UPA-1 reviews to come...

[Lonnie]

Feb 17, 2010 22:09:58 GMT -5 paintedklown said:

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?

Yes, they should be fine stacked, as long as they are not in a tightly enclosed space.

[paintedklown]

They are sitting on top of an old T.V. stand so they are out in the open. I kept going over and touching the one on top...my receiver runs a LOT warmer than these ever got. No worries regarding stacking them.

[broncsrule21]

After 2 days of playing with my new monoblocks, I couldn't be happier. I started off with some Dire Staits and DSOTM (the "non sacd layer" off of the SACD disks via a PS3). The first thing I noticed was the imaging. I had to get up twice to make sure my center channel was truely off. Also, when I started using the UPA-2, my bass response was taken up a notch over my denon, again another step up. The bass is awesome from these dual 7in woofers.

Then I moved on to some multi channel music. (live concerts) first was Eagles Hell Freezes Over. The seperation of the instruments is on a higher level than before. I was blown away by the harmonies on the 7 bridges road track. next was Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds and then Metallica One Night in France BDs. These puppies have plenty of gas!

Today I re-ran room correction and started in on some scenes from Terminator Salvation. Again, the UPA-1s are a noticeable improvement over my previous set-up. Crystal clear at any volume and very detailed. My center is also niceably clearer with the UPA-2 pushing it instead of the Denon.

I will leave the more technical reviews to others, but these amps are a steal for what you get at this price! Get them before they are out of stock and you are on a waiting list.

[teedub21]

Got mine hooked up today in my two channel system and they are very impressive. I can't believe they can build these for the price they sell them for and make money. I used to "poo-poo" Chinese audio gear, but man, things have changed. I'm an Emotiva addict now! Thinking of replacing my Sonance amp that powers my zone 3 system with Emo amps just so I can buy more!

I'd like to build on Dann's comments on the UPA1 though. I don't think "laid back" is a good term. They are detailed, but not bright in any way, everything just comes through. Instead of laid back, I'd say "relaxed" or "effortless". They sound very natural, more so than my XPA5, IMHO. The monos just sound like they aren't even working. Left them playing at the house while I finish my work day. Can't wait to get some more time in front of them tonight when I get home.

Oh, another thing. One very nice detail is the "Emotiva" logo cover they put over the transformer. Sure cleans the inside up and makes a very nice aesthetic touch. Also, these amps weren't packed as well as other Emo gear I've bought, but they still made it nice and safe. It seems they don't fit perfectly in the two foam blocks and the weight of the transformer pushed the amp around in the box a bit. No damage though, FWIW.

[twilkins]

Finally got my UPA-1's hooked up. UPA-1s for the L/R and the XPA-5 for center,surrounds and zone 2. These sound great. No problem at all driving the Polk RTI A9's. Can't get the volume knob on the USP-1 past 11 o'clock without rattling the windows. Very clean, detailed and yes warm sounding. No harshness even at high levels. Listening to Sgt. Pepper via the ERC-1 and the drums and bass are very detailed with great seperation. Hard to compare to the XPA-5 this early. Initial impression is that the soundstage seems to be wider. These are great for two channel. Haven't really listened in HT but will watch a Blu-Ray tonight after I rerun Audyssey.

[Lonnie]

Feb 19, 2010 19:25:59 GMT -5 teedub21 said:

Got mine hooked up today in my two channel system and they are very impressive. I can't believe they can build these for the price they sell them for and make money. I used to "poo-poo" Chinese audio gear, but man, things have changed. I'm an Emotiva addict now! Thinking of replacing my Sonance amp that powers my zone 3 system with Emo amps just so I can buy more!

I'd like to build on Dann's comments on the UPA1 though. I don't think "laid back" is a good term. They are detailed, but not bright in any way, everything just comes through. Instead of laid back, I'd say "relaxed" or "effortless". They sound very natural, more so than my XPA5, IMHO. The monos just sound like they aren't even working. Left them playing at the house while I finish my work day. Can't wait to get some more time in front of them tonight when I get home.

Oh, another thing. One very nice detail is the "Emotiva" logo cover they put over the transformer. Sure cleans the inside up and makes a very nice aesthetic touch. Also, these amps weren't packed as well as other Emo gear I've bought, but they still made it nice and safe. It seems they don't fit perfectly in the two foam blocks and the weight of the transformer pushed the amp around in the box a bit. No damage though, FWIW.

relaxed, effortless...laid back. Same concept. Glad you like 'em. I'll check the packaging. I believe it's the same packaging as the UPA-2, and I don't recall any issues. But I'll take a look.

[broncsrule21]

I concur with the packaging. I could feel mine shifting around in the box. I don't know if the were moving in the foam inserts or the inserts were moving in the box.....They had no damage, but something to look into.

[bigtom]

A quick word on my new amps,

all I can say is WOW!!!! they sound fantastic. Great control on my speakers the music is effortless at low or high volumes. I listened to various disks to get a good feel for them.

Alice in Chains Unplugged, Down is a hole, Rooster and Would are some of my reference songs that I use when listening to new gear and the vocals are scary real, the bass line is Would is tight and controlled.

