Post by bourbonncigars on Apr 26, 2009 19:55:29 GMT -5
Boy, this has been a long time coming. I'm not going to go back and read my original review. I'm simply going to post my current impressions for reasons of accuracy. I don't want my judgment clouded by reading my previous review.
So, here we go...
As many of you hardcore guys know, biamping is a hotly contested topic. I bought my two XPA-5s at the end of last year and hooked them up in a passively biamped configuration. My previous amp was an Outlaw 7125, also hooked up for passive biamping. The results of the Emotiva setup were an improvement. Clarity and impact were both gained, not to mention having two 5s looked awesome as hell.
Recently, I decided to unhook one, and run my rig off just one of the 5s. This one would be biwired, not biamped. The only reason the test was conducted biwired was because I can't find my jumper bars. Just biwiring them was the simplest solution.
I've been told and read many times that passively biamping was nothing more than wasted money, hence my curiosity. Add to that the fact that the way my system was setup before with the Outlaw, I had the extra channels to biamp, so I did it. Biamping wasn't a conscience decision, so much as just having the extra channels to do it. I didn't think there was any reason to let them go to waste.
So, after listening to the lone XPA-5, I've noticed some things. First of all, I should explain that I did this experiment with no preconceived notions. Nothing was wrong with my biamped configuration. I couldn't test it out until I'd spent more than my fair share of movie watching with the biamped config, hence the amount of time it's taken to post this. I just wanted to see if I could tell a difference. The results proved to be very telling.
First, I listened to my most viewed movies before I unhooked everything. Hellboy II, Tropic Thunder, and Ironman all had key scenes viewed (listened to) with the dual XPA-5s running biamped. After that, I unhooked one of the amps and ran only one of them. All other connections remained the same.
First impresson, and the most notable, was the high end. It was actually smoother and less "noticeable" than before. On some occasions, I would run into a movie passage that brought attention to the higher frequencies. It was never "abrasive", but they may not have been as smooth as I'd have preferred. This is most certainly an area I pay attention to, simply because it's the most common problem among audio reviews. How many times have you been turned off from a review about a speaker, preamp, or amp that said "The high end was a little harsh"? Personally, if I read that, I never even finish the review.
Like I said, the high end was, simply put.....better. It's more laid back and natural. Really not much more to say than that. Passages which gave me a certain amount of curiosity before when biamped, weren't doing it now (sword blades colliding, certain music, any metal on metal action, etc...) All high frequencies were now more tamed. Certainly nothing wrong with that.
Mid bass was another story. To be honest, it was slightly less defined. Only slightly, but still noticeable. Clarity and separation took a hit by dropping an amp on this one. It was quite easy to hear. Perhaps more so than the benefit of the high end smoothness. Some scenes were a little hard to discern certain sounds/instruments than others. I was quite surprised at this one.
I didn't test the low end because all frequencies below 80hrz get sent to the big bad Velodyne. You may think it's funny to consider running a biamped rig if you're going to send the low end to the sub anyway, but my initial intent was improved clarity, not bass. Bass is easy - it's the other sounds that require special attention.
So, what did I learn? Well, that's debatable. Who's to say that the outcome wouldn't have been different with someone who's using different speakers than me? Unfortunately, that's impossible to answer. I learned two things: One amp gave itself over to smoother high ends but decreased mid range clarity. Two amps had a more noticeable high end but more clear mid range.
I should state that I went into this with ZERO preconceived notions. I wasn't trying to solve a problem, and I wasn't trying to debunk a myth. I just wanted to see, after months of listening to my setup with two amps, if I could tell a difference after removing one of them. Short answer? Yes, I could.
It's a trade off in my system. Smoother highs with one amp, or clarity with two. These differences were quite apparent. These ears have been doing this for damn near 20 years. I know what to listen for, and I know what I hear. Home theater is my passion, and I don't give opinions regarding it loosely.
Having said that, I can't make up my mind which sound I prefer. I tend to think I prefer the more tamed highs, but then I hear a slightly more noticeable lack of clarity in mids. You're not going to go wrong with either choice, though.....that much I'm sure of.
I welcome any and all questions, suggestions, or criticisms. What I've said here is only my opinion based off my own familiarity with my own home theater equipment.
- Bourbon
So, here we go...
