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Post by paintedklown on Feb 17, 2010 12:37:45 GMT -5
I think the amp is more "laid back" than the XPA-2 also, but in a good way. The UPA-1 is very neutral and it's one of the most natural sounding amps I've ever heard, extremely detailed, with excellent trancients that maybe make it a little more musical than the other Emotiva amps I have listened to(except maybe the XPA-1). I don't know if it's the low noise floor or what but I'm amazed by the detail I can hear now. This amp loves real instruments. I've listended to more Jazz and Big Band music the past two nights then I have in the past 2 years. I love live Jazz but usually recorded music doesn't do it justice. However, the UPA-1 has cured that problem for me. Even watching TV, I was hearing so much more than I was before. To sum it up, this amp is awesome for music and movies. Better grab'em before they sell out. That's awesome!!! Reading reviews like this makes me a SERIOUSLY happy camper. My two UPA-1s are on the truck to be delivered today, and they will be my first component amps ever.  It's nice to see that I have made the right decision to go with Emotiva as I honestly don't have any other amps to compare it to. I will, of course, do an A/B test with my receiver (   ) just for fun but I already know how THAT will turn out. Please guys, as your amps pour in, I would love to hear your thoughts on them. Excited to start reading the initial reports/reviews. I will do one myself (if anyone cares) and let you all know what I think as well. Sure to be up all night tonight with some Norah Jones spinning away... |
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Post by Nemesis.ie on Feb 17, 2010 13:12:11 GMT -5
Am I the only one doing all 3 fronts?
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twilkins
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Sometimes it's to your advantage for people to think you're crazy -
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Post by twilkins on Feb 17, 2010 13:28:41 GMT -5
Am I the only one doing all 3 fronts? I thought about it. I'm limited on space and thought for HT the XPA-5 would still be delivering 200 WPC to the center. It will really be a question as to how the sound matches up with the center and mains. My main interest was having the UPA-1's driving the two mains for two channel music. I have a couple other scenarios in mind if I decide I need a UPA-1 for the center. |
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Lonnie
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Post by Lonnie on Feb 17, 2010 13:32:20 GMT -5
Am I the only one doing all 3 fronts? No, we actually sold several sets of 3. |
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Post by broncsrule21 on Feb 17, 2010 13:36:58 GMT -5
I could only do 2 right now. I need to see how they shake out as far as space on my shelves. Its going to be a close fit. If they fit like they hope and sound as good as I hope I will order another quickly.
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Post by Nemesis.ie on Feb 17, 2010 13:51:43 GMT -5
Am I the only one doing all 3 fronts? No, we actually sold several sets of 3. Sweet - just looking for others to compare with.  |
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Post by broncsrule21 on Feb 17, 2010 14:06:05 GMT -5
Am I the only one doing all 3 fronts? I thought about it. I'm limited on space and thought for HT the XPA-5 would still be delivering 200 WPC to the center. It will really be a question as to how the sound matches up with the center and mains. My main interest was having the UPA-1's driving the two mains for two channel music. I have a couple other scenarios in mind if I decide I need a UPA-1 for the center. I'm kinda in the same boat. If I end up going with a third UPA-1, i will buy an UPA-5 to power my surrounds and zone 2. If not, I am still debating on if I would go for an XPA-5 to power the center, surrounds and zone 2 or would the UPA-5 still be enough for the center? I know a third UPA-1 is the best option but I might have space issues needing to run 4 amps. |
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Post by eksu on Feb 17, 2010 14:32:00 GMT -5
No, we actually sold several sets of 3. Sweet - just looking for others to compare with. 3 on the way to Norway, maybe the first one that get them over here. |
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Post by Nemesis.ie on Feb 17, 2010 15:08:55 GMT -5
Cool - so we have at least two international orders for 3. Ireland and Norway in the lead for now? When are yours due to arrive? |
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Post by eksu on Feb 17, 2010 15:19:12 GMT -5
Estimated delivery
Feb 23, 2010 by 6:00 PM
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Post by Nemesis.ie on Feb 17, 2010 15:25:06 GMT -5
Mine is one day earlier. But of course we never know what customs will add to it or if FedEx will get the money for the duties in time not to hold things up ...
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Post by dannoh on Feb 17, 2010 18:13:41 GMT -5
Two of the UPA-1's arrived today. Plumbed in with the USP-1 that arrived last week, coupled to a pair of Polk Audio RTi10 speakers.
