Emotiva vs. Classe vs. Bryston

[mperfct]

Where does Outlaw Audio rank in all of this? They seem to be a pretty good alternative to Emotiva from what I've seen. Granted my room is less than 1800 cubic feet, so I don't think that I would necessarily gain a substantial amount of performance with an amp (I have a Marantz 8001 that is rated at 7x125w)

 

[greggp2]

Ok, I'll buy into the fact the Emotiva sucks, if you can explain to me how and why? Does their sound quality not live up to the others? Just because it doesn't get reviewed isn't enough for me. Many manufacturers pay magazines to review their equipment. Since Emotiva is sold direct from the Manufacturer, perhaps they don't adhere to the same marketing techniques that other mass market or speciality boutique companies do.

They are reviewed on the web and the reviews seem good. I do know some here have had issues with their products, but they typically knew fairly early on and had warranty problems. I'm not going to say Emotiva has great warranty service, because I've never tested it, but I am hoping that their units are built to last and perhaps a couple of people got some unfortunate breaks on the products they received.

I mean Gene got a bad Z7 from Yamaha and not until the beginning of this month will Yamaha release a firmware update to fix the video problems that Gene and others have been experiencing. All manufacturers have QA issues at times. That doesn't necessarily make all their products suck.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but would like to know why you think Emotiva sucks. I just bought one, am not married to them and would return the Amp if I thought I was going to have a problem though. Mine is working fine, and it sounds fine, so rather than just wanting to spend more money on a well known brand name, why should I return my XPA-2?

 

[Matt34]

Emotiva sucks, they don't even get reviewed in print magazines.

 

[Shock]

Ok, I'll buy into the fact the Emotiva sucks, if you can explain to me how and why? Does their sound quality not live up to the others? Just because it doesn't get reviewed isn't enough for me. Many manufacturers pay magazines to review their equipment. Since Emotiva is sold direct from the Manufacturer, perhaps they don't adhere to the same marketing techniques that other mass market or speciality boutique companies do.

They are reviewed on the web and the reviews seem good. I do know some here have had issues with their products, but they typically knew fairly early on and had warranty problems. I'm not going to say Emotiva has great warranty service, because I've never tested it, but I am hoping that their units are built to last and perhaps a couple of people got some unfortunate breaks on the products they received.

I mean Gene got a bad Z7 from Yamaha and not until the beginning of this month will Yamaha release a firmware update to fix the video problems that Gene and others have been experiencing. All manufacturers have QA issues at times. That doesn't necessarily make all their products suck.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but would like to know why you think Emotiva sucks. I just bought one, am not married to them and would return the Amp if I thought I was going to have a problem though. Mine is working fine, and it sounds fine, so rather than just wanting to spend more money on a well known brand name, why should I return my XPA-2?

It's a running joke in the forums, Emotiva does infact not suck.

 

[Chopin_Guy]

I thought the purpose of both the pre-amp and amp (or any AVR for that matter) are to TRANSPARENTLY pass and amplifiy the given signal. When it comes to sound quality, reproduction (soundstage--and all of the other esoteric rhetoric that gets tossed around)--that's the job of the speakers...

Is this not a big misconception in audio reproduction....I want my speakers to create the sound while my sources and amplification being as transparent as possible...

 

[greggp2]

I've heard good things about Outlaw. They are a bit more expensive, but all in all, they are pretty good. Though I have no experience using them.

 

[Shock]

Matt if you banned me a great sadness would fall over these forums.....a great great sadness.

 

[greggp2]

Matt if you banned me a great sadness would fall over these forums.....a great great sadness.

That's true. Shock's red chicklet would be missed.

 

[greggp2]

Ok, question for you guys then. is it bad to have a 2 channel amp powering your mains and use a good receiver (Arcam) to power the Center and rears? Obviously leveling everything with an SPL meter? Or, should the Amps absolutely be the same up front?

 

[greggp2]

It's a running joke in the forums, Emotiva does infact not suck.

Thank God. I can't imagine lifting that thing again to get it down to the UPS store...

 

[greggp2]

Matt,

Nice Skirt!!! Ok Kilt... Don't ban me... Please.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

No it's not bad but if you have 5 or 7 identical speakers that need power, you should powering them all the same.

Ok, question for you guys then. is it bad to have a 2 channel amp powering your mains and use a good receiver (Arcam) to power the Center and rears? Obviously leveling everything with an SPL meter? Or, should the Amps absolutely be the same up front?

