I'm a long time lurker but just decided to register to post in this thread, which is obviously chock-full of brand-bias. Note that I don't currently have a horse in the race as I don't own any brands of power amplifier. I've been researching for several months, trying to find the best one to suit my needs and budget (up to $2,000.) I'm planning on making my decision next week.
I've previously had the Outlaw 7500 as my prime candidate, that is until the XPR-5 came out, which seemed to provide objectively better specs for a similar price. The 7500 as i'm sure a lot of you know, is a product that is manufactured by ATI of California, the same company who makes amps for Mark Levinson, Lexicon, now B&K, and other big names. They are able to sell the 7500 for much less than their other brands because Outlaw Audio is an internet direct brand focused on providing similar quality performance for much less, without dealership mark-ups and other increases in margins like "THX certified" labels. Emotiva is a company that follows the same business model and is able to provide similar quality products for budget-friendly price tags. When I say similar quality, let's review the spec details of comparatively priced products from both brands. Note: I borrowed the following idea from user ss9001, but modified it to compare the 7500 to the newly introduced XPR-5.
Price:
Outlaw 7500 - $1,599 + typically $50-70 shipping, on sale: N/A (not sure if it's been on sale in the past)
Emotiva XPR-5 - $1,999, on sale: 1799.10
Power output:
Outlaw 7500 - 200 watts x 5 @ 8 ohms, 300 watts x 5 @ 4 ohms
Emotiva XPR-5 - 400 watts x 5 @ 8 ohms, 600 watts x 5 @ 4 ohms
Signal to Noise Ratio:
Outlaw 7500 - >120dB below rated FTC full bandwidth power
Emotiva XPR-5 - > 93 dB at 1 watt, > 109 dB at rated power.
Power transistor output devices per channel:
Outlaw 7500 - 12
Emotiva XPR-5 - 12
Total Capacitor Capacity:
Outlaw 7500 - 150,000 mf
Emotiva XPR-5 - 180,000 mf
Power Transformer (Power Supply) Capacity:
Outlaw 7500 - 2 X 1.6 kVA (3200 kVA) torroidal with independent windings per channel
Emotiva XPR-5 - 1 X 3.3 kVA
Origin:
Outlaw 7500 - Made in America (I believe? Although i'm willing to bet that the components are sourced from China)
Emotiva XPR-5 - Made in China
So obviously both are comparable, with the Emotiva edging out the Outlaw in several categories and the Outlaw winning in others. The point is, I rarely see Outlaw being so regularly and heavily bashed, but the mere mention of the name Emotiva always tends to bring a riot of posters with torches, ready to set flame to the thread. The fact that a praise filled "preview" of a product from a venerable internet name like Audioholics has managed to generate this much backlash in such a short period of time, shows that a lot of posters just naturally and instinctively sway to their side of the fence.
Now 2 questions:
1. For under $2,000 and with accompanying warranty, what other multi-channel amps should I be looking at? Also, what makes these amps better than the XPR-5? I have moderately hard to drive, 4ohms, 85dB speakers in a large space.
2. Objectively -- because i'm sure hardly anyone here has heard one of these for themselves -- can somebody please tell me why the Emotiva would be a bad buy? I really want to know, because all i've gathered so far from naysayers is that they make chinese built devices with cheesy blue lights and that they have an annoying following of fanboys.