First quick impressions:
These amps, at low to moderate listening levels, sound excellent with female vocals. There is a lot of detail, both in the high and low frequency ranges, that the steadfast old TA-N55ES was not producing. The addition of the two amps has really opened the system up.
To my open exhaust fried ears, the amps sound very neutral and balanced, and are not driving the tweeter and midrange of the RTi10's out of proportion with the music. One of my concerns with the USP-1 was the lack of adjustability on sound; these concerns were unwarranted with the new amplifiers.
There is plenty of current to satisfy the notoriously power hungry Polk's at the aforementioned low to medium volume range. Bass hits are well controlled, and the midbass transients are very, very tight.
I have not had opportunity to turn up the volume yet on the new system, as even with the previous amplifier set up the neighbors were complaining about the volume (on a humorous note, one neighbor said that the music sounded really good ... in his bedroom), so I cannot comment on the performance at excessive volume levels. Perhaps this weekend some old school NIN and KMFDM may find their way into the CD player.
Overall I am very satisfied with the sound of the amplifiers, and would recommend them to anyone looking for a bargain on what is a great sounding amplifier.
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Post by buckethead on Feb 17, 2010 19:14:28 GMT -5
Am I the only one doing all 3 fronts? I purchased 3 upa-1s for fronts |
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Post by teedub21 on Feb 17, 2010 19:28:19 GMT -5
Two of the UPA-1's arrived today. Plumbed in with the USP-1 that arrived last week, coupled to a pair of Polk Audio RTi10 speakers. First quick impressions: These amps, at low to moderate listening levels, sound excellent with female vocals. There is a lot of detail, both in the high and low frequency ranges, that the steadfast old TA-N55ES was not producing. The addition of the two amps has really opened the system up. To my open exhaust fried ears, the amps sound very neutral and balanced, and are not driving the tweeter and midrange of the RTi10's out of proportion with the music. One of my concerns with the USP-1 was the lack of adjustability on sound; these concerns were unwarranted with the new amplifiers. There is plenty of current to satisfy the notoriously power hungry Polk's at the aforementioned low to medium volume range. Bass hits are well controlled, and the midbass transients are very, very tight. I have not had opportunity to turn up the volume yet on the new system, as even with the previous amplifier set up the neighbors were complaining about the volume (on a humorous note, one neighbor said that the music sounded really good ... in his bedroom), so I cannot comment on the performance at excessive volume levels. Perhaps this weekend some old school NIN and KMFDM may find their way into the CD player. Overall I am very satisfied with the sound of the amplifiers, and would recommend them to anyone looking for a bargain on what is a great sounding amplifier. Time to move yourself into a house now! |
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Post by paintedklown on Feb 17, 2010 22:09:58 GMT -5
received my UPA-1s today guys and all I can say is WOW!!!  Seriously, these amps are amazing. I knew they would be infinitely better than my old Kenwood receiver but I had no idea that it would be such a dramatic difference. Like all the classic reviews all of us have read it REALLY was "like a veil had been lifted off my speakers". I figured they would be louder and cleaner than what I was used to but it seriously sounds like I bought a new (much better) set of speakers. As you all (may or may not) know I am without a pre-amp at the moment so I am using my Dell laptop as the source and pre-amp and am running a cable that is 1/8" out of the headphone jack to RCAs into the amps. I am using Media Monkey to play my music files from an external drive. This is FAR from an ideal situation and it still COMPLETELY smokes running the same external drive into a PS3 (optical out from there) to my receiver. Seriously blows it out of the water....waaaaaaayyyyy out. ;D I am also shocked about how much the bass response has increased. My Alesis monitor 1's are 2 way speakers that were made for studio monitoring. They are low cost monitors that have a 6 1/2" woofer and a silk tweeter. That are 4 ohm and are rated at 120 W. I never knew before that they could even produce bass. LOL! The highs have more air around them and a LOT of mid-range muddiness has cleared up. As I said, it sounds like a completely different set of speakers. I was playing some DMB "so much to say" and before I couldn't get that clean crisp "bite" on the guitar that I KNEW should be there. Now I am getting closer, much closer. Norah Jones' voice is another thing that I always felt was being really held back by my Kenwoods amp. Now I can turn it up and really hear her voice come through as I knew it should. Nice. Don't get wrong here gang, I STILL need to buy new speakers, but these amps just made living with the ones I have a whole lot easier. I am actually taking some vacation time at the moment and have 3 more days off, so during this time I am going to leave my computer and these amps playing the entire time to "burn in" the amps before I sit down, take some time, and do some serious critical listening. Also, I am supposed to be getting my tax returns tomorrow so I will be ordering up a proper pre-amp for these as well. Take care all, and I hope you are loving your new amps as much as I am loving mine. ;D p.s. I am having to stack these on top of each other at the moment due to how I am having to hook it up. Is it safe to have them stacked and run them for several days in a row with NO rest?  |
