BasX A2m Stereo Flex Amplifier Now Available!

[Hair Nick]

Just released! Wanted to tell everyone here about it first before the social accounts since we have a very limited amount stock of this model until the end of December.

emotiva.com/collections/frontpage/products/basx-a2m-stereo-flex-amplifier

[leonski]

I hope you guys sell a bunch of these.
Perfect for 2nd room or dorm.....or even for ME, an ambitious garage or backyard setup.....

'auto on' is signal sensing? Great......

[Hair Nick]

Nov 30, 2021 17:50:56 GMT -5 leonski said:

I hope you guys sell a bunch of these.
Perfect for 2nd room or dorm.....or even for ME, an ambitious garage or backyard setup.....

'auto on' is signal sensing? Great......

Correct!

[garbulky]

Interesting release! I am a huge fan of the Bas-X A-100's headphone section. Can anyone tell me if this has been improved in anyway on this amplifier?

[leonski]

Nov 30, 2021 18:15:23 GMT -5 garbulky said:

Interesting release! I am a huge fan of the Bas-X A-100's headphone section. Can anyone tell me if this has been improved in anyway on this amplifier?

Right!    Sure would be neat....but possibly expecting a LOT for the $$$ to include a headphone jack.....

And given the power ouput?    Consider medium or better 'sensitivity' speakers and smaller spaces.    With the eligible room size 

increasing maybe 10% to 15% for each 3db speaker sensitivity increase.




OOOPS!    I see headphone jack on 2nd look.....DUH

[creimes]

One of these best deals on amplifiers out there IMO, I see one design flaw still that many were hoping would come back, the LED indicator for the volume position

[vcautokid]

Very interesting. A Subwoofer output would make it perfect.

[leonski]

Dec 1, 2021 5:41:07 GMT -5 vcautokid said:

Very interesting. A Subwoofer output would make it perfect.

You know, I generally agree.   But with such an ouput?   An array of choices.   A one-size-fits-all setting won't work for a lot of folks.....

If you added a 3 or 4 position crossover point selector?   Say......40, 60, 80, 100hz you'd start doing 2 things.......neither appealing to the

minimal folks wanting this piece in the first place.      A 'fixed' crossover at say 12db or 24db / octave would work, but not for lots of users.....

First?  Added Cost.

And?   Added complexity.  

Many subs have speaker level inputs which I think would work, especially considering the space this amp would likely be used in.....

[nlaplaca]

I received my BASX A2M Amplifier and my first impression was very positive - it was solidly built, clean and modern looking, and sounded great. I learned, however, that it was not a good match for my application. I purchased the A2M amplifier to use as an external amp to drive a pair of Dolby up-firing PSB Imagine XA speakers from a Denon X3600H AVR. My external amplifiers for LCR, Outlaw Audio M2200 monoblocks, use the 12V external trigger without issue, so I tried to do the same with the A2M. What I found was the 12V trigger from either the Denon AVR directly or daisy chained through the M2200s initial turned the A2M on, but the A2M shut off after 5 minutes (A2M in "Auto" mode). I verified the 12V signal was present with a multimeter, even after the A2M shut down after 5 minutes. After further investigation, I found that in order to keep the A2M on after the first 5 minutes, the volume had to be quite high, at a higher level than I would typical use during evening listening. The only way around this was to keep the A2M in "On" mode instead of "Auto", which is something I prefer not to do. In my opinion, at least for my intended application, the A2M should stay on as long as the 12V trigger signal is present and not go into standby mode after 5 minutes when the input signal is low. Other than that issue, the A2M appears to be a beautiful product (although I would prefer to not have the blue LED illumination above the gain control, especially when set to "Fixed" mode).

