What Happened to the PA-1's?

[thezone]

Has anyone noticed the PA-1's have been removed from the Emo store? Normally if they are out of stock it says "unavailable" but they are just gone.

[DavidR]

Read in another thread that they are a retired product now.

[thezone]

FFS, I was almost finished buying them for surround duties.

[leonski]

IMO? EMO has painted itself into a corner. Constant Churn of product and short life cycles do not enourage long-term satisfaction.

When I photographed weddings, I did the same thing. I tried to price my services very low.....to build a reputation and get some experience.....But once you are priced at that point it is nearly impossible to transition to the high priced gigs.
If a bride in some markets is looking for a photographer, the wedding planner may suggest one from a VERY short list of expensive photographers. Getting on that list is very difficult.

I think EMO has the same problem. I'd love to see an EMO integrated amp of maybe 250 a side for 2000$ or so. The real budget guys would go pale, but as a piece built to a high standard AND using a selection of premium parts, it'd be competitive.
The background of EMO has some real talented guys who could pull something like this off and make the transition to a higher level....

[vcautokid]

Remember Emotiva does not stand still. There will be another replacement. 2 channel is very much a reality at Emotiva Audio. Read elsewhere for Hair Nick's post saying so. Also Emotiva is smart enough not to pigeon hole itself in one place. This is a business folks. Products that will be amazing for sure. But everything has a finite life. If that is not for you, you obviously have not been paying attention. Part of what our hobby is about is change. Keeping some values alive that never change sure. Emotiva is not living in a vacuum. They can't. Nor should they. The PA-1 will be replaced with something. It is an amplifier that makes allot of sense. From a packaging and customization standpoint a strong product. I don't think Emotiva Audio is going to leave this opportunity on the table. I don't think a singular high end water mark product is all they are doing either. It has to be products of varying capabilities for our needs and desires. Will they hit the mark for all, all the time? I don't know. Will they stand still and not change anything? No. That I do know. I am curious and waiting for what is the next solution past PA-1. Let's all sit back and enjoy the music in the meantime. We all get and love what the PA-1 did. So what's next Emotiva? Stay tuned!

[rbk123]

If I recall, the PA-1 came about because Dan scored a deal on a bunch of those blades from the manufacturer. I would guess that stockpile ran out and either they aren't making any more or they are now prohibitively expensive.

[slimulus]

I had two in my cart a couple of weekends ago and by the first of this month they were discontinued... I contacted Emotiva and they are officially discontinued. I did snag a pair off of eBay last week, but it looks like I'm going to need to learn how to put them together with the Ghent audio kit in the future (https://www.ghentaudio.com/kit/asc200-mxr.html). Almost all of the work is done for me, but I'll need to figure out how to wire the trigger on input.  Fortunately I'll have the one real set to use as a reference for the wiring.

[Boomzilla]

The interesting part of this is that Big Dan had mentioned maybe doing some cooperative design projects with B&O. If the next generation of amps are to have the Emotiva/ICE modules, I'm all in!

[garbulky]

Sept 8, 2020 10:34:55 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

The interesting part of this is that Big Dan had mentioned maybe doing some cooperative design projects with B&O. If the next generation of amps are to have the Emotiva/ICE modules, I'm all in!

The EMERSA amps were supposed to be the ICE modules but they seem nowhere in site. They looked really nice too.

[whitwye]

Got 2 of these a few weeks back, then 1 more just before discontinued. I like 'em a lot. To my ears, two of these sound better than my A300 (which I also like a lot) in fair proportion to the 50% higher cost. However in reading the Internet gossip about Class D modules, these older ICEpower items are no longer in the lead. The brand with the best reputation and specs right now is Purifi, with several of Emotiva's competitors already coming out with higher-end amps built around those. What with the XPA Gen3 just getting an EISA award, Emotiva may be best focused on turning those out than continuing to build around an outdated ICEpower board, with any future Class D amp offerings built around Purifi, Ncore or later generation ICEpower EDGE designs.

Meanwhile XTZ still has a respected implementation of the same circuits as in the PA-1, but as a stereo unit and with only RCA connectors, at $500. I'll know in a few weeks how that one compares. I'm hoping that putting Blue Jeans cables on it will make up for the deficiency of RCA.

[slimulus]

whitwye, this makes a ton of sense and seems very reasonable when you put it that way. My setup is very specific, annoyingly DIY, and I specifically require the monoblock, small form-factor, minimal operating temp/ventilation requirements of the ASC300, so the PA-1 was basically the ideal package for me. Glad to have come across it (and then subsequently the Ghent audio kit) before it was altogether too late.

[thezone]

I'm glad I got 5 of them, 2 just in the last week. I must have got the last 2! I love the sound of them. They really make dialogue pop out of the speakers with movies and still carry great detail with music.

Now I have to work out what to use for my 2 Atmos ceiling speakers. I liked the that they are so detailed sounding if I go for a class a/b amp now it may not sound right.