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Post by edoggrc51 on Feb 17, 2010 22:16:14 GMT -5
What about for HT?? I'm more of a movie guy, so I'm curious to know how these guys perform for home theater use. I've owned both the XPA-2 (and 3) and an RPA2, so I'd like to get reviews compared to those amps. Thanks for the help fellas!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2010 23:54:34 GMT -5
I've come to find Dann has great ears Well Brian I don't want to start a flame war here but I have to respectfully disagree with you. I like Dann's Emo sunglass but his ears just don't quite do it for me. Now here is what I call a really "great ear."  |
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Lonnie
Emo Staff
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Post by Lonnie on Feb 18, 2010 0:04:41 GMT -5
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Lonnie
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admin
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
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Post by Lonnie on Feb 18, 2010 0:08:38 GMT -5
received my UPA-1s today guys and all I can say is WOW!!! Seriously, these amps are amazing. I knew they would be infinitely better than my old Kenwood receiver but I had no idea that it would be such a dramatic difference. Like all the classic reviews all of us have read it REALLY was "like a veil had been lifted off my speakers". I figured they would be louder and cleaner than what I was used to but it seriously sounds like I bought a new (much better) set of speakers. As you all (may or may not) know I am without a pre-amp at the moment so I am using my Dell laptop as the source and pre-amp and am running a cable that is 1/8" out of the headphone jack to RCAs into the amps. I am using Media Monkey to play my music files from an external drive. This is FAR from an ideal situation and it still COMPLETELY smokes running the same external drive into a PS3 (optical out from there) to my receiver. Seriously blows it out of the water....waaaaaaayyyyy out. ;D I am also shocked about how much the bass response has increased. My Alesis monitor 1's are 2 way speakers that were made for studio monitoring. They are low cost monitors that have a 6 1/2" woofer and a silk tweeter. That are 4 ohm and are rated at 120 W. I never knew before that they could even produce bass. LOL! The highs have more air around them and a LOT of mid-range muddiness has cleared up. As I said, it sounds like a completely different set of speakers. I was playing some DMB "so much to say" and before I couldn't get that clean crisp "bite" on the guitar that I KNEW should be there. Now I am getting closer, much closer. Norah Jones' voice is another thing that I always felt was being really held back by my Kenwoods amp. Now I can turn it up and really hear her voice come through as I knew it should. Nice. Don't get wrong here gang, I STILL need to buy new speakers, but these amps just made living with the ones I have a whole lot easier. I am actually taking some vacation time at the moment and have 3 more days off, so during this time I am going to leave my computer and these amps playing the entire time to "burn in" the amps before I sit down, take some time, and do some serious critical listening. Also, I am supposed to be getting my tax returns tomorrow so I will be ordering up a proper pre-amp for these as well. Take care all, and I hope you are loving your new amps as much as I am loving mine. ;D p.s. I am having to stack these on top of each other at the moment due to how I am having to hook it up. Is it safe to have them stacked and run them for several days in a row with NO rest? Yep. It's safe. Call us and see if we have a b-stock USP-1. You'll be amazed at the sound quality... |
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Post by randallfoster on Feb 19, 2010 12:08:06 GMT -5
Gotta say, I have now been listening to my UPA-1's for 3 days and I am incredibly impressed. The responsiveness of my Klipschs over all frequencies at all volumes is quite amazing. I am of course going from a Yamaha integrated receiver to a full monoblock stereo setup so it feels a bit like I have taken the training wheels off my speakers and am now moving firmly in the fastlane.
So far, I have been listening primarily to acoustic Classical Music, Jazz, and a bit of Bela Fleck just for kicks. These amps are fast and accurate and a steal for the money! Cant wait til I can move this gear out of my office and into the living room... Wife has accepted that these will be out front and center where everyone can see them.
These amps were really my foray into emo gear as I picked up a pair of these and a ERC-1 and USP-1 after weeks of comparisons with other companies... I am quite impressed with the company thus far and am looking forward to being a loyal Emo customer for years to come!
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) just for fun but I already know how THAT will turn out. 
