Alternative for Emotiva XPA-2 Amp

[jinjuku]

Alex heard the Yamaha P/S series on Chris's setup (WmAx) setup. He could chime in.

WmAx certainly knew what he was doing and taught me and a great deal of others a lot about this hobby. He put the Yamaha onto my radar.

 

[fuzz092888]

Alex heard the Yamaha P/S series on Chris's setup (WmAx) setup. He could chime in.

WmAx certainly knew what he was doing and taught me and a great deal of others a lot about this hobby. He put the Yamaha onto my radar.

I remember when Alex came over to buy his center channel from me and we talked a little about Chris's setup and how it sounded. Alex raved about how it sounded (well at least as much as a big monkey can "rave" about anything ), but the thing that stuck out to me was how he said he wasn't in a great mood/was definitely not in a mindset conducive to wanting the speakers to sound good, but they still blew him away. IIRC he also suspected that it had a lot to do with the speakers combined with the room treatments, but nothing about the amps was mentioned. I'm assuming Wmax was using the Yammy's to power his speakers, so the fact that they were never mentioned means they did exactly what they were supposed to, which would mean they're pretty darn good.

 

[Alex2507]

Alex heard the Yamaha P/S series on Chris's setup (WmAx) setup. He could chime in.

WmAx certainly knew what he was doing and taught me and a great deal of others a lot about this hobby. He put the Yamaha onto my radar.

I did hear those amps at Chris' house. With all due respect for Chris, he was a total nut job but that system set the bar for sounding so incredibly good that nothing to date has come close. I believe that level of fidelity has way more to do with the speakers and room treatments than electronics but rest assured that he wasn't about to let electronics get in the way of fidelity.

He used a Yamaha RX-V2600 for a pre-amp and eventually I got one for myself. I would have ended up with 4 of those Yamaha pro amps with the blue face but through God's good grace ... I can't talk about how much I love Jerry Love any more. Let me skip to the part where I say that even though those amps have fans, they never turned on in that listening environment.

For my personal needs I ended up with a more economical and completely satisfactory combination of used Marantz MA500U and MA700U amps.

If you have an equipment closet away from the listening area (I don't) pro amps with audible fans are not in any way problematic.

I heard a pair of hephaestus amps in a sighted comparison and can assure you that since my abilities to discern sound quality with one of my hearing addled ears is better than anybody else's perfectly good two ears, there is indeed a better sound to be had with big bucks spent on that amp but the return on investment would have me looking at better speakers instead, if I was in fact looking for better sound quality.

There's a lot of factors to the variety of capable amps. The sound that comes out of the speakers in my humble opinion isn't one of the big factors. I have met and respect guys that feel differently ... like Walter, for example. It's his money, his ears and most importantly his satisfaction that count. I could say the same thing about high dollar cables and even cable elevators. In this hobby it's about whatever pushes your hair back.

 

[walter duque]

Alex, what I pay for my equipment is really peanuts.

 

[TheHills44060]

Alex heard the Yamaha P/S series on Chris's setup (WmAx) setup. He could chime in...

An acquaintance of mine uses Yamaha PS (pretty darn sure they are PS series) amps in bar/nightclub and while I cannot speak to how they sound in the home I can comment on their solid durability. They had absolutely no ventilation, were scuffed and dented up, operated in humid environments, had stuff spilled on them, had jillions of feet of wire connected, you name it and they have yet to hiccup.

...I have met and respect guys that feel differently ... like Walter, for example. It's his money, his ears and most importantly his satisfaction that count. I could say the same thing about high dollar cables and even cable elevators. In this hobby it's about whatever pushes your hair back.

Very well said. Some people get so unnecessarily offended by opinions other than their own.

 

[Alex2507]

Oh ... btw, if I had the ching, I'd get that Quad amp TLS suggested. I mean, why not? Good enough for him, good enough for me.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think he is just trolling, probably 16 years old, has no friends and nothing better to do...

Some people seem to really believe that high-end brand amps do a better job with the midrange and treble - as if it is more difficult for the amp to power the midrange/treble and the amp produces more THD and nonlinear frequency response in the midrange/treble.

But seriously though, I mean seriously, a lot of us (not all of us) think amps are cool and aesthetic is important, so most of us probably won't be placing pro amps in our systems.

 

[ematthews]

So with that said, the Emotiva amps should sound as good and the same as any other Hifi amp?
I am guessing that it's my preamp {emotiva usp-1} that has the sound change then......Because the Harmon Kardon HK3490 sounds better to my ears than the USP-1 and XPA-2 set up.. The HK3490 doesn't sound as bright..
So we established that amps sound the same but Pre-amps don't... Correct?

 

[jinjuku]

So with that said, the Emotiva amps should sound as good and the same as any other Hifi amp?
I am guessing that it's my preamp {emotiva usp-1} that has the sound change then......Because the Harmon Kardon HK3490 sounds better to my ears than the USP-1 and XPA-2 set up.. The HK3490 doesn't sound as bright..
So we established that amps sound the same but Pre-amps don't... Correct?

Did you try feeding your XPA-2 with the HK3490 via it's stereo outs?

You could try feeding the HK with the USP-1.

