XSP-1 Generation 2 Review by Boomzilla

[Boomzilla]

Well, Hoss, what we got here is the fancy-pants update version of the old-mule XSP-1, Gen. 1 preamp. Truth be told, the new version might tickle your spurs, but the old version is still a straight-shooter too.

The features haint changed so much as to tell, but Mr. Lonnie says the balanced circuitry's been gussied up for better performance. Cain't say as I hear much difference, but an old cowhand like me cain't be too choosey. Since I got the balanced outputs on my Oppo 105 and balanced inputs on my XPA-1Ls, I hooked up the ol "three-wires" and let'er rip.

How this puppy sounds aint easy to say. Images are solid as a 500-pound heifer, and instruments have Mississippi-mud texture and mother-in-law substance. When the fat lady sings, ya KNOW that it's the fat lady! The treble couldn't be called "airy" or "bright" by any stretch of the imagination, but I reckon that it aint exactly recessed either. If'n you want more, then the remote control lets ya turn up the screech with the tone controls. A right pleasant balance can be had for the askin'. The HT bypass lets a cowboy go for both stereo and surround sound. Aint that nice?

The feature that has always set the XSP-1 a nudge up on the competition is the built-in bass management. Spin the dials, do se do, where she stops, nobody knows! There aint no frequencies marked, so by-guess, by-God is the setting method. Despite that, a fine blend can be had based on yer ears and yer room. Up a bit, down a bit, little-more overlap at the crossover, little-less - It's all good! Sooner or later ye'll find a spot that sounds good & quit worrien' about it. I reckon that it took me less than a day to get satisfied.

With a five year warranty, you kin be jest as comfortable as a hog in slop. The Emotiva service folks are sweet as orange blossoms, but you'll probably never need to call 'em. So jump in the crick and get ya self wet - Not a drover in Denver would regret this purchase. Peelin' the cash roll was never better justified. Or as they say in 'Vegas - Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Emotiva done good again.

Boomzilla

[novisnick]

The pods were seeded and low and behold some allian boomzilla crawled out of this one!!! Anyone see the REAL boom??? This cow poke is jest plumb crazy!!!
But his statements are on da money!!!

Maybe too much wagon train food in his diet!!,,,,he,,,,he,,,,,,he,,,,,,,

[Boomzilla]

If you can't have fun with audio, then why bother.

[novisnick]

Apr 13, 2015 18:08:56 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

If you can't have fun with audio, then why bother.

Amen!!!

[garbulky]

I do reckon I drool over that pre-amp! Pardner you done good with dat review right there.

[bub]

Great review. I knew you had it in you. . My xsp-1 gen 1 is sitting pretty in the rack with the upgraded gen 2 bars. Thanks partner.

Time to mow the back 40. Very funny stuff.

[Gary Cook]

I thought I might update this thread as Mr boomzilla kindly sold me his XSP-1 Gen 2 and it took a couple of weeks to get here on the opposite side of the globe. Plus I took the opportunity to order some XLR cables (XSP-1 to XPA-1L's) and Gen 1 trims from Emotiva and have boom slip them in the boxes to save on freight. It arrived in good condition no drop or bounce marks on its original two layer boxing. A quick unpack and then came the task of reconfiguring the rack to fit the additional height of the XSP-1 over the USP-1. That takes a couple of hours with some cutting and joining of the supports. Nothing too hard for the pipe cutter and the band saw.

I haven't had much of chance to listen, as there is a race meeting this weekend and as usual the race car is behind schedule and the driver is slack (hope you are reading this Justin). Plus I decided to order some short XLR's for connecting the ERC-3 to the XSP-1 so it's fully discrete and balanced all the way. So far it sounds great, just what I'd expected. small but noticeable improvements in sound from the USP-1. Not a lot though, those USP-1's were amazing value for money and mine is going to a good home, doing the install next week. I'll post up a more detailed review when I've had a chance to listen a lot more and the cabling is all in place.

Cheers
Gary

[Gary Cook]

So after a bit more listening, still not enough time, but there hardly every is, I have noticed an unexpected benefit from swapping from the USP-1 to the XSP-1.

Previously with the USP-1 I was using 5 metre long RCA interconnects for the Left and Right connections to the pair of XPA-1L's (the sub output on the USP-1 has an XLR option). With the 5 metre RCA cables in place every now and then I would get a very faint buzz, totally inaudible with any music playing, even quiet background music. But in a silent passage I would occasionally hear this quite buzz, that would only last a few seconds then it would stop. Something turning on and off perhaps, not really a problem, easily ignored, but you know how it goes. I'd been looking for the source for a few months when I finally found it, the ice maker in the fridge, when the motor flipped out some more ice it caused the buzz. We've had that fridge for a number of years and I'd never really noticed the buzz before last year but on buying the XPA-1L's, I changed from short RCA interconnects (500 mm) and long speaker cables (5 metres) to long interconnects (5 metres) and short speaker cables (1 metre). Obviously the long interconnects were picking up the buzz. I had gotten so used to ignoring it and it was so quiet and very intermittent that it wasn't really an issue that concerned me much. But when I changed to the XSP-1 I also swapped the RCA's for a pair of 5 metre Emotiva XLR cables and bingo no more buzz.

