XPA-5 idle draw

[crazypete]

Hi all,

I'm likely buying the XPA-5 in the next month.  I am outputting from a miniDSP setup.  I was wondering what the idle draw from the XPA-5 was (in other words do I want to bother with the 12 V trigger or just leave it on all the time).

Thanks,

Pete

[HTfanHungary]

Hi, I purchased my XPA-5 two months ago. It works perfectly with my NAD receiver's standard 12 V trigger output which is programmable in time (in some 0-15 seconds range). I've set it on 8 secs so the NAD turns on completely first (it takes approx. 5 secs) and then the XPA-5 comes a bit later not to suck too much ampers from my electricity network at a time (but note that the XPA-5 turns on quite softly). Using the XPA-5's trigger input is comfortable and I do not think that it makes sense to leave the unit ON all the time. In standby you will see a yellowish halo around the power on button and when it turns on it becomes nice blue. You decide whether you want to see the 5 status LEDs or not (switch it on the rear panel). I do love to see them.... A trigger cable comes together with the XPA-5.

You will love this unit as we all do here at the "Emo blue club". The XPA-5 is a wonderful power amp, You'll be more than satisfied! 
I am still "floored" by the Emotiva sound even though my former amp was a Rotel RMB-1075 (THX Ultra)....

May I ask what kind of speakers you will drive with this beast?

[HTfanHungary]

This is how it works: a photo in STANDBY....

[HTfanHungary]

And a short video about how my (delayed) trigger works...


Attachment Deleted

[crazypete]

Hi,

Thanks for replying. So my (stereo) setup is currently Computer to minisharc via toslink, and minisharc to DACs, and then to the amp. I don't think anything else I have actually supports the 12 v trigger, and I leave my minisharc on all the time as it has negligible power draw (miliwatts). I think I'll just turn the amp on and off manually.

Right now my setup is an ancient sony $80 reviver from 20 years ago driving axiom audio M22 bookshelf speakers, and a behringer ep4000 with fan mod running two midbass boxes I built, each with 2 Dayton Audio RS225-8. They are currently crossed over with the axioms at 700 Hz. However, the daytons are not really meant to be handling the real low frequencies, so I'm building 2 (180 litre sealed)subs with one 15 " dayton ultimax in each cab. I'm planning on using the EP4000 for the new subs, two channels of the XPA-5 for the midbass speakers, and another 2 for the axioms. Obviously after the subs are done I'll look at building a replacements for the axioms, plus add a centre channel. This will all be stereo, with the minisharc handling the crossovers.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting the XPA-5!

Thanks!

[HTfanHungary]

Jan 4, 2016 17:55:03 GMT -5 crazypete said:

Hi,

Thanks for replying. So my (stereo) setup is currently Computer to minisharc via toslink, and minisharc to DACs, and then to the amp. I don't think anything else I have actually supports the 12 v trigger, and I leave my minisharc on all the time as it has negligible power draw (miliwatts). I think I'll just turn the amp on and off manually.

Right now my setup is an ancient sony $80 reviver from 20 years ago driving axiom audio M22 bookshelf speakers, and a behringer ep4000 with fan mod running two midbass boxes I built, each with 2 Dayton Audio RS225-8. They are currently crossed over with the axioms at 700 Hz. However, the daytons are not really meant to be handling the real low frequencies, so I'm building 2 (180 litre sealed)subs with one 15 " dayton ultimax in each cab. I'm planning on using the EP4000 for the new subs, two channels of the XPA-5 for the midbass speakers, and another 2 for the axioms. Obviously after the subs are done I'll look at building a replacements for the axioms, plus add a centre channel. This will all be stereo, with the minisharc handling the crossovers.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting the XPA-5!

Thanks!

A bit complicated at first sight for me but seems to be a nice start, congrats!

[smarties]

I wouldn't leave a power amplifier on 24/7.

Get one of those power usage meters and see what the idle is.

[JKCashin]

I have an AVR I am using as a preamp. It does not have a trigger out but it does have switched 110v outlets so I plugged a 12v wall-wart (small power adapter) into one of the outlets and that becomes my trigger out

[wildgoose]

I have a XPA-2 gen2. When off it draws 1 watt. When idle it draws around 100-109 (?) watt (its slowly going up)..

Playing music at low volume made little difference (sorry kids sleeping

This is measured using a Kill-a-watt meter.

[wildgoose]

I played back some music at higher volume. At about -20db on my receiver, it registered about 122w. At about -10db, it registered peak 135w, then came back down to between 120-130w. The amp draw around -20db is around 1.35A, plus/minus a few. It depends a bit on the music, although perceived loud passage did not necessarily mean higher watt.

What's interesting is that the wattage didn't change much between idle (music paused) and music playing, just a few watts difference.

For me, at 130w, it's already start to sound a little too loud for my taste. My comfortable level is around 120w.

Does this mean it's putting about 60 watts into each speaker? Out of peak 400w for the xpa-2?

[wildgoose]

I received my XPA-5 recently and tested the power usage. To my surprise, it's actually quite a bit lower than the XPA-2.

At idle, the xpa-5 draws around 70 watt (compare to around 110w for xpa-2). When I played some music at reasonable enough levels, it jumps up a bit to like 74 watt.

So, the xpa-5 is like 1 60w light bulb, where as the xpa-2 is like 2 60w light bulb.

[repeetavx]

The XPA-2, if I remember correctly, has about five watts of class A operation. Where the multi channels have less than a half a watt. That's why at low volume the power didn't bounce around a lot.