This way you get to try all your combinations.

I'm a firm believer that anyone can make any audio component, purposefully alter it's response, and market that difference.

When it comes to a Pre-amp you have to consider it's function. It's one of convenience in that it's meant to make it easy to access all your sources.

So think about this: When you purchase a Pre-amp what you are basically doing is trying to purchase the one that does the LEAST AMOUNT OF DAMAGE to the sources you have plugged into it. This is of course assuming critical vs casual listening.

I get a laugh every time I hear about someone espousing the merits of a Pre-amp as it pertains to sound stage, imaging, depth etc. A pre-amp can not do any better then the source connected to it. And ideally it should, in theory, do nothing at all.

If you take a look at my setup I don't even have a pre-amp. It's straight from my sound card to amp to speakers.

 

[jinjuku]

If you are using Amazon for getting the Yammy amp, if you don't care for it Prime makes it a cinch to return. You just print the return label and they take care of the postage. Just plop it back into the box and drop off at UPS.

 

[ematthews]

Thanks for the great info. Every little bit helps. The HK3490 was given to my son a while ago. I should have kept it. Great receiver in my book.. Now they look hard to get.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So with that said, the Emotiva amps should sound as good and the same as any other Hifi amp?
I am guessing that it's my preamp {emotiva usp-1} that has the sound change then......Because the Harmon Kardon HK3490 sounds better to my ears than the USP-1 and XPA-2 set up.. The HK3490 doesn't sound as bright..
So we established that amps sound the same but Pre-amps don't... Correct?

In Direct or Pure Direct mode and same volume level, they should not sound similar.

But when you use different EQs (like Audyssey Dynamic EQ vs. Dolby Volume vs. other EQs), they should sound differently.

 

[ematthews]

I'm only talking about two channel non AVR preamps...

 

[walter duque]

Some people seem to really believe that high-end brand amps do a better job with the midrange and treble - as if it is more difficult for the amp to power the midrange/treble and the amp produces more THD and nonlinear frequency response in the midrange/treble.

But seriously though, I mean seriously, a lot of us (not all of us) think amps are cool and aesthetic is important, so most of us probably won't be placing pro amps in our systems.

So what would you call your ATI amps. Seems to me you own just about everyone they ever made?? I happen to believe ATI is a high-end brand. I don't see any $199.00 power amps in your system.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So what would you call your ATI amps. Seems to me you own just about everyone they ever made?? I happen to believe ATI is a high-end brand. I don't see any $199.00 power amps in your system.

It doesn't matter to me if I can't hear a difference. I SEE the difference.

Yeah, I like ATI. I like getting ATI amps for 50% off.

And I like those big heavy metal handles in the front.

No EMO or other amps for me. I would rather get an AT1202 amp for $680 than the EMO XPA-200 ($500) or Crown XLS 2500 ($650) with more power than the ATI. But that's just me. It's okay for other guys, though.

 

[ematthews]

It doesn't matter to me if I can't hear a difference. I SEE the difference.

Yeah, I like ATI. I like getting ATI amps for 50% off.

And I like those big heavy metal handles in the front.



No EMO or other amps for me. I would rather get an AT1202 amp for $680 than the EMO XPA-200 ($500) or Crown XLS 2500 ($650) with more power than the ATI. But that's just me. It's okay for other guys, though.

Hook me up on how to get 50 off. I'm in for that kind of deal. Either PM me or.

 

[Alex2507]

So we established that amps sound the same but Pre-amps don't... Correct?

No, we didn't establish anything. You may have established that and it's on you to show that to me if we are going anywhere as a couple.

I've lusted after a Parasound 2200 pre-amp because a guy who use to come around here said that a room full of people thought it sounded better than an AVR. I may be chasing the wind here and that's fine. I'm not particularly busy anyway. It's a few hundred bucks and eventually I'll get to see for myself.

With a few different rec'rs I noticed a difference that I tracked down to the cross over slope being used. A THX slope of 24 db/ octave has the sub less localizable than that of a 12 db/octave slope employed by my old HK AVR 430. Are you using the crossovers? Do you know the slopes? These are likely things you'll have to figure out on your own. You already have it in your head that the Emo is bright and you want to replace it. That's what you should do. Then tell us what you think and we'll see to it that at least one person here tells you that you're crazy.

We talk about dbt but not many here have even seen sbt and we all still have opinions. It's these opinions that drive sales ... like the emo gear sale that Adam is waiting for me to suggest that you have. BTW, how much do you want for that ... stuff?

 

[fuzz092888]

Hook me up on how to get 50 off. I'm in for that kind of deal. Either PM me or.

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[ematthews]

Home Page

Thanks.. Bit high for my bank account.. Got to sell more stuff for these. I have the wants of a Porsche and the budget for a VW..

 

[ImcLoud]

I've lusted after a Parasound 2200 pre-amp because a guy who use to come around here said that a room full of people thought it sounded better than an AVR. I may be chasing the wind here and that's fine. I'm not particularly busy anyway. It's a few hundred bucks and eventually I'll get to see for myself.

The 2100 IMO is one of the best deals in 2 channel stereo, I own a usp1 too, also a nice unit...