Not a biggy for me, but worthwhile keeping in mind if you have long interconnects and there's some introduced noise.


Cheers
Gary

[copperpipe]

Mar 12, 2016 16:31:19 GMT -5 Gary Cook said:

So after a bit more listening, still not enough time, but there hardly every is, I have noticed an unexpected benefit from swapping from the USP-1 to the XSP-1.

Previously with the USP-1 I was using 5 metre long RCA interconnects for the Left and Right connections to the pair of XPA-1L's (the sub output on the USP-1 has an XLR option). With the 5 metre RCA cables in place every now and then I would get a very faint buzz, totally inaudible with any music playing, even quiet background music. But in a silent passage I would occasionally hear this quite buzz, that would only last a few seconds then it would stop. Something turning on and off perhaps, not really a problem, easily ignored, but you know how it goes. I'd been looking for the source for a few months when I finally found it, the ice maker in the fridge, when the motor flipped out some more ice it caused the buzz. We've had that fridge for a number of years and I'd never really noticed the buzz before last year but on buying the XPA-1L's, I changed from short RCA interconnects (500 mm) and long speaker cables (5 metres) to long interconnects (5 metres) and short speaker cables (1 metre). Obviously the long interconnects were picking up the buzz. I had gotten so used to ignoring it and it was so quiet and very intermittent that it wasn't really an issue that concerned me much. But when I changed to the XSP-1 I also swapped the RCA's for a pair of 5 metre Emotiva XLR cables and bingo no more buzz.

Not a biggy for me, but worthwhile keeping in mind if you have long interconnects and there's some introduced noise.


Cheers
Gary

Those buzzes can be seriously annoying. I had one that came from the opposite side of the house; don't ask me how, but it was a dimmer switch on a lamp and I could hear when it turned on. Separate breaker in the panel and everything. <-- I don't know enough about electrical work to know if that's important, but I was flabbergasted when I found the source of my buzzing. Needless to say, the lamp was introduced to my garbage bin.

But I believe you also own the Big Ego, correct? I'm very interested in how you think the ego compares to the xsp-1. I also own the big ego and really like it, but would like to know your thoughts on how they compare.

[Boomzilla]

OK guys, PLEASE start a new thread and let this one die! This is my WORST review ever, and more than a bit of an embarrassment! LOL

Boom

[DavidR]

Apr 13, 2015 16:35:50 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

..............................................and instruments have Mississippi-mud texture and mother-in-law substance..................................................................



Boomzilla

Can you explain this jargon to a Yankee from the northeast?

Thanks

[Boomzilla]

The Mississippi river, being our continent's largest, carries a plenitude of soil from the continental plains as it flows southward. The river earns the soubriquet "the Muddy Mississippi" for this reason. In fact, the entire State of Louisiana, from about the 31st Northern Latitude down is built of alluvial soil, deposited by the river.

So by analogy, "Mississippi-mud texture" means that the sound would be tactile and solid.

"Mother-in-law substance" should be self-explanatory in its prima-facia usage (implying that mothers-in-law tend to have significant mass), and would reemphasize the tactile and solid nature of the sound's imaging.

As an interesting aside, the sediment from the Mississippi river used to be deposited evenly across the southern half of our state during the Spring floods. As the river rose out of its banks, the current slowed. As the current speed was reduced, the soil suspended in the river water settled out as a fresh layer of mud. By centuries of incremental sedimentation, the agriculturally rich land and fecund marsh was formed.

But after the "great flood of 1927," the Army Corps of Engineers was tasked with creating the current levee system, intended to prevent the Mississippi river from flooding the landscape every Spring. The levee system was successful at it's intended task, but with horrible unintended consequences.

Now the sediment of the Mississippi no longer refreshes the Louisiana marsh, but, instead, flows outward into the Gulf of Mexico, where it drops all its valuable silt off the continental shelf. So since the construction of the levees, waves, hurricanes, and oil exploration canals erode the marsh, making the population centers more vulnerable to flooding and the waters less fertile.

Now, 25 to 35 square miles of coastline are lost per year and there's no good way to restore the damage. The choices are stark - flooding or erosion. There seems no way to stop one without allowing the other.