As many of you hardcore guys know, biamping is a hotly contested topic. I bought my two XPA-5s at the end of last year and hooked them up in a passively biamped configuration. My previous amp was an Outlaw 7125, also hooked up for passive biamping. The results of the Emotiva setup were an improvement. Clarity and impact were both gained, not to mention having two 5s looked awesome as hell.
Recently, I decided to unhook one, and run my rig off just one of the 5s. This one would be biwired, not biamped. The only reason the test was conducted biwired was because I can't find my jumper bars. Just biwiring them was the simplest solution.
I've been told and read many times that passively biamping was nothing more than wasted money, hence my curiosity. Add to that the fact that the way my system was setup before with the Outlaw, I had the extra channels to biamp, so I did it. Biamping wasn't a conscience decision, so much as just having the extra channels to do it. I didn't think there was any reason to let them go to waste.
So, after listening to the lone XPA-5, I've noticed some things. First of all, I should explain that I did this experiment with no preconceived notions. Nothing was wrong with my biamped configuration. I couldn't test it out until I'd spent more than my fair share of movie watching with the biamped config, hence the amount of time it's taken to post this. I just wanted to see if I could tell a difference. The results proved to be very telling.
First, I listened to my most viewed movies before I unhooked everything. Hellboy II, Tropic Thunder, and Ironman all had key scenes viewed (listened to) with the dual XPA-5s running biamped. After that, I unhooked one of the amps and ran only one of them. All other connections remained the same.
First impresson, and the most notable, was the high end. It was actually smoother and less "noticeable" than before. On some occasions, I would run into a movie passage that brought attention to the higher frequencies. It was never "abrasive", but they may not have been as smooth as I'd have preferred. This is most certainly an area I pay attention to, simply because it's the most common problem among audio reviews. How many times have you been turned off from a review about a speaker, preamp, or amp that said "The high end was a little harsh"? Personally, if I read that, I never even finish the review.
Like I said, the high end was, simply put.....better. It's more laid back and natural. Really not much more to say than that. Passages which gave me a certain amount of curiosity before when biamped, weren't doing it now (sword blades colliding, certain music, any metal on metal action, etc...) All high frequencies were now more tamed. Certainly nothing wrong with that.
Mid bass was another story. To be honest, it was slightly less defined. Only slightly, but still noticeable. Clarity and separation took a hit by dropping an amp on this one. It was quite easy to hear. Perhaps more so than the benefit of the high end smoothness. Some scenes were a little hard to discern certain sounds/instruments than others. I was quite surprised at this one.
I didn't test the low end because all frequencies below 80hrz get sent to the big bad Velodyne. You may think it's funny to consider running a biamped rig if you're going to send the low end to the sub anyway, but my initial intent was improved clarity, not bass. Bass is easy - it's the other sounds that require special attention.
So, what did I learn? Well, that's debatable. Who's to say that the outcome wouldn't have been different with someone who's using different speakers than me? Unfortunately, that's impossible to answer. I learned two things: One amp gave itself over to smoother high ends but decreased mid range clarity. Two amps had a more noticeable high end but more clear mid range.
I should state that I went into this with ZERO preconceived notions. I wasn't trying to solve a problem, and I wasn't trying to debunk a myth. I just wanted to see, after months of listening to my setup with two amps, if I could tell a difference after removing one of them. Short answer? Yes, I could.
It's a trade off in my system. Smoother highs with one amp, or clarity with two. These differences were quite apparent. These ears have been doing this for damn near 20 years. I know what to listen for, and I know what I hear. Home theater is my passion, and I don't give opinions regarding it loosely.
Having said that, I can't make up my mind which sound I prefer. I tend to think I prefer the more tamed highs, but then I hear a slightly more noticeable lack of clarity in mids. You're not going to go wrong with either choice, though.....that much I'm sure of.
I welcome any and all questions, suggestions, or criticisms. What I've said here is only my opinion based off my own familiarity with my own home theater equipment.
- Bourbon
However, I'm also on the fence on going with a dedicated 2 channel setup for my mains so I'm also considering the (XPA-2 + XPA-3) or (XPA-2 + XPA-5) solution. If the RPA-2 were still available It'd make the decision much simpler, unfortunately my decision to upgrade came after the RPA-2 went the way of the dodo. I'm still undecided on which route to take, but who knows maybe Dann or someone will see this post and feel sorry for me and find an RPA-2 in a forgotten Emo bunker somewhere and offer to sell it to me!
