Smaller form-factor for 2-channel amps?

[emoticon]

Hello all,

I recently acquired an XPA-2 Gen3 amp. It drives my power-hungry ATC SCM19 loudspeakers quite comfortably. I understand the amplifier case is large enough to accommodate more modules and a single case is more economical for mass production, but for in situations where 2 channels is all that's required, the size of the amp seems overkill. I have this for my living room setup and the amp sticks out like a sore thumb. 

It would be great if Emotiva released a 2-channel version of the amp that is small enough just to accommodate the 2 channels. Is there such a plan?

I am assuming this would be economical for them if most people only have 2 channel setups, but I don't know the sales numbers. 

Cheers

[teaman]

Yeah, as soon as the lid was off the chassis and I saw that giant vacancy I mentioned why not use a smaller chassis for the mono and stereo modules. Something along the line of the Marantz MA-500 and MA-700. I think cool little stereo and mono block amps would be great for the home theater set ups where shelf and rack space is at a premium. Personally I hate the look of the rear panel of the new Emo X series amps, looks like a giant waste of space. Never heard a peep since I posted it way back when. Maybe someone will chime in this time around.


Tim

[chicagorspec]

Not that anyone cares but I felt the same way on seeing the inside of the DR-1. With my XPR-1s, there was a feeling of having a flagship product. With the DR-1 it just looks like a way bigger than it needs to be mostly empty box. I would love to see something smaller and well done visually, but doubt that's going to happen as clearly the emphasis is on build commonality, part number minimization, etc. which I get from the economic side.

[klinemj]

I think the only smaller form factor amps you will see are the BasX line (including the wonderful little A100, the Emersa amps once that line is out, and the - hopefully - the little executive series in the DC-1/DC-2 form/size.

That's just my guess...

Mark

[chicagorspec]

I agree with you, Mark. For myself I would have liked to see something that felt a little more "flagship" for the DR-1 than a two-thirds empty "omni-case". YMMV

[klinemj]

Dec 19, 2017 15:43:07 GMT -5 chicagorspec said:

I agree with you, Mark. For myself I would have liked to see something that felt a little more "flagship" for the DR-1 than a two-thirds empty "omni-case". YMMV

As the owner of Class D Monoblocks that are so small/light that I hang them on the wall like pictures...I understand!

Mark

[vneal]

D Sonic

[roadwar]

The size of the cabinets is why I've ordered a DR-2 instead of 2 DR-1s. I just don't have the room.

[brubacca]

I forgot about the D.C.-1 sized amps. When are they getting released?

[novisnick]

This is the setup you may be looking for. No release date has been determined as far as I know.
It looks rather sweet though! 😁


                  

[DYohn]

Why not use a smaller chassis? I'd guess 1) it would make the amp more expensive, and 2) it would be a non-standard form factor and would not fit into standard rack widths.

[emoticon]

I thought rack mountable meant it needs to be a certain width. This amp is 8 feet tall. Why?

Btw, I also own the x100 and A300. Great little amps but the ATCs need ballsy amps. The XPA2 is excellent for its price. I didn’t think SMPS amps would cut it, but it looks like there have been some improvements to the tech.

[mgbpuff]

You don't like what they offer, buy something else. (I'm just getting with the new spirit around here). Buy something instead from that company with the excrement name!

[rbk123]

[emoticon]

Dec 20, 2017 8:59:30 GMT -5 mgbpuff said:

You don't like what they offer, buy something else. (I'm just getting with the new spirit around here). Buy something instead from that company with the excrement name!

That is a narrow vision of things IMO. I already said I like the amp, but that doesn't mean I should guzzle down gallons of koolaid and pretend everything is perfect. Engineering is about trade-offs and I understand that. I was hoping that if a significant portion of XPA amps sold are 2-channel units with no upgrades for a period of time, it might be worth considering a smaller chassis to expand the market. I am new to this forum and I already see that there is a low tolerance for logical discussion among some. I hope this is not the majority. 