 

[CraigV]

Where does Outlaw Audio rank in all of this? They seem to be a pretty good alternative to Emotiva from what I've seen. Granted my room is less than 1800 cubic feet, so I don't think that I would necessarily gain a substantial amount of performance with an amp (I have a Marantz 8001 that is rated at 7x125w)

Right there with NAD, a step below B&K, Arcam, Anthem, Rotel

With Krell as King Of The Hill


BTW - you know who's a HUGE audiophile?

Fabio. He has bought speakers and amps that the high end companies made as prototypes, but ultimately decided were to expensive to bring to market.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Hey everybody,

I am curious, how does Emotiva compare to Classe or Bryston. I have Paradigm S8's v2 and I drive them with the XPA-3 and a Yammy rxv3800 as pre/pro. Although the XPA-3 is good it starts to lose it's detail and separation as soon as you start to turn the vol. up (it just gets loud) so I think the 8's need a little more stable juice.

A few people recommended the Wyred4sound amps which are extremely intriguing to me but I don't know that much about them. I thought about getting the XPA-1's for my fronts but here's my problem, I don't have the REAL ESTATE to hold (2) 90 lb amps and a 70 lb amp, so I have to get 1 amp that has significant power to drive the 8's to their potential.

Here are my choices since they all fall within about the same price range as the XPA 1's:

Used Classe CA-400
Used Bryston 4B SST
Used Anthem Statement P2

I am definitely not apposed to the Wyred4sound or others similar but I don't know enough about them to make the decision.

Thanks for all of your suggestions and help!

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Before you go spending a bunch of money on another amp do you have room treatments? Most untreated rooms don't do ultra loud very well because the sound just bounces all over and saturates the room. (my words, I'm no pro)

Could a more powerful amp help? Maybe, but if your room has a lot of hard untreated surfaces or is sparsely furnished, treatments might be the answer.

SBF1

 

[greggp2]

I was thinking about putting carpet on the ceiling... What do you think?

 

[greggp2]

No it's not bad but if you have 5 or 7 identical speakers that need power, you should powering them all the same.

Well, you can see my set up in my signature. My center is not the same as my mains or rears. That being said, if you were going to use an Arcam AVR350, would you just bi-amp the mains with the 2 assignable amps and use the Arcam's amps for everything, or...

would you use a separate, more powerful amp (like the Emotiva XPA-2) which I know you are not a fan of, to power the mains and the Arcam to power the Center and Rears?

 

[jb5200]

Thank you everybody that responded with their opinions regarding my original post and especially those the PM'd me with their thoughts & experiences b/c you could tell this tread went no-where in a real hurry. I only put out posts to gain knowledge because I am merely a beginner and am in search of true audio nirvana.

For those that responded with nothing more than posts of their own makes me ask the question, "why don't you start your own post to get YOUR OWN answers for your own questions, instead of sidetracking someone else's thread?" I realize everyone has their own tastes/preferences and can only offer their advice and that's what I want, advice b/c I don't have enough knowledge in this area and I am trying to learn as much as possible. I hope that makes sense!

Thanks!

jb

 

[ParadigmDawg]

There is no way a thread will stay on track when I'm involved.

I will still throw in some good advice from time to time so just skip through the BS and find the helpful stuff.

For those that responded with nothing more than posts of their own makes me ask the question, "why don't you start your own post to get YOUR OWN answers for your own questions, instead of sidetracking someone else's thread?" I realize everyone has their own tastes/preferences and can only offer their advice and that's what I want, advice b/c I don't have enough knowledge in this area and I am trying to learn as much as possible. I hope that makes sense!

Thanks!

jb

 

[CraigV]

My apologies if I contributed to the derailment, but I did give my opinion of which amp I thought was best - the rest of my posts were trying to justify my opinion.

 

[greggp2]

Sorry Jeff, but I do have an Emotiva and tried to give you some feedback on it. You will see on most threads that they go off topic quite a bit. From the responses you got though, I would say try going with an Emotiva if you want to save some money. The general concensus is that for the money, they can't be beat...

Some of the guys have had some issues with warranties, but there are plenty of happy Emotiva owners on this forum and others on the web. My XPA-2 sounds very good and is far more detailed, clear and with tighter bass than any receiver Amp I've ever used...

Hope that helps... Sorry for the distractions...