TTD's Vibrator: The title track has a great bass line and is a in your face song, with poor equipment the instruments are lost but with the UPA-1's I could clearly hear all instruments.

John Mayer, Continuum: This is a great recording that has never sounded so good the dynamics from soft to loud, the transients of each strum of the guitar sound amazing that wicked grove to vultures is amazing now.

Now back to listen to some more of my faves

[broncsrule21]

i will throw in Alice in Chains right now and give it a listen

[Nemesis.ie]

Mine are apparently sitting at Stansted airport since Friday morning - I hope they are really in Dublin now or I fear they will not make a Monday delivery. Argh, again with the waiting! ;-)

[SteveB]

Mine are sitting at the Fed-Ex terminal waiting for delivery on Monday :-) My UMC is supposed to ship this week too. It's going to be an awesome week!!

[eksu]

Feb 20, 2010 16:40:16 GMT -5 Nemesis.ie said:

Mine are apparently sitting at Stansted airport since Friday morning - I hope they are really in Dublin now or I fear they will not make a Monday delivery. Argh, again with the waiting! ;-)

Mine is in Paris.

[teedub21]

Feb 20, 2010 13:35:09 GMT -5 Lonnie said:

relaxed, effortless...laid back. Same concept. Glad you like 'em. I'll check the packaging. I believe it's the same packaging as the UPA-2, and I don't recall any issues. But I'll take a look.[/quote]

Agreed, but I think some people may think "laid back" means soft. We are splitting hairs at this point, but I agree, laid back, effortless, relaxed, what ever, they sound awesome! Thanks for a great design.

[roadrunner]

Feb 20, 2010 18:16:00 GMT -5 teedub21 said:

Feb 20, 2010 13:35:09 GMT -5 Lonnie said:

relaxed, effortless...laid back. Same concept. Glad you like 'em. I'll check the packaging. I believe it's the same packaging as the UPA-2, and I don't recall any issues. But I'll take a look.

Agreed, but I think some people may think "laid back" means soft. We are splitting hairs at this point, but I agree, laid back, effortless, relaxed, what ever, they sound awesome! Thanks for a great design.

[/quote]

How about "Refined Clarity" or "Smoothly Refined" or "Refined and Revealing"?

These were all terms I often heard used to define the sonic properties of the RPA series amps. Seems that they would be appropriate adjectives for the UPA-1 as well. ;D

[paintedklown]

Feb 20, 2010 16:05:30 GMT -5 bigtom said:

Alice in Chains Unplugged, Down is a hole, Rooster and Would are some of my reference songs that I use when listening to new gear and the vocals are scary real, the bass line is Would is tight and controlled.

I agree 100%. This is an excellent disc for listening tests. The recording is very well done and allows their musicianship to shine through nicely on this one (sometimes for the worst ).

I was listening to this one some B&Ws one day (and hearing these B&Ws for the first time)and heard things in the recording I never knew was there..... I just may have to go pop this one in myself. Great band, great recording!!!

[broncsrule21]

Feb 20, 2010 20:34:45 GMT -5 paintedklown said:

Feb 20, 2010 16:05:30 GMT -5 bigtom said:

Alice in Chains Unplugged, Down is a hole, Rooster and Would are some of my reference songs that I use when listening to new gear and the vocals are scary real, the bass line is Would is tight and controlled.

I agree 100%. This is an excellent disc for listening tests. The recording is very well done and allows their musicianship to shine through nicely on this one (sometimes for the worst ).

You can hear fingers sliding on the guitar strings and the strings vibrating.

[briank]

Yep, you gotta love the detail that the UPA-1 brings out. Most amps this revealing tend to be super critical of the source quality but the UPA-1 is able to do this and still be fairly forgiving. Pretty awesome feat. Also interesting, I've always attributed imaging and soundstage to more of a speaker characteristic, but the UPA-1's have really improved both in my system. I didn't know my 15 year old Def Tech's could sound this good.

[broncsrule21]

Feb 22, 2010 11:18:55 GMT -5 briank said:

Yep, you gotta love the detail that the UPA-1 brings out. Most amps this revealing tend to be super critical of the source quality but the UPA-1 is able to do this and still be fairly forgiving. Pretty awesome feat. Also interesting, I've always attributed imaging and soundstage to more of a speaker characteristic, but the UPA-1's have really improved both in my system. I didn't know my 15 year old Def Tech's could sound this good.

Same here^^ I know my Polks are not the greatest for music, but they honestly have never sounded this good yet. Hopefully a XMC-1( and a 5 channel amp) will be the final peices for a while....

[paintedklown]

Interesting and good to see that others are seeing improvements in their speaker sounds. That is the most shocking and awesome thing about these amps, IMO.

My friend Travis came over today and had about a 3 hour listening session with me. He used to own the Alesis Monitor 1s that I am currently using (he gave me his pair when he upgraded to B&Ws) and I was glad to hear him say that he never thought those speakers could sound that good.

Great amp and I am excited to hear more of everyones thoughts.

[soulrider4ever]

I'm tempted to trade in my XPA-2 to a pair of UPA-1's.... hmmm..