Emotiva XPR-2 Stereo Reference Power Amplifier Preview

A

admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
For $1450, and however much it will cost to get a 20 Amp circuit run to your home theater, the Emotvia XPR-2 will deliver impressive performance for a fraction of the cost of other offerings. How much power? How about 600 watts into 8 ohms or 1000 watts into 4 ohms both channels driven! With the ability to independently select balanced or unbalanced input on each channel, 115 or 230 VAC, and adjust the illumination on the front, there is very little more you could want out of an amplifier.


Discuss "Emotiva XPR-2 Stereo Reference Power Amplifier Preview" here. Read the article.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
1KW @ 4 Ohms both channels driver? NICE. I probably don't need that kind of power, but I am sure it would be fun :D
 
ratso

ratso

Full Audioholic
yes it is the one recommended by emotiva. no one in there right mind would rewire their house to run a HT amp. well at least IMO.
 
G

Grador

Audioholic Field Marshall
yes it is the one recommended by emotiva. no one in there right mind would rewire their house to run a HT amp. well at least IMO.
Then no one in their right mind would buy this amp either. I rather agree with you, but thought I'd add a little more perspective.
 
agarwalro

agarwalro

Audioholic Ninja
That appears to be the very one recommended by Big Dan Laufman.
Ha! Now that is very odd. Why would Emo limit the long term power delivery of their amp? As hinted by Bootman, I assume the rationale is that most folk will not push the amp so hard that it will run out of reserve power.

no one in there right mind would rewire their house to run a HT amp.
Since no home comes prewired with a 20A circuit, I assume several people will have to. Either that or add a potential fire hazard to save $500-1000.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
Since no home comes prewired with a 20A circuit, I assume several people will have to. Either that or add a potential fire hazard to save $500-1000.
actually it's not uncommon for new homes to have dedicated 20A lines installed upon request. I had 4 put into my home for such occasions ;)
 
agarwalro

agarwalro

Audioholic Ninja
actually it's not uncommon for new homes to have dedicated 20A lines installed upon request. I had 4 put into my home for such occasions ;)
That's fair. But, I'm thinking more on the lines of pre-existing structures and condos.
 
agarwalro

agarwalro

Audioholic Ninja
I don't think a 1kwatt amp is appropriate for a condo but I know what you mean :D
I was running my Parasound HCA 2205 in a condo situation :D, but I was very careful not to pump the juice when folks were home. One time someone from the next building, came over, to request that I turn it down. I felt like an a$$.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
My house was built in 2003 and has almost nothing but 20a breakers...for the bathrooms. All other breakers are 15a. My theater room has 2 15a breakers, but I have no clue how they split things up. All romex in the house is 12ga, so by code I could install 20a breakers and outlets and be fine. Not happening, but i could in theory.
 
ratso

ratso

Full Audioholic
Ha! Now that is very odd. Why would Emo limit the long term power delivery of their amp? As hinted by Bootman, I assume the rationale is that most folk will not push the amp so hard that it will run out of reserve power.

Since no home comes prewired with a 20A circuit, I assume several people will have to. Either that or add a potential fire hazard to save $500-1000.
actually, emotiva themselves are not saying you have to run this on a 20A circuit. they only did this because that was the only way to get the amp to put out it's full output. i would imagine that no one on earth would need this amp to put out it's full output and we could all live just fine with 90% by just plugging it into our wall outlet. it has nothing to do with "fire risk", i doubt emotiva would tell people it's okay to run it on regular wiring if it would present any kind of fire risk.

from the owner:

"In order to pass testing under lab conditions, which are very demanding, we must use a 20A line cord.

As we all know, in a home environment while listening to music, this type of long term power consumption is not going to be encountered due to the low average power levels found in music and movies.

Furman makes a very nice line cord adapter with a internal circuit breaker that can be safely used to convert the 20A plug to a standard wall outlet, part number ADP-1520.

Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Big Dan"

now, from a marketing perspective i think this whole "20A" thing is stupid and confusing to everybody. they should have just listed the specs running on a standard wall outlet.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
actually, emotiva themselves are not saying you have to run this on a 20A circuit. they only did this because that was the only way to get the amp to put out it's full output. i would imagine that no one on earth would need this amp to put out it's full output and we could all live just fine with 90% by just plugging it into our wall outlet. it has nothing to do with "fire risk", i doubt emotiva would tell people it's okay to run it on regular wiring if it would present any kind of fire risk.

from the owner:

"In order to pass testing under lab conditions, which are very demanding, we must use a 20A line cord.

As we all know, in a home environment while listening to music, this type of long term power consumption is not going to be encountered due to the low average power levels found in music and movies.

Furman makes a very nice line cord adapter with a internal circuit breaker that can be safely used to convert the 20A plug to a standard wall outlet, part number ADP-1520.

Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Big Dan"

now, from a marketing perspective i think this whole "20A" thing is stupid and confusing to everybody. they should have just listed the specs running on a standard wall outlet.
Why ship a product that limits its potential? This amp has more capability than a single 15A circuit can provide it. In those cases, just get an XPA-2. For people wanting more power and having the outlet capability, go for an XPR-2. Pretty brilliant to offer these options in an amplifier line IMO.
 
agarwalro

agarwalro

Audioholic Ninja
Someone has speakers that don't need the power delivered by this amp...
Someone uses this amp on a 15A circuit...

"A fool and his money are easily parted"...

nuf' sed.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Someone has speakers that don't need the power delivered by this amp...
Someone uses this amp on a 15A circuit...

"A fool and his money are easily parted"...

nuf' sed.
But...but...it looks cool. :D

Jokes aside, seriously - it looks cool. I know that I'm not a fan, but if I was, I'd be seriously interested in this thing (well, the XPR-5, as I think it's a better value). It just looks awesome.
 
ratso

ratso

Full Audioholic
Why ship a product that limits its potential? This amp has more capability than a single 15A circuit can provide it. In those cases, just get an XPA-2. For people wanting more power and having the outlet capability, go for an XPR-2. Pretty brilliant to offer these options in an amplifier line IMO.
i totally agree. what i am saying is that the way it was marketed/worded made a lot of people think that having a 20A circuit installed into your home was a requirement for buying this amp, which just isn't true. i just think it would have been far far less confusing if they had marketed it as a 800W, 900W whatever watt amp on 15A with an adapter and then said "but if you are willing to rewire your living room to 20A it will put out an incredible 1000W!". semantics, yes i know. but it has caused a whole big bunch of confusion over at emotiva's forums
 
flyboylr45

flyboylr45

Senior Audioholic
I know there is a "very slight" difference in price, but if I understand it correctly, the Mc2KW amps from Mcintosh are rated at 2000 watts and can be run on a standard 15 amp circuit. Why the need for the 20 amp on the Emotiva? I tried looking but haven't been able to find anywhere that says that the Mc2KW requires a 20 amp line. Just curious how a one company can accomplish it and another can't. Can't imagine that's where the price difference comes in.
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
Since no home comes prewired with a 20A circuit, I assume several people will have to. Either that or add a potential fire hazard to save $500-1000.
It's not a fire hazard so long as the circuit breaker is sized for the wiring in the wall.
 
newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top