Emotiva LPA-1 into 4 Ohm Axiom Epic 80s?

[roidefromage]

Does anyone have any ACTUAL experience driving the 4 ohm Axiom 80s with an Emotiva LPA-1? (or other equally demanding speakers) I've already pulled the trigger and ordered the speakers, but am now wondering if I will need a more powerful amp. My subs are self powered so I will simply need to run the Epic 80 fronts, center, and surrounds.

Thanks for all the advice in advance!

Roidefromage

 

[Nomo]

Emotiva does state that the LPA-1 is stable into 4 ohms.
I'm sure it will do just fine.

 

[darien87]

My fronts measure 4 ohms at the speaker terminals and in about the month that I've had it in an enclosed cabinet, the chassis has BARELY even gotten warm.

 

[brijenjas]

You shouldn't have any problems driving those speakers with that amp.

I have an LPA-1 currently driving Natalie P's DIY. 4ohm rated.

I also had Polk LSi9's and Onix Ref 1's connected to the LPA-1, both 4 ohm speakers.
Even played loud and long with any of the above mentioned speakers, the amp drove them all effortlessly and never broke a sweat.

 

[GlocksRock]

Just email or call Emotiva, I don't see that it would be a problem, but just to be on the safe side you may want to ask the people who make it. They would also be able to tell you how much power the amp is able to make at 4 ohms. But I doubt it would be an issue, my IPS-1 barey gets warm even when driving it pretty hard.

 

[Jey Jockey]

Depends on two things:

1) How loud are your listening habbits? If you like it very loud you will most likely encounter issues.

2) How large is your listening area/room? A large room combined with high volume with the M80's requires "big" amp sections.


Guys and gals, some 4 ohm speakers are much easier to drive than others. For some reason (Axiom has never really said why) the M80's require large amounts of power at high volumes. I suspect they dip well below 4ohms when driven hard being the primary reason.

And yes, I actually own m80's and an MPS1 and have seen it shut down front L/R channels on occasion when driven hard but not to insane or ear bleeding levels.

If you run into shutdown issues, the new Emotiva XPA2 amp should do the trick or if its an issue you don't like, send the M80's back and if you like the sound which i suspect you will, get the m60's instead which are 8ohm and much easier to drive hard.

Enjoy!

 

[jcPanny]

Emotiva amp

My LPA-1 is driving my 4 ohm Onix ref speakers in the HT and two channels power a distrubuted audio system in 5 rooms. As described above, the amp barely gets warm.

The Axiom's have a high efficiency so the take less power to play loud. The LPA-1 should be plenty, but if you have doubts, get the 200 Watt x 5 XPA-5. There are also comming out with a new entry level amp (UPA-7) that will have 7 full power channels but it will cost more than the soon to be discontinued LPA-1.

 

[Jey Jockey]

My LPA-1 is driving my 4 ohm Onix ref speakers in the HT and two channels power a distrubuted audio system in 5 rooms. As described above, the amp barely gets warm.

The Axiom's have a high efficiency so the take less power to play loud. The LPA-1 should be plenty, but if you have doubts, get the 200 Watt x 5 XPA-5. There are also comming out with a new entry level amp (UPA-7) that will have 7 full power channels but it will cost more than the soon to be discontinued LPA-1.

The m80's are NOT Onix speakers and its not the efficiency, its the big ohm dip which causes problems.

 

[roidefromage]

Thanks for all the feedback. To answer some of the clarifying questions:

I do listen at loud but not ear-bleeding levels, unless we are having a dance party and then I run a little ipod pan mixer through the analog aux. ( I blew the cones in my mordaunt short floors doing this)

The listening area is strange. From a 25 ft. ceiling at an angle, all the down to 10. A rear that has a half wall, and the other half is a voluminous descending stairway. The facing walls have door openings at either side of the l/r channels. I posted the set-up on the emotiva "how does your gear look" thread a few months ago under the same name.


I only run a 5.1 system using am lmc-1 as the processor. I listen to a lot of 5.1 dvd-as and love 5.1 film.

 

[rnatalli]

I pushed Magnepans with the LPA-1 and they're some of the hungriest speakers around. The LPA-1 had no problem getting them to a good volume.

 

[PENG]

The m80's are NOT Onix speakers and its not the efficiency, its the big ohm dip which causes problems.

I guess it depends on how you define big dip. I have seen the impedance curve (20 to 20 KHz) of the m80 v2, it dips to 3 ohms very briefly in between 40 and 50 Hz and the electrical phase peaks to just under 45 degrees at around 50 Hz so the amp will likely feel the worst when reproducing 45 to 50 Hz. At 500 Hz, the phase angle peaks again to about 45 degrees but impedance at that point approaches 8 ohms so that won't be too much of a problem.

From all the curves I have seen, the m80 v2 should not be that hard to drive, but then everything is relative. If you compare it to a speaker that has a relatively flat impedance curve (say 6 to 8 ohms) and phase angles that stay between 0 to +- 30 degrees over the 20 to 20,000 Hz range, then yes the m80 is hard to drive, relatively speaking.

 

[fredk]

Add to that the fact that M80 owners do not have any difficulty driving their speakers with any amp that is capable of handling 4ohm ipmedance. Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha, Marantz..... they all work fine.

Note that Axiom does not recomment Yamaha and Onkyo as not all their products do not all handle 4 ohm loads the same, yet folks still use them (at least certain models) to drive M80s.

If Emotiva tells you the amp is stable into 4 ohms, you will be fine.

Fred

 

[Penny]

You will encounter zero problems whatsoever. If you're using the LPA to run only the 80's then the headroom you will have will allow you run them as loud as your neighbors can stand it.

 

[fredk]

Ooooh! maybe I should get one. I just know my neighbours would love it.

Fred

P.S. I could always get earplugs if I want to really crank it...

 

[roidefromage]

You will encounter zero problems whatsoever. If you're using the LPA to run only the 80's then the headroom you will have will allow you run them as loud as your neighbors can stand it.

How about with the rear surrounds and center channel?