[leonski]

Sept 8, 2020 3:39:17 GMT -5 vcautokid said:

Remember Emotiva does not stand still. There will be another replacement. 2 channel is very much a reality at Emotiva Audio. Read elsewhere for Hair Nick's post saying so. Also Emotiva is smart enough not to pigeon hole itself in one place. This is a business folks. Products that will be amazing for sure. But everything has a finite life. If that is not for you, you obviously have not been paying attention. Part of what our hobby is about is change. Keeping some values alive that never change sure. Emotiva is not living in a vacuum. They can't. Nor should they. The PA-1 will be replaced with something. It is an amplifier that makes allot of sense. From a packaging and customization standpoint a strong product. I don't think Emotiva Audio is going to leave this opportunity on the table. I don't think a singular high end water mark product is all they are doing either. It has to be products of varying capabilities for our needs and desires. Will they hit the mark for all, all the time? I don't know. Will they stand still and not change anything? No. That I do know. I am curious and waiting for what is the next solution past PA-1. Let's all sit back and enjoy the music in the meantime. We all get and love what the PA-1 did. So what's next Emotiva? Stay tuned!

I'm not sure I entirely agree.    They may not be 'standing still', but perhaps treading water.    I don't think merely new is necessarily better.    Don't forget that Outlaw made the RR2150 stereo receiver for maybe 10 or more years.    I see a Stereophile test / review from 2006.     Long Term Value is where it's at, not the 'churn'.       HT receivers are nothing BUT churn.    New models come out so regularly it is impossible to keep up.   Or nearly so.  Sure, change IS important, but not just change for changes sake.   The sideways move is generally a waste of money.      I like equipment that is going to go the distance.    I don't like 'disposible'.     Right now?    I've got a 1st generation CD player, and 14 bit, at that.    I would love to get a new laser diode or perhaps a drop-in transport, as original.   But Can't do it.    That may be the real advantage for some to owning Vinyl.    Nothing is unavailable.    You can still get a good selection of outboard preamps, too, for systems not so equipped.   
The PA-1 was a good solution.   Good specs, performance and SOUND.   What is going to be the next 'big thing'?      What will be better?     
EMO had a good line of stuff but made what may be a good decision to Cut Shipping Weight.   The modularized approach is not unique but certainly cool.   But the switcher?    Saved a TON in shipping weight while perhaps creating other issues.      Stay tuned on THAT one.    

[whitwye]

Sept 8, 2020 17:45:34 GMT -5 thezone said:

Now I have to work out what to use for my 2 Atmos ceiling speakers. I liked the that they are so detailed sounding if I go for a class a/b amp now it may not sound right.

At least my room there's no problem blending them with class A/B amps. At the moment PA-1s are handling the RSL CG25 center and CG5 heights, while a BasX A300 runs the T1 mains and an A700 runs the RSL CG3s in back. The PA-1s have more detail, yet in overall tonality it's all pretty close. Have 'em in all-channel stereo at the moment, and there's no sense of anything but continuity in the sound field.

That said, I do have an XTZ A2-300 on order, where the experiment will be to move the A300 to the rear channels, and put that on the T1s. The A700 will still have two stereo zones to power, in quieter rooms that don't need big power.

[thezone]

Sept 8, 2020 18:51:16 GMT -5 whitwye said:

Sept 8, 2020 17:45:34 GMT -5 thezone said:

Now I have to work out what to use for my 2 Atmos ceiling speakers. I liked the that they are so detailed sounding if I go for a class a/b amp now it may not sound right.

At least my room there's no problem blending them with class A/B amps. At the moment PA-1s are handling the RSL CG25 center and CG5 heights, while a BasX A300 runs the T1 mains and an A700 runs the RSL CG3s in back. The PA-1s have more detail, yet in overall tonality it's all pretty close. Have 'em in all-channel stereo at the moment, and there's no sense of anything but continuity in the sound field.

That said, I do have an XTZ A2-300 on order, where the experiment will be to move the A300 to the rear channels, and put that on the T1s. The A700 will still have two stereo zones to power, in quieter rooms that don't need big power.

Ah yes the XTZ A2-300. might have to get one of those for the remaining two channels. Although the website says their out of stock. 

[whitwye]

Sept 8, 2020 19:32:46 GMT -5 thezone said:

Ah yes the XTZ A2-300. might have to get one of those for the remaining two channels. Although the website says their out of stock. 

Hmm. Yes their European site does say that now. The US-oriented version of the page doesn't, at www.xtzsound.com/product/edge-a2-300 -- the button there just goes to the PayPal order form. Both say "Next shipment ETA: September 15th." I'd guess the Euro version's advice to email them is operative. I'd just gone to the US page when I put the order in.

[audiobill]

All part of Emo's "All Out Assault on the High End" ?

[daveczski65]

Gezzz. Didn't these just come out last year!

[AudioHTIT]

Sept 9, 2020 16:41:35 GMT -5 daveczski65 said:

Gezzz. Didn't these just come out last year!

Actually more like June of 2018, but as mentioned, there were a specific number of parts available to make these amps, and when they’re gone they’re gone. All the esoteric discussion about churn or product stability just doesn’t apply here, there aren’t any more.

[thezone]

Weird. I replaced my Rotel RMB-1095 amp with PA-1's (no regrets). But that Rotel model started in 2000 and eventually got replaced by the RMB-1585 which is still made today and is basically the same amp. 20 years and still going and the PA-1s lasted 2?