[creimes]

Jan 4, 2022 8:33:38 GMT -5 nlaplaca said:

I received my BASX A2M Amplifier and my first impression was very positive - it was solidly built, clean and modern looking, and sounded great. I learned, however, that it was not a good match for my application. I purchased the A2M amplifier to use as an external amp to drive a pair of Dolby up-firing PSB Imagine XA speakers from a Denon X3600H AVR. My external amplifiers for LCR, Outlaw Audio M2200 monoblocks, use the 12V external trigger without issue, so I tried to do the same with the A2M. What I found was the 12V trigger from either the Denon AVR directly or daisy chained through the M2200s initial turned the A2M on, but the A2M shut off after 5 minutes (A2M in "Auto" mode). I verified the 12V signal was present with a multimeter, even after the A2M shut down after 5 minutes. After further investigation, I found that in order to keep the A2M on after the first 5 minutes, the volume had to be quite high, at a higher level than I would typical use during evening listening. The only way around this was to keep the A2M in "On" mode instead of "Auto", which is something I prefer not to do. In my opinion, at least for my intended application, the A2M should stay on as long as the 12V trigger signal is present and not go into standby mode after 5 minutes when the input signal is low. Other than that issue, the A2M appears to be a beautiful product (although I would prefer to not have the blue LED illumination above the gain control, especially when set to "Fixed" mode).

If there is a trigger signal present then the amp should not shut off, maybe you need a replacement ?? maybe a call to Emotiva is what you need to do. Or is it possible the amp needs to be left to "On" position and the trigger then works, I had the previous model of this amp but can't remember the proper way to go about this.

Cheers,

[nlaplaca]

Jan 4, 2022 16:40:47 GMT -5 creimes said:

Jan 4, 2022 8:33:38 GMT -5 nlaplaca said:

I received my BASX A2M Amplifier and my first impression was very positive - it was solidly built, clean and modern looking, and sounded great. I learned, however, that it was not a good match for my application. I purchased the A2M amplifier to use as an external amp to drive a pair of Dolby up-firing PSB Imagine XA speakers from a Denon X3600H AVR. My external amplifiers for LCR, Outlaw Audio M2200 monoblocks, use the 12V external trigger without issue, so I tried to do the same with the A2M. What I found was the 12V trigger from either the Denon AVR directly or daisy chained through the M2200s initial turned the A2M on, but the A2M shut off after 5 minutes (A2M in "Auto" mode). I verified the 12V signal was present with a multimeter, even after the A2M shut down after 5 minutes. After further investigation, I found that in order to keep the A2M on after the first 5 minutes, the volume had to be quite high, at a higher level than I would typical use during evening listening. The only way around this was to keep the A2M in "On" mode instead of "Auto", which is something I prefer not to do. In my opinion, at least for my intended application, the A2M should stay on as long as the 12V trigger signal is present and not go into standby mode after 5 minutes when the input signal is low. Other than that issue, the A2M appears to be a beautiful product (although I would prefer to not have the blue LED illumination above the gain control, especially when set to "Fixed" mode).

If there is a trigger signal present then the amp should not shut off, maybe you need a replacement ?? maybe a call to Emotiva is what you need to do. Or is it possible the amp needs to be left to "On" position and the trigger then works, I had the previous model of this amp but can't remember the proper way to go about this.

Cheers,

Thank you for the suggestions! I did have a conversation with Emotiva and I followed the steps they suggested to try to debug the issue, including trying to use the trigger in the "On" position. Emotiva Support concluded at the end that my findings with the trigger were correct. It is possible the unit I received was defective, but Emotiva did not suggest I try a different unit. It may be that early models have an issue/bug with the trigger function or it is the intended functionality that 12V on the trigger signal simply turns on the amplifier but does not keep the amplifier on, i.e., the amplifier depends on an input signal of sufficient amplitude to keep the amplifier on.

The steps I followed to debug the issue were the following:
1. Disconnected the A2M from AC power.
2. Shut off the Denon AVR and confirmed the 12V trigger cable was at 0V.
3. Set the A2M to “On” mode.
4. Plugged the 12V trigger cable into the A2M (did not connect speakers or “line in” source cables).
5. Connected the A2M to AC power; the A2M illuminated the blue LEDs at the front panel after a few seconds.
6. Waited 10 minutes - the A2M remained “on”, i.e. blue LEDs at the front panel remained illuminated.
7. Turned on the Denon AVR and confirmed the other three amplifiers turned on from the 12v trigger cable (A2M remained on).
8. Waited > 5 minutes - no change, i.e., A2M remained on.
9. Turned off the Denon AVR.
10. All external amplifiers went into standby mode, including the A2M, but the A2M went back to the “on” state after a couple seconds, i.e. blue LEDs illuminated after approx. 2 seconds).
11. Waited > 5minutes - the A2M did not go back to the standby mode - blue LEDs remained illuminated.

