the actual height of the XPA-3's. They are a bit taller than 4-RU. I was able to mount the two in the bottom of my rack, but nothing could be mounted in the space directly above them. They are about 3/16" too tall. Did you adjust your speaker position after xpa install? The sound signature is different on them and imo require repositioning. |
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albe
Minor Hero
Posts: 27
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Post by albe on Dec 30, 2015 18:17:14 GMT -5
Kicking a dead horse or just an update...I recently added a XLS-1502 to my fronts, KEF Q700's, off my RX-A1020 and after about 10-12 hours of break in, I can report these amps ARE sonically clean, spatial and generally kick some butt. When I had a Pioneer Elite with Class D ICE amplifier section, I was not impressed, but this Class D amp just sounds right. As you guys know the 02 series adds an mV selection ( even though I left mine on the lower and compensated with the receivers individual level control ) You can also shut the main display screen on/off called a sleep mode as well as the meters and the blue LED's on the front. For $359.99, it's a bargain. As one poster noted, I'm sure ( hoping ) the NEW series of Emotiva amps share this sonic marvel at this price point. As far as the fan's, only after a heavy Pink Floyd's The Wall listening session, I heard them...AS I was putting the disc's back in the rack...they came on for 6 or 8 seconds and then went off...never heard them during the session. You left the mV selection at 0.75, or 1.5? From what I understand, all pro-gear works in the 1.5v range and most home theatre is a little weaker and works better at 0.75. I left them in the 1.5 (actually the manual says 1.4) I did have to turn the AVR's levels up in the set up, my Gain (level) controls on the Crown are at 2 o'clock, I am getting the -20 light on at all times and the -10 light when I start to pound it, the Clip LED lit up once or twice is all I can remember. I do not getting any hum or noise at all...However, after running the YPAO I went back and redid the levels with my trusty SPL meter starting with the center at 0db in the AVR, then 75dB from each (LCR, LS, RS, Sub) to my listening position. YPAO really started with it's own benchmark WAY to low for the other channels, I would imagine this is where the .75 setting would upset the YPAO much less, but my noise floor is more important than my levels I can achieve in my room. (Just my weirdness) lol |
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albe
Minor Hero
Posts: 27
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Post by albe on Dec 30, 2015 18:20:45 GMT -5
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albe
Minor Hero
Posts: 27
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Post by albe on Dec 30, 2015 18:22:08 GMT -5
I now have seven Crown XLS amps, five 1500's and two 2500's. I have three of the 1500's bridged to JBL 2206H's for LCR 50hz-1000hz and two running the LCR wave-guides from 1000hz up. I have an extra channel used for another zone's mono audio. The two 2500's are for 18" Dayton subs, although only one cabinet is built so far. In my old room, the single 2500 (along with everything else) would trip a 20 amp breaker on heavy bass notes. The new room has a dedicated two phase 120 amp circuit (60a x 2) to a Furman sequencer to power up the amps one 20 amp circuit at a time off the XMC-1's 12 volt trigger. I picked up the additional Crowns fairly cheap because the new ones were out. I didn't need the remote turn on or the extra sensitivity on the new models. From what I have researched, it been a few months, they use the same amplification sections. For my current setup, I love the Crown amps. If money was no object, I'd love to have six XPA-1's on my front stage. I'm pretty sure they would sound "better" than the Crowns and still have the power I'm used to. I recently picked up one of the Emotive Fusion Flex amps for my garage system. I must say I'm pretty impressed. It has me thinking about a dedicated two-channel setup using Emotiva amps/electronics sometime in the future. Love it! |
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Post by ekgajewski on Jan 6, 2016 13:25:20 GMT -5
Did you adjust your speaker position after xpa install? The sound signature is different on them and imo require repositioning. I did not. Working 15 years in a high-end shop, I have literally done hundreds of A/B comparisons on amp/speaker combinations. In my experience, once a pair of speakers' position is dialed in, the sweet spot has not been amplifier dependent. I could understand that IF an amp had a big bump or dip in the low end, that changing distance from the rear wall or corner could "fix" it. However, this is not what I was hearing. I'm not trying to argue, just my personal experience with my ears. Everyone listens/hears differently. I did try to tweak my MiniDSP to see if there was some time delay, phase shift or other differences between the two XPA's. Keep in mind, I was running one on LF and one of HF of the front stage. My gut feeling is that IF my system had the XMC-1's LCR direct to the XPA-3 and I had "regular" high-end speakers with passive crossovers, I would have liked them more than I did. I really wanted to like the amplifiers. I still may use the new XPR-2 in a dedicated 2-channel setup with a much "purer" signal path. |
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Post by garbulky on Jan 6, 2016 14:15:07 GMT -5
Did you adjust your speaker position after xpa install? The sound signature is different on them and imo require repositioning. I did not. Working 15 years in a high-end shop, I have literally done hundreds of A/B comparisons on amp/speaker combinations. In my experience, once a pair of speakers' position is dialed in, the sweet spot has not been amplifier dependent. I could understand that IF an amp had a big bump or dip in the low end, that changing distance from the rear wall or corner could "fix" it. However, this is not what I was hearing. I'm not trying to argue, just my personal experience with my ears. Everyone listens/hears differently. I did try to tweak my MiniDSP to see if there was some time delay, phase shift or other differences between the two XPA's. Keep in mind, I was running one on LF and one of HF of the front stage. My gut feeling is that IF my system had the XMC-1's LCR direct to the XPA-3 and I had "regular" high-end speakers with passive crossovers, I would have liked them more than I did. I really wanted to like the amplifiers. I still may use the new XPR-2 in a dedicated 2-channel setup with a much "purer" signal path. I think everybody experiences audio differently. IMO there is stuff to be gained by adjusting the speakers. It's happened to me nearly everytime. Now they don't require large adjustments ... just some adjustment usually. To lock it in. Because you mentioned abot wierd phase shifts and other things that's why I feel some moving might be in order. |
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Post by knucklehead on Jan 6, 2016 15:48:11 GMT -5
Pro amps can sound good? I'm so shocked!
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Post by monkumonku on Jan 6, 2016 16:09:52 GMT -5
Pro amps can sound good? I'm so shocked! That's hard to believe about pro amps sounding good. Surely you jest!  |
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Post by knucklehead on Jan 6, 2016 16:25:06 GMT -5
I never jest - and quit calling me Shirley.  |
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Post by mmrogge on Jan 11, 2018 20:10:02 GMT -5
// Ekgajewski... Interestingly we have a quite similar system. I am just configuring everything and have concerns about the signal voltage. I have no MiniDSP. Also haven't run Dirac yet. The sound is GREAT but I have no sound until about -60 volume on the Emotiva. My Crown XTI-1500 amps are virtually asleep even at full power. I have more than enough power but wondering if the reason you used the MiniDSP 10x10 was to correct for the signal voltage issue? Perhaps I can learn from your work. Attachments:
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