Amp recommendation for $75K system

[VladP]

Thats one of the reasons I went with Class D, I have both a D-Sonic and a Wyred4Sound.... there are skeptics of the Class D's, but I have nothing but love for them... More then ample power for my needs in a nice small package. And they consume extremely small amounts of power on idle..

Adding my D2v to my Wyred amp through Balanced connections has made things even sweeter for me. My previous pioneer receiver was handing off a buzz/ground loop to the tweeters.... Now its gone and dead silent.

I also have Wyred 4 Sound amp now but I have decided to try XPA-1 to see how they compare to the W4S. At least I have 30 days to return the XPA-1 if I don't like them. I just hope that XPA-1 would be better for high frequencies - that is my only gripe with W4S right now. With some recordings, W4S sounds great with HF, but with some - not so good.

 

[Lordoftherings]

Smart ***!

Thats one of the reasons I went with Class D, I have both a D-Sonic and a Wyred4Sound.... there are skeptics of the Class D's, but I have nothing but love for them... More then ample power for my needs in a nice small package. And they consume extremely small amounts of power on idle..

Adding my D2v to my Wyred amp through Balanced connections has made things even sweeter for me. My previous pioneer receiver was handing off a buzz/ground loop to the tweeters.... Now its gone and dead silent.

Warpdrv, I believe that you are a very smart fellow.

You now own the best video (Gennum) and audio surround processor, including the best digital room calibration system (Anthem D2 AV/ARC1).

And you are current (energy saving + lighter and smaller) with the miniaturization of amplifier technology (class D amps).

In my book, you are ahead of the curve, and this is where we should all be aiming. And this is where eventually we will all end up.

Now, for Celebrations, about a shot of a nice Brandy and a toast to the Brand New World (BNW). [Heck, today we just discover our 47 million years old ancestor!]

Cheers,

Bob

 

[PaulF]

I also have Wyred 4 Sound amp now but I have decided to try XPA-1 to see how they compare to the W4S. At least I have 30 days to return the XPA-1 if I don't like them. I just hope that XPA-1 would be better for high frequencies - that is my only gripe with W4S right now. With some recordings, W4S sounds great with HF, but with some - not so good.

Vlad, I'll be interested to hear your impressions of the XPA-1 and how it compares to the W4S. I have not heard a really bad class d amp (except maybe the Sony STR series) but they always leave me wanting for a little mo

 

[VladP]

Vlad, I'll be interested to hear your impressions of the XPA-1 and how it compares to the W4S. I have not heard a really bad class d amp (except maybe the Sony STR series) but they always leave me wanting for a little mo

I am getting two xpa-1's on Friday - I'll try to post my impressions once I had enough time to compare them.

 

[Warpdrv]

Vlad, I'll be interested to hear your impressions of the XPA-1 and how it compares to the W4S. I have not heard a really bad class d amp (except maybe the Sony STR series) but they always leave me wanting for a little mo

Agreed, I too am looking forward to his findings, I'm probably not as discerning of a listener to the degree he may be... With that said I have great hearing and enjoy my music and movies very much. I can honestly say that I have never experienced any issues regarding the highs with my speakers with the wyred, but they are certainly not the best or perfectspeakers on the block but pretty darn good in my ears.

With that said, chances of me changing out to huge monoblock amps like the XPA-1s, I really like my space saver ICE Amps

 

[VladP]

Vlad, I'll be interested to hear your impressions of the XPA-1 and how it compares to the W4S. I have not heard a really bad class d amp (except maybe the Sony STR series) but they always leave me wanting for a little mo

Well, I have had Emotiva XPA-1 for a few days and I don't think I need any more time to make a conclusion - I am keeping XPA-1 and I am buying three more XPA-1 for my 5-channel system. My W4S amps are going for sale.

XPA-1 appear to be much better with high frequencies on my B&W802D (IMO of course). I used the same recordings I had problems with W4S and the top end was much smoother with XPA-1. If before I would get extremely fatigued with these particular recordings using W4S after a fairly short time, now with XPA-1 I can listen for hours. Clearly these are my subjective evaluations, but I really like XPA-1 with my B&W802D. I also think that XPA-1 sound as good or better across the board, not just with HF and the sound has more "meat" to it.

The drawback for XPA-1 is their huge size and energy consumption. Five XPA-1's would take a lot of space and would likely raise my electric bill. W4S are much more compact and easy to place, but I want to enjoy all my recordings and it was not possible with W4S.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I always thought listener fatigue had more to do with the speakers and pre-pros' DSPs & EQs than the amplifiers.

 

[VladP]

I always thought listener fatigue had more to do with the speakers and pre-pros' DSPs & EQs than the amplifiers.

I don't know. The reason I started looking for another amp is that before W4S I never had fatigue and once I got W4S all of a sudden I could not listen to some recordings with a lot of HF extension. Many recordings sounded great, but some - not so. With XPA-1 these same recordings sound fine. It must be a combination of everything in my system, but XPA-1 seem to provide a better synergy than W4S. B&W802D are extremely revealing of the top end.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I don't know. The reason I started looking for another amp is that before W4S I never had fatigue and once I got W4S all of a sudden I could not listen to some recordings with a lot of HF extension. Many recordings sounded great, but some - not so. With XPA-1 these same recordings sound fine. It must be a combination of everything in my system, but XPA-1 seem to provide a better synergy than W4S. B&W802D are extremely revealing of the top end.

