Advice on my new Emotiva a-300

[michaele6]

Just received my new a300. I have it connected to a Denon x4200 as a pre-amp. The Denon has 125 wpc. The Emo a300 is driving  a pair of Martin Logan 60xt"s  only,   with tv  ,center speaker  2 subs and oppo 103 being powered by the Denon  Avr. My question is: I just can't notice hardly any difference with the Emo a300 driving my tower speakers as opposed to the Denon driving all the components. The Martin Logan tower speakers are 4ohm. I would have thought that with the Emo a300 there would be a noticeable audio improvement. Any comments would be appreciated.

[novisnick]

Jul 15, 2017 13:50:35 GMT -5 michaele6 said:

Just received my new a300. I have it connected to a Denon x4200 as a pre-amp. The Denon has 125 wpc. The Emo a300 is driving  a pair of Martin Logan 60xt"s  only,   with tv  ,center speaker  2 subs and oppo 103 being powered by the Denon  Avr. My question is: I just can't notice hardly any difference with the Emo a300 driving my tower speakers as opposed to the Denon driving all the components. The Martin Logan tower speakers are 4ohm. I would have thought that with the Emo a300 there would be a noticeable audio improvement. Any comments would be appreciated.

You'll most likely hear a difference in two channel, also, you are NOT now driving your Denon as hard and the decreased heat will most likely make it last longer.  Give it a little time, you have the 30 day window.

                                        

[creimes]

My original separates purchase was adding two UPA-1's to a Yamaha Receiver and I instantly noticed a difference, sounded more alive and transparent but that's not to say we will all have the same findings, depends on your ears, your mood(funny as that sounds) and of course your room and speakers/equipment.

Chad

[michaele6]

Thanks for the info. To take the load off the Denon receiver was one reason to purchase the a300. I will continue to adjust crossovers to see if there is a noticeable improvement.  I have noticed that the Emo a300 is barely warm to the touch. I thought it would be warm to hot but is  not.

[garbulky]

Adjust your speaker positioning

[teaman]

Michael, with your ML's you may have been better off going with a higher powered amp. I would think the upgrade of the Denon to the Emo powering the mains would make a significant difference in clarity but overall I think a higher powered amp would be a better bet.

[boomzilla]

I've got to agree with teaman on this one... If you can't hear a diff between the new amp and the Denon, send it back. It isn't the right amp for your speakers.

[kauai82]

Jul 15, 2017 13:50:35 GMT -5 michaele6 said:

Just received my new a300. I have it connected to a Denon x4200 as a pre-amp. The Denon has 125 wpc. The Emo a300 is driving  a pair of Martin Logan 60xt"s  only,   with tv  ,center speaker  2 subs and oppo 103 being powered by the Denon  Avr. My question is: I just can't notice hardly any difference with the Emo a300 driving my tower speakers as opposed to the Denon driving all the components. The Martin Logan tower speakers are 4ohm. I would have thought that with the Emo a300 there would be a noticeable audio improvement. Any comments would be appreciated.

I have a Denon x3200 which has a claimed rating of 105 wpc.  I have an XPA-200 as the front speaker amp. Similar specs but probably a little better power supply than your A300. I had upgraded from a Marantz nr1504 AVR that had only 50 watts a channel and the Denon sounded about the same the Marantz in 5.1 configuration.  Very disappointed--and mad.  I had the Marantz hooked up the same way you do.  Front channels run by XPA-200 the rest by the Marantz. I hooked up the Denon the same way.  For stereo I use my XSP-1 preamp to feed the XPA-200.  System 2.1 stereo sounds fantastic.  SACD multiple channel and Blu-Ray Audio multi channel played through the Denon was mediocre at best.  Sounded much better under the Marantz... What gives ?

I was going to sell the Denon X3200.  Then I decided to try an experiment.  I found a old Adcom four channel amp had 60 watts a channel, but you could bridge two of channels to one at 200 wpc that drives my center channel and use the other two 60 watt channels for my surrounds.  Now the Denon is only being used only as the preamp/processor.  Man what a difference.  Multi-channel movies and audio are incredible.  I got the Adcom amp on eBay for $130 dollars.  One of my better buys.

In your post you mention that the emo amp in two channel does not sound that much better than the Denon.  Are you going stereo to stereo in your comparison with the same music and source for each test ? The Emo A-300 should sound a little better than the Denon in stereo mode. Hope this helps.  Matt

[teaman]

When I bought my first XPA-2 Gen 1 I was steered in that direction from Emotiva sales. I had to drive my Infinity SM 150's which are 1-2db efficient so I figured the XPA-200 would be plenty. The sales guy (sorry, I don't remember five years ago who it was) told me that the fact I was driving a fifteen inch woofer meant the amp I chose had to have some oomph to it. Even though they were efficient enough the woofer needed that extra power to drive them properly. No doubt about it, that XPA-2 does wonders. I actually hooked up a UPA-2 later and it drove them fine at lower levels but definitely strained and began to gas out at louder listening levels. I have thought more power means better ever since and to this day have never been proven wrong.