Obligatory smiley in case someone says "lighten up, it was a joke" to undermine the point - 

[mgbpuff]

Dec 20, 2017 13:03:57 GMT -5 emoticon said:

Dec 20, 2017 8:59:30 GMT -5 mgbpuff said:

You don't like what they offer, buy something else. (I'm just getting with the new spirit around here). Buy something instead from that company with the excrement name!

That is a narrow vision of things IMO. I already said I like the amp, but that doesn't mean I should guzzle down gallons of koolaid and pretend everything is perfect. Engineering is about trade-offs and I understand that. I was hoping that if a significant portion of XPA amps sold are 2-channel units with no upgrades for a period of time, it might be worth considering a smaller chassis to expand the market. I am new to this forum and I already see that there is a low tolerance for logical discussion among some. I hope this is not the majority. 

Obligatory smiley in case someone says "lighten up, it was a joke" to undermine the point - 

On the contrary, it wasn't a joke, it was sarcasm. I have been a frequent Emotiva customer. I just want competent products at a value price. I don't expect Emotiva to be technological pace setters, but I expect them to at least keep up with the crowd.

[leonski]

smaller form factor amps CAN be compromised.
Less power, in order to maintain the proper amount of heat sink which a smaller case holds less of.
Or same power with a possibility of running warm, even if not heavily biased to class 'A'.

One solution is an amp using one of the B&O 'D' modules with built-in Switcher. This are light weight, don't require much in the way of heat sinking and can sound pretty good, for most.
I don't know what the current module lineup is, over b&W, but in years past, it was the ASP series, which even had power outputs to run a 2nd and 3rd module for active speaker use.
At least at the nCore Hypex store, you buy modules and PS as seperate items. I don't know about OEM from them.

Another solution, going at it from another direction, is to find High Sensitivity speakers you like. I have an amp run either by Wall Wart or 8xAA battereis that will run a pair of Klipsch Corner Horns and drive you out of your house loud.

[jlafrenz]

Going with a smaller chasis does have some limitations. You can't fit as large of a power supply into a smaller chasis or as well as the caps for power on demand. The larger case also allows for more cooling. Many see this as a void, but it helps keep the amp from over heating. You can't necessarily take the same components and just cram them into a smaller chasis.

Someone also mentioned that it would be a non standard format. This becomes important for production as with more cases to choose from, the cost of manufacturing may go up. Part of keeping costs down which has always been a goal of Emotiva and many manufacturers, is using the same parts for as many products as possible.

If you are looking for a lower powered amp then there are several options in the BasX line that should fit the bill.

[garbulky]

The point of the gen 3 amps is that they are upgradable to fit multiple blades. Having said that, I doubt a whole lot of people will buy it for that because when you upgrade you reduce the available power per channel plus you have to go through the bother of shipping etc. But without a chassis of sufficient size, we couldn't have the upgradability.

Out of interest, the X-series amps were always the size they are. However, there was always a reason for the size of the chassis depending on number of channels. If you looked at any of the gen 1 and 2 amps, they were jam packed no matter if they are one channel or 7 channels. They used up all the space they could.
Now if you look at the gen 3 you'll see they do use up all the space in their multiple channel configurations, but not in the single and stereo configurations.
The gen 2's monoblock and stereo configurations were jam packed with larger amp blades, circuitry, torroidal power supplies, heat sinks. Basically Emotiva expanded the number/size of components in the lower number of channel amps to make sure the space was being used up.

I liked this because if I ever bought an amp from Emotiva, I knew that they crammed that chassis with everything they had. I.e. I knew that I was getting as much value as they could cram in to that thing.

But with the upgradability aspect, you can't really reduce the size and still deliver upgradability.

[rbk123]

Dec 20, 2017 13:36:39 GMT -5 jlafrenz said:

You can't necessarily take the same components and just cram them into a smaller chasis.

Err, the OP asked about a 2 channel specific case. At a minimum you could reduce the chassis by the width of the unused 5 bays, which would be a smaller chassis. Obviously Emo wouldn't be thrilled with having to maintain multiple chassis' over their current Model T assembly line approach, but maybe if enough customers ask..

And emoticon - MG was poking fun at other threads revolving around the perennial delayed HDMI/Atmos boards.