Well, the main thing is that the XPA-1 worked for you.

I suppose there are things we just can't explain.

Theoretically, if the amps and speakers have a flat frequency repsonse, the sound should be pretty good.

But I guess we're humans, not robots.

We are subject to a lot of things.

I had a similar reaction with my Acurus preamp (fatigue) vs Denon preamp (no fatigue), even though theoretically I should NOT have heard any differences.

Anyway, I think getting five XPA-1s is an awesome idea!

I was thinking of getting five myself, but that is a lot of space and weight.

 

[VladP]

Well, the main thing is that the XPA-1 worked for you.

I suppose there are things we just can't explain.

Theoretically, if the amps and speakers have a flat frequency repsonse, the sound should be pretty good.

But I guess we're humans, not robots.

We are subject to a lot of things.

I had a similar reaction with my Acurus preamp (fatigue) vs Denon preamp (no fatigue), even though theoretically I should NOT have heard any differences.

Anyway, I think getting five XPA-1s is an awesome idea!

I was thinking of getting five myself, but that is a lot of space and weight.

I wonder if fatigue with W4S was caused by fairly high distortion at HF. I did not see any THD vs frequency graphs for W4S, but there is a review of Rotel RB-1092 (http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/power-amplifiers/11-a-secrets-power-amplifier-review.html?showall=1) which uses the same ICE module (1000ASP) and measurements show high distortion specifically at HF. I don't know at what level differences in distortion are audible, but THD was above 1% between 10 and 20 Khz at 20 v input.

 

[Warpdrv]

Interesting....

What are running for a Preamp...?

 

[VladP]

Interesting....

What are running for a Preamp...?

I have denon dvd 5910 using source direct (no digital processing) to Emotiva DMC-1 (analog bypass).

 

[Lordoftherings]

Nice system

I have denon dvd 5910 using source direct (no digital processing) to Emotiva DMC-1 (analog bypass).

Vlad, you have an excellent setup. Congratulations!

Denon DVD-5910 Universal DVD player (the very best).
B&W 802D speakers (very nice).
Emotiva DMC-1 (yep).
Emotiva XPA-1s (that should do the trick with your 802Ds).

Very nice indeed.

LOTR

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I have denon dvd 5910 using source direct (no digital processing) to Emotiva DMC-1 (analog bypass).

I had the 5910CI for about a year before selling it. So it's connected via analog?

What about blu-ray? Is it connected via HDMI?

 

[VladP]

I had the 5910CI for about a year before selling it. So it's connected via analog?

What about blu-ray? Is it connected via HDMI?

Yes, my 5910 is connected via 5.1 analog. I just got a new Oppo blue ray player and I connected stereo via analog as well, but I cannot take advantage of HD audio of blue ray yet (I use coax to the DMC-1 - no HDMI for audio). I am thinking about buying a new pre-pro at some point - may be emotiva xmc? I have not decided yet.

I also have B&W803D as surrounds and B&W HTM2D as a center.

 

[Lordoftherings]

Yes, my 5910 is connected via 5.1 analog. I just got a new Oppo blue ray player and I connected stereo via analog as well, but I cannot take advantage of HD audio of blue ray yet (I use coax to the DMC-1 - no HDMI for audio). I am thinking about buying a new pre-pro at some point - may be emotiva xmc? I have not decided yet.

I also have B&W803D as surrounds and B&W HTM2D as a center.

About the Onkyo PRO PR-SC886P.

 

[VladP]

About the Onkyo PRO PR-SC886P.

I thought about it, but I am in no rush. I want to see how the playing field of pre-pros looks by the end of the year.

 

[Lordoftherings]

I thought about it, but I am in no rush. I want to see how the playing field of pre-pros looks by the end of the year.

With the economy still in the doldrums!...

And even the Onkyo PR-SC885P at the price right now is a very sweat deal.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yes, my 5910 is connected via 5.1 analog. I just got a new Oppo blue ray player and I connected stereo via analog as well, but I cannot take advantage of HD audio of blue ray yet (I use coax to the DMC-1 - no HDMI for audio). I am thinking about buying a new pre-pro at some point - may be emotiva xmc? I have not decided yet.

I also have B&W803D as surrounds and B&W HTM2D as a center.

Wow. Nice speaker system. How much did you pay for your speaker system, if you don't mind me asking.

I know five XPA-1s will cost you $5K + S/H.

With the new Oppo BD/SACD/DVD-A player, which can get DSD, MLP, PCM, TrueHD, & DTS-HD via HDMI, would you still need the 5910?

Do you think you will upgrade to the 800Ds at some point?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I don't know at what level differences in distortion are audible, but THD was above 1% between 10 and 20 Khz at 20 v input.

Oh, man ABOVE 1% THD?

I didn't know that.

Did you know that BEFORE you bought these amps?