So - More information than you really needed, I'm sure, but even Yankees from the Northeast should know about it.

Cordially - Boomzilla

[sahmen]

Mar 12, 2016 17:12:54 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

OK guys, PLEASE start a new thread and let this one die! This is my WORST review ever, and more than a bit of an embarrassment! LOL

Boom

I beg to differ, with all due respect... I think the review is entertaining, and a legitimate way of having fun with audio, as you yourself have said above...  Actually, I think a "hats off to you" is in order here

[Gary Cook]

I noticed while watching a movie last night that the centre speaker was bit quiet and needed about 3db of boost. This is not unusual as some movies have mixes with weak centre / soft dialogue. But again today, another movie, same result, quiet centre. I hadn't really given it much thought but I should have, changing to the XLR connections from the XSP-1 for the FL and FR added a couple of DB to these channels and hence the others were relatively quieter. The centre being particularly noticeable. So I whipped out the trusty SPL meter, hopped into the Set Up menu on the UMC-200 and re balanced up the 5.1 channel's volumes. As expected I needed to add about 3 DB to the Centre, RR, RL and sub. Maybe for no reason, but I like to have the FL and FR as close to zero DB, no cut or boost, as possible. The other channels I then balance to them for equal SPL's. Something to remember in future when changing from RCA unbalanced to XLR balanced or vice versa.


Cheers
Gary

[Gary Cook]

Another advantage for he XSP-1 over the USP-1 is that it has a Trigger In. Very useful for setting up the daisy chain, turn the UMC-200 on and it tunes on the XPA-5 and the XSP-1 which in turn powers up the XPA-1L's and the XPA100. Much higher WAF.


Cheers
Gary

[musichal]

I absolutely love my XSP 1.2 so much. Unlike you guys, I'm using the unbalanced output, so I thought there may be some small value in offering a few comments for those, like me, using an amplifier without balanced inputs. I have a custom-built ST-70 tube amp 'clone' which has only two parts from an original Dynaco ST-70 - the OPTs. All other parts are new, including a beefed-up power supply transformer, along with greater capacitance than the original. Connected to the amp are a pair of 1976 Klipschorns, recently recapped and sounding great.

I was mildly surprised when I recently paired up the amp with the cornerhorns that the amp produces no audible noise, not even a whisper of a whish with my ear pressed to the grill. That's a good indicator for a tube amp with such sensitive speakers. However, I was using a long-in-the-tooth Lexicon DC-1 as a stereo preamp, which added just a bit of noise at very high levels - levels I don't use for playback (discovered the anomaly when troubleshooting a different issue)- and that gave me an excuse to replace the preamp with something new - not that I needed much of an excuse (oh-look-it's-raining probably would have worked also)

My past experience with Emotiva was with a pair of the little Flex amps in my bedroom. One driving Klipsh Fortes and the other sitting in the closet, still unopened. Back-up. Well, you guys know the story. Look for a good preamp that doesn't bust the kitty and you end up looking at the XSP-1.2 and the Halo P5 - and not much else. The one feature that drew me inexorably to the Emotiva over the Parasound was the resistive ladder volume control - it's just more precise, especially at lower levels - with speakers at around 105db/w/m you don't turn a pot very far before the levels rise quickly. The ladder seemed a much better arrangement for Khorns, and I've read that the Halo can have issues with this very scenario. Costing $300 less was just a bonus - I was easily prepared to pay the difference if I thought the other preamp was better for my needs.

First I bought the horns. Big upgrade. Then the ST-70 Custom. Big upgrade. Then the XSP-1.2. Yep, big upgrade. Following in the vein of the original review this thread, I can report that I'm as happy as a pig in slop. The XSP-1.2 is super-quiet, dynamic and provides a well-balanced unbalanced signal  . You don't have to use its very nice balanced outputs to realize an improvement in SQ. To outperform it would take an Audio Research, imo, and that would not be an improvement in use - I love that Emotiva duplicates every front-panel function on the high-quality, heavy remote control that comes with.

The only con I found is that the display could use characters a bit bolder so as to be easily visible across the room. Something I've learned to live with - but shouldn't have to, Emotiva. You got everything else so right. Well, okay, on gen 3 you might also consider a subwoofer output level on the remote, but kudos for the back panel control options for sub and main outs on gen 2.

EDIT, Update - Eight months later.

I still love the sound and the features of my XSP-1 G2, but the one con I noted is a real detriment to its use - and highly annoying.  The display is very disappointing.  People with better vision than I have difficulty reading it from three feet away, and it isn't a matter of washout by high ambient light, either.  Surely, with my blue $10 alarm clock characters easily readable from fifteen or twenty feet, Emotiva could employ a better display.