Emotiva XSP-1 Preamp Video Review

A

admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
You want high end two-channel. Emotiva has got your back with their new XSP-1 Two-Channel Preamp. Check out our Video coverage of this product.



Discuss "Emotiva XSP-1 Preamp Video Review" here. Read the article.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
B

bootman

Audioholic Intern
Not one measurement to independently verify manufacturer specs? ;)
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Has anyone heard what the order of the crossover is?
 
P

palmharbor

Junior Audioholic
Emotiva

I have the model UMC-1 as it has analog video inputs for my s-vhs and superbeta units
as this unit does not have these "legacy" inputs.
I like mine, the only limitation is that there is a five second delay in the video because
of the copy guard in the HDMI system. This happens when you change inputs and
sometimes when you go from the DVR program to live tv but you learn to live with it.
Tech support on the phone is terrific and these products, especially set up tend to
be complicated and the manual is not well written and does not include important
information but tech support is more than U could ask for.
I recommend this company and their products. I also have the five channel power
amp and it drives my fussy Martin Logans without a problem


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B

bootman

Audioholic Intern
You should post that in a umc thread.
This is about their analog preamp and doesn't really apply.
apples and oranges.
 
S

sharkman

Full Audioholic
Wow, another Emotiva review. They sure are popping out the products.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
Wow, another Emotiva review. They sure are popping out the products.
Tell me about it. It's becoming a full time job trying to cover all their new stuff. I've got some XPR-1's in for review right now!
 
S

sharkman

Full Audioholic
Tell me about it. It's becoming a full time job trying to cover all their new stuff. I've got some XPR-1's in for review right now!
Really! So how many Emotiva products are you slated to review this year(that might tell us how many more they are releasing)? Any word on the XMC?
 
majorloser

majorloser

Moderator
Any word on the XMC?
I wouldn't hold your breath. They held the UMC-1 from reviewer even after it was released. I personally think they are scared to release it right now. They have such good business with the amps and don't need the controversy.
 
D

Dave Tutt

Audiophyte
Afternoon
I have just had one in the workshop for repair. I am sure that there are those with so much room a monster of this size is all but invisible but us folk in the UK are probably mostly going to stay away of this size of product that only really does a quarter of what is necessary for your music. Faults with these which will become more and more common is due entirely to simple physics. Place a 85C capacitor next to a regulator heat sink and watch how quickly it fails. The 4700uf smoothing caps for the 15volt regulator supplies are far too close to the heat sinks to make any sense for such a big box. If they had been an inch further away this thing would likely never break down. Second thing is use capacitors of 105C temperature rating! Long life caps of this type are peanuts so please fit the right thing. Going to the trouble of having a toroidal transformer wound for you is great but to pick a voltage that is going to give a 10volt drop across a regulator when you could have had your transformer wound for lower secondary voltage would have reduced the heat in the regulators and lengthened their lives. I am sure people don't expect a pre amp to get hot but because this is wrong it will do. Bigger heat sinks are really needed too as they need to get that heat away from the circuit board better. Oh and on the regs it would still have been better to fit 7815 and 7915 regs as they are much closer tolerance than using LM317, 337 types and then setting the voltage with resistors which because of the heat means that the imbalance between those rails is 600-800mV compared to 20mV with the 78** types. You could then of course spread out multiple 78** regs so that the dissipation is more even across the chassis and only used the standby circuitry to switch that toroidal transformer via another relay. Just a thought!
So a new set of four IN4007 rectifier diodes, two new main smoothing capacitors, a pair of LM317, 337 regs, a pair of safety resistors replaced because they had been burnt off the circuit board and this was back in service. I would always advise that you turn this off at the back as the standby switch at the front is nothing like it as all the main power supply is on and keeping things warm. Without any circuit diagrams it looks like the 5 volt logic supply that runs the front panel only switches the other supplies on and off well downstream of the power supply at a relay on the main board and just the front panel lights. Definitely not a green solution!
Oh and while I am at it, there are many other pre amps that sound no worse than this at half the price. It is not really AV as most of the key interface circuitry is missing so at best it is compromised. The headphone socket is a joke especially for such a big box. There is no digital IO. So whether it suits your needs or not I think depends very much on where you live. It would not meet the requirements for the UK market which probably tells you why this is the only one I know of here! If you own one in the UK let me know!
 
Replicant 7

Replicant 7

Audioholic Samurai
Afternoon
I have just had one in the workshop for repair. I am sure that there are those with so much room a monster of this size is all but invisible but us folk in the UK are probably mostly going to stay away of this size of product that only really does a quarter of what is necessary for your music. Faults with these which will become more and more common is due entirely to simple physics. Place a 85C capacitor next to a regulator heat sink and watch how quickly it fails. The 4700uf smoothing caps for the 15volt regulator supplies are far too close to the heat sinks to make any sense for such a big box. If they had been an inch further away this thing would likely never break down. Second thing is use capacitors of 105C temperature rating! Long life caps of this type are peanuts so please fit the right thing. Going to the trouble of having a toroidal transformer wound for you is great but to pick a voltage that is going to give a 10volt drop across a regulator when you could have had your transformer wound for lower secondary voltage would have reduced the heat in the regulators and lengthened their lives. I am sure people don't expect a pre amp to get hot but because this is wrong it will do. Bigger heat sinks are really needed too as they need to get that heat away from the circuit board better. Oh and on the regs it would still have been better to fit 7815 and 7915 regs as they are much closer tolerance than using LM317, 337 types and then setting the voltage with resistors which because of the heat means that the imbalance between those rails is 600-800mV compared to 20mV with the 78** types. You could then of course spread out multiple 78** regs so that the dissipation is more even across the chassis and only used the standby circuitry to switch that toroidal transformer via another relay. Just a thought!
So a new set of four IN4007 rectifier diodes, two new main smoothing capacitors, a pair of LM317, 337 regs, a pair of safety resistors replaced because they had been burnt off the circuit board and this was back in service. I would always advise that you turn this off at the back as the standby switch at the front is nothing like it as all the main power supply is on and keeping things warm. Without any circuit diagrams it looks like the 5 volt logic supply that runs the front panel only switches the other supplies on and off well downstream of the power supply at a relay on the main board and just the front panel lights. Definitely not a green solution!
Oh and while I am at it, there are many other pre amps that sound no worse than this at half the price. It is not really AV as most of the key interface circuitry is missing so at best it is compromised. The headphone socket is a joke especially for such a big box. There is no digital IO. So whether it suits your needs or not I think depends very much on where you live. It would not meet the requirements for the UK market which probably tells you why this is the only one I know of here! If you own one in the UK let me know!
I believe Gene found out how unreliable there XPR-1 where.
 
D

Dave Tutt

Audiophyte
It would not be difficult to redesign the PSU to something more in keeping with the price but then I guess technology moves on and old stuff gets discarded and forgotten to history. I didn't add many of the things that I would have done differently but since I have been in the repair business since I was 12 and am now 63 I would think I have an overall different way of looking at things than many!
 
Replicant 7

Replicant 7

Audioholic Samurai
It would not be difficult to redesign the PSU to something more in keeping with the price but then I guess technology moves on and old stuff gets discarded and forgotten to history. I didn't add many of the things that I would have done differently but since I have been in the repair business since I was 12 and am now 63 I would think I have an overall different way of looking at things than many!
I thought it was pretty cool your take on that Emo. I've owned some of their amps back in the day.Sold them all off.
 

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