I used approximately the same steps / methodology for the A2M in "Auto" mode.

My conclusion was that the trigger function does not work the way I expected it to work: 
When the A2M is in the “On” mode, the A2M remains on regardless of the trigger voltage.
When the A2M is in the “Auto” mode, the trigger turns on the A2M, but the A2M turns off automatically after 5 minutes if the volume is not set high enough - even if the trigger is at 12V.

As stated previously, I may have received a defective unit, but Emotiva Support didn't suggest exchanging units. If, on the other hand, the A2M I received is not defective and the 12V trigger input simply works the way I described above, then others planning to use the A2M to drive Dolby height speakers (with intermittent content) may want to consider these findings before purchasing a unit for that application or plan to use the A2M in the always "On" mode.

Cheers,

Nick

[cawgijoe]

Jan 6, 2022 9:17:29 GMT -5 nlaplaca said:

Jan 4, 2022 16:40:47 GMT -5 creimes said:

If there is a trigger signal present then the amp should not shut off, maybe you need a replacement ?? maybe a call to Emotiva is what you need to do. Or is it possible the amp needs to be left to "On" position and the trigger then works, I had the previous model of this amp but can't remember the proper way to go about this.

Cheers,

Thank you for the suggestions! I did have a conversation with Emotiva and I followed the steps they suggested to try to debug the issue, including trying to use the trigger in the "On" position. Emotiva Support concluded at the end that my findings with the trigger were correct. It is possible the unit I received was defective, but Emotiva did not suggest I try a different unit. It may be that early models have an issue/bug with the trigger function or it is the intended functionality that 12V on the trigger signal simply turns on the amplifier but does not keep the amplifier on, i.e., the amplifier depends on an input signal of sufficient amplitude to keep the amplifier on.

The steps I followed to debug the issue were the following:
1. Disconnected the A2M from AC power.
2. Shut off the Denon AVR and confirmed the 12V trigger cable was at 0V.
3. Set the A2M to “On” mode.
4. Plugged the 12V trigger cable into the A2M (did not connect speakers or “line in” source cables).
5. Connected the A2M to AC power; the A2M illuminated the blue LEDs at the front panel after a few seconds.
6. Waited 10 minutes - the A2M remained “on”, i.e. blue LEDs at the front panel remained illuminated.
7. Turned on the Denon AVR and confirmed the other three amplifiers turned on from the 12v trigger cable (A2M remained on).
8. Waited > 5 minutes - no change, i.e., A2M remained on.
9. Turned off the Denon AVR.
10. All external amplifiers went into standby mode, including the A2M, but the A2M went back to the “on” state after a couple seconds, i.e. blue LEDs illuminated after approx. 2 seconds).
11. Waited > 5minutes - the A2M did not go back to the standby mode - blue LEDs remained illuminated.

I used approximately the same steps / methodology for the A2M in "Auto" mode.

My conclusion was that the trigger function does not work the way I expected it to work: 
When the A2M is in the “On” mode, the A2M remains on regardless of the trigger voltage.
When the A2M is in the “Auto” mode, the trigger turns on the A2M, but the A2M turns off automatically after 5 minutes if the volume is not set high enough - even if the trigger is at 12V.

As stated previously, I may have received a defective unit, but Emotiva Support didn't suggest exchanging units. If, on the other hand, the A2M I received is not defective and the 12V trigger input simply works the way I described above, then others planning to use the A2M to drive Dolby height speakers (with intermittent content) may want to consider these findings before purchasing a unit for that application or plan to use the A2M in the always "On" mode.

Cheers,

Nick

I don't think you have a defective unit. Looking at the manual, what you state above in your tests is what is supposed to happen. Normally in "auto" the amp is looking for a signal to turn on and then remain on as long as that signal is present. It will turn off after a set amount of time when it doesn't detect a signal.

So, if you are watching a movie and the ceiling speakers are not active for awhile (maybe 5 mins?) and the amp doesn't receive that signal, it shuts off. That's my educated guess. Normally if you are playing two channel sound, it's not an issue.