Tim

[boomzilla]

Hi Tim -

More power may mean "better" with high volumes or inefficient, hard to control speakers (especially with both high vol and tough speakers), but it isn't a universal truism. Anymore, many (most?) speakers are designed with sensitivities at or above 90 decibels at one watt / one meter. They're designed like this (and UNLIKE your old Infinities) so that they can be driven loudly by gutless AVRs (which is what most consumers buy). Will more power truly make such speakers sound "better" when driven at less than full output?

We once did an "amp shoot out" at my place that put an XPA-2 up against a 50-watt Mini-X using (if I remember right) SM-65 DefTech speakers. We heard no significant differences (and one of the three listeners actually preferred the Mini-X sound).

Now if the speakers had been harder to drive, lower impedance, or played much more loudly, then (and only then) might the more powerful amps have been "better."

So advising folks that "more power is better power" may be occasionally true, but most of the time isn't.

Of course, this is my opinion, and I see nothing wrong with buying a big amp if one wants to pay for more power. But for the average consumer with average sensitivity speakers, it may not be money that they have to actually spend.

Cheers - Boom

[socketman]

Martin Logan specs those speakers as 94db/1w@1meter (not sure if that is in room or anechoic) so if you are only listening at moderate levels you may not notice any difference using the add on amp. I started with a Denon 3311 and added a XPA-3 for my front 3 and the difference was very noticeable even at moderate levels, the sound just seemed less strained and more open. I thought i had reached nirvana but then the upgrade bug got me and i followed the Emo forum for a long time and talked myself into the XMC-1 and thats when i really realized the difference between a true pre/pro vs a preout and a regular run of the mill receiver. The preouts are a nice addon to make the first step on the way to seperates but in the end they are only there as a stepping stone. I have not tried the bassx amp so i dont know how they compare to the Xpa amps. Another thing to consider is that if you are using subs and crossing over at 80hz then you are taking a huge load off the amplifier so given your speakers sensitivity you are not a really a good candidate for an add on amp but no harm in having one Maybe all my experiences are based on expectation bias as well , i really dont think so but maybe but i do like my amps whether i need em or not, gotta love retail therapy.

[teaman]

Jul 15, 2017 19:56:51 GMT -5 boomzilla said:

Hi Tim -

More power may mean "better" with high volumes or inefficient, hard to control speakers (especially with both high vol and tough speakers), but it isn't a universal truism. Anymore, many (most?) speakers are designed with sensitivities at or above 90 decibels at one watt / one meter. They're designed like this (and UNLIKE your old Infinities) so that they can be driven loudly by gutless AVRs (which is what most consumers buy). Will more power truly make such speakers sound "better" when driven at less than full output?

We once did an "amp shoot out" at my place that put an XPA-2 up against a 50-watt Mini-X using (if I remember right) SM-65 DefTech speakers. We heard no significant differences (and one of the three listeners actually preferred the Mini-X sound).

Now if the speakers had been harder to drive, lower impedance, or played much more loudly, then (and only then) might the more powerful amps have been "better."

So advising folks that "more power is better power" may be occasionally true, but most of the time isn't.

Of course, this is my opinion, and I see nothing wrong with buying a big amp if one wants to pay for more power. But for the average consumer with average sensitivity speakers, it may not be money that they have to actually spend.

Cheers - Boom

Sorry Boom, I should have specified inside the Emotiva line up. Of course there are higher powered amps that sound like crap, I mean you can purchase 2000 watt Technical Pro amps for a hundred bucks right? I was just relating that every upgrade in power that I have made within the Emotiva brand has been an increase in the quality of sound. The UPA-1's sounded better to me than my UPA-2, my XPA-2 sounded better than my UPA-1's, the XPA-1's sound better than the XPA-2, etc. To explain further I feel like the sound was not necessarily better per se but more likely the headroom offered each time seemed to increase for the loud music I play. I have not had the chance at this point of owning the XPR series amps but I would think they would again improve upon my XPA-1's. That was all I was trying to get across.


Tim

[boomzilla]

Hi Tim -

Can't argue with you on that - garbulky's XPA-1s and NovisNick's XPR-1s are some of the best I've heard - period. (but my previous comments still apply).

Cheers - Boom