Depending how hard it is for you to reach the back of the unit, just turn it on when you are watching movies or anything that has Atmos content and the turn it off afterwards.....or, leave it on all the time....or, connect the amp up to a separate outlet strip or surge protector and use that to turn the amp on....probably nothing that you have not already thought of.

[nlaplaca]

Jan 6, 2022 10:43:50 GMT -5 cawgijoe said:

Jan 6, 2022 9:17:29 GMT -5 nlaplaca said:

Thank you for the suggestions! I did have a conversation with Emotiva and I followed the steps they suggested to try to debug the issue, including trying to use the trigger in the "On" position. Emotiva Support concluded at the end that my findings with the trigger were correct. It is possible the unit I received was defective, but Emotiva did not suggest I try a different unit. It may be that early models have an issue/bug with the trigger function or it is the intended functionality that 12V on the trigger signal simply turns on the amplifier but does not keep the amplifier on, i.e., the amplifier depends on an input signal of sufficient amplitude to keep the amplifier on.

The steps I followed to debug the issue were the following:
1. Disconnected the A2M from AC power.
2. Shut off the Denon AVR and confirmed the 12V trigger cable was at 0V.
3. Set the A2M to “On” mode.
4. Plugged the 12V trigger cable into the A2M (did not connect speakers or “line in” source cables).
5. Connected the A2M to AC power; the A2M illuminated the blue LEDs at the front panel after a few seconds.
6. Waited 10 minutes - the A2M remained “on”, i.e. blue LEDs at the front panel remained illuminated.
7. Turned on the Denon AVR and confirmed the other three amplifiers turned on from the 12v trigger cable (A2M remained on).
8. Waited > 5 minutes - no change, i.e., A2M remained on.
9. Turned off the Denon AVR.
10. All external amplifiers went into standby mode, including the A2M, but the A2M went back to the “on” state after a couple seconds, i.e. blue LEDs illuminated after approx. 2 seconds).
11. Waited > 5minutes - the A2M did not go back to the standby mode - blue LEDs remained illuminated.

I used approximately the same steps / methodology for the A2M in "Auto" mode.

My conclusion was that the trigger function does not work the way I expected it to work: 
When the A2M is in the “On” mode, the A2M remains on regardless of the trigger voltage.
When the A2M is in the “Auto” mode, the trigger turns on the A2M, but the A2M turns off automatically after 5 minutes if the volume is not set high enough - even if the trigger is at 12V.

As stated previously, I may have received a defective unit, but Emotiva Support didn't suggest exchanging units. If, on the other hand, the A2M I received is not defective and the 12V trigger input simply works the way I described above, then others planning to use the A2M to drive Dolby height speakers (with intermittent content) may want to consider these findings before purchasing a unit for that application or plan to use the A2M in the always "On" mode.

Cheers,

Nick

I don't think you have a defective unit. Looking at the manual, what you state above in your tests is what is supposed to happen. Normally in "auto" the amp is looking for a signal to turn on and then remain on as long as that signal is present. It will turn off after a set amount of time when it doesn't detect a signal.

So, if you are watching a movie and the ceiling speakers are not active for awhile (maybe 5 mins?) and the amp doesn't receive that signal, it shuts off. That's my educated guess. Normally if you are playing two channel sound, it's not an issue.

Depending how hard it is for you to reach the back of the unit, just turn it on when you are watching movies or anything that has Atmos content and the turn it off afterwards.....or, leave it on all the time....or, connect the amp up to a separate outlet strip or surge protector and use that to turn the amp on....probably nothing that you have not already thought of.

Right - what you say may be the way the A2M needs to be used for this application. My suggestion (or preference) to the Emotiva engineering team is, when in Auto mode, turn on the A2M when 12V appears on the trigger signal and don't allow the A2M to return to standby as long as the 12V is present (regardless of the line in signal strength).

[cawgijoe]

Jan 6, 2022 11:47:43 GMT -5 nlaplaca said:

Jan 6, 2022 10:43:50 GMT -5 cawgijoe said:

I don't think you have a defective unit. Looking at the manual, what you state above in your tests is what is supposed to happen. Normally in "auto" the amp is looking for a signal to turn on and then remain on as long as that signal is present. It will turn off after a set amount of time when it doesn't detect a signal.

So, if you are watching a movie and the ceiling speakers are not active for awhile (maybe 5 mins?) and the amp doesn't receive that signal, it shuts off. That's my educated guess. Normally if you are playing two channel sound, it's not an issue.

Depending how hard it is for you to reach the back of the unit, just turn it on when you are watching movies or anything that has Atmos content and the turn it off afterwards.....or, leave it on all the time....or, connect the amp up to a separate outlet strip or surge protector and use that to turn the amp on....probably nothing that you have not already thought of.

Right - what you say may be the way the A2M needs to be used for this application. My suggestion (or preference) to the Emotiva engineering team is, when in Auto mode, turn on the A2M when 12V appears on the trigger signal and don't allow the A2M to return to standby as long as the 12V is present (regardless of the line in signal strength).

I'm not an engineer, but maybe Keith can comment if he reads this....

[creimes]

I owned the previous model and when using the trigger function the amp would not shut off until my XMC-1 shut off, as did my other amps and exactly how a trigger function should properly work so it is odd that the new version of this amp does not function the same way.

Chad

[brutiarti]

Jan 6, 2022 14:31:13 GMT -5 creimes said:

I owned the previous model and when using the trigger function the amp would not shut off until my XMC-1 shut off, as did my other amps and exactly how a trigger function should properly work so it is odd that the new version of this amp does not function the same way.

Chad

Looks like it works the same way as the PA-1. It took a good amount of gain to come on. No idea why they would choose that feature that IMO only belongs to subwoofers.

[leonski]

My PARASOUND amps have the same feature.....

LATE at night, if I turn it down too low? Amps cut out....

So I've taken to headphones for late night TV watching / listening...

These amps (A23) have variable gain, which I leave UP all the way.

But NOW I wonder if I adjusted it DOWN, what would the effect be on the Level Sense?

If the level sense is AFTER the level control? no change. IF the sense is prior to the level control?

I may be able to turn down the level control and get the amps to come on at a lesser level......which would be FINE.

[thezone]

Jan 6, 2022 15:09:11 GMT -5 brutiarti said:

Jan 6, 2022 14:31:13 GMT -5 creimes said:

I owned the previous model and when using the trigger function the amp would not shut off until my XMC-1 shut off, as did my other amps and exactly how a trigger function should properly work so it is odd that the new version of this amp does not function the same way.

Chad

Looks like it works the same way as the PA-1. It took a good amount of gain to come on. No idea why they would choose that feature that IMO only belongs to subwoofers.

This. I have PA-1's running most of my speakers and at low volumes certain speakers will cut out and you need to crank the volume a tad to get them back. TBH, I've gotten used to it and it doesn't bother me, but we all have OCD in different ways................  

[davidl81]

Jan 6, 2022 18:14:55 GMT -5 thezone said:

Jan 6, 2022 15:09:11 GMT -5 brutiarti said:

Looks like it works the same way as the PA-1. It took a good amount of gain to come on. No idea why they would choose that feature that IMO only belongs to subwoofers.

This. I have PA-1's running most of my speakers and at low volumes certain speakers will cut out and you need to crank the volume a tad to get them back. TBH, I've gotten used to it and it doesn't bother me, but we all have OCD in different ways................  

FWIW even the Emotiva subs have a fairly early cutoff on the auto on/off. So much so that at low volumes my S15s turn off and on and make a bumping sound every time they come on. I just leave them always on now. My PA-1s also have trouble staying on at low volumes so they are always on as well.

[nlaplaca]

Jan 6, 2022 18:35:37 GMT -5 davidl81 said:

Jan 6, 2022 18:14:55 GMT -5 thezone said:

This. I have PA-1's running most of my speakers and at low volumes certain speakers will cut out and you need to crank the volume a tad to get them back. TBH, I've gotten used to it and it doesn't bother me, but we all have OCD in different ways................  

FWIW even the Emotiva subs have a fairly early cutoff on the auto on/off. So much so that at low volumes my S15s turn off and on and make a bumping sound every time they come on. I just leave them always on now. My PA-1s also have trouble staying on at low volumes so they are always on as well.

I would like to take a moment to thank the Emotive Sales and Support team, especially Brent, for their outstanding support of this product. I will certainly be a customer of Emotiva in the future primarily because of their excellent customer focus.

Nick