Emotiva XPR-5 Five-Channel Reference Power Amplifier Preview

[Adam]

Though the LED power/logo button is cool and all, it is EXTREMELY bright. I cover it up, because it is actually a bit distracting while using the system. Bouncing LEDs on that front display will be OK as long as the brightness can be controlled or turned off.

It's too bad that they didn't include the selective brightness control on your model. I have that on both of mine and like that feature. It looks like the XPR-5 has it, too.

My RPA-1 has the VU meters, and my IPS-1 has LEDs (they don't bounce - just show if a channel is on or not). The VU meters were my preference at first, but after using them both for years, they're pretty even in my book because I don't tend to look at them much. Besides, I've only seen the VU meters move once...when I first got it and wanted to see if I could make it move. I'm such a lightweight.

 

[Adam]

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 can tell you that I've had two unsatisfying buying experiences from them, and that I'm not alone in that - but that there are several others on here (that I believe without question) that are happy with their products and the company. So, there isn't a guarantee of a positive experience, but there is a decent probability of one. Like any internet purchase, as long as you can return it and are willing to pay the applicably shipping to do so, your risk is fairly minimal.

If it weren't for my personal experience with them, I'd definitely be considering the XPR-5 over the 7500. If for no other reasons than the looks. My goodness, what a fine looking amp. I heavily considered the 7500 years ago, but I could just never get into the looks of it. Objectively, I'd consider the size and weight of both units, and any others that you consider. The Emotiva is almost two inches taller (9.5" tall versus 7.75"), 1.5" deeper (19.5" versus 18"), and 14 pounds heavier (94 lbs versus 80), so check where you want to install either one. The connections are very similar, but the Emotiva has a 12V trigger output that the Outlaw lacks. I'd be tempted by the 400W versus 200W rating (okay, I still kind of am ), but I've learned that I never get anywhere near needing 200W with my usage, so that's a wash for me.

 

[sharkman]

Here's a look at what some Emotiva enthusiasts think about this thread over on the Emotiva forum...

Most of the people have never even touched the gear they have their strong opinions about, but that doesn't keep them from shooting their mouths off... it's amazing what people can say when they are hiding behind an avatar.

Personally I've always thought that free speech is a good thing.

 

[oppman99]

Here's a look at what some Emotiva enthusiasts think about this thread over on the Emotiva forum...


Personally I've always thought that free speech is a good thing.

Just let it go. Cross forum spats are never productive and it seems to bring out the trolls.

 

[jinjuku]

Hmm ugly cosmetics, power ratings only at 1kHz. Many Class D amps have issues powering 4 ohm speakers fullbandwidth. High distortion, Terrible SNR figures which are claimed at full rated power. Where do I sign up?

This may be great for portable PA as they are claiming its purpose is just for that, but I wouldn't call these audiophile nor would they likely be suited for critical two channel listening in a home environment where the noisefloor and resolution of upstream equipment would hear the limitations of these amps.


Seriously lets keep this thread on track and STOP with the posts about other DJ amps that would yield more power per dollar. Emotiva isn't a DJ amp company. Their core business is consumer audio. Different market with different design goals.

Uhg... firstly I don't know why a 'preview' has garnered so many pages. Emotiva makes a good product. If the performance to dollar isn't there or you don't need 400 WPC then you have options.

Gene on the 'Pro-audio' side of things I really am going to push you to open up a bit about that. When you get a chance and if you have the connections get a MacroTech in the stack at some point. Crowns entire spiel about this line is it's fidelity. I promise you that if you strap the i5000 onto your newest toys they will have plenty of juice and the Crown won't break a sweat. It also won't break your back.

As far as hiss: From my understanding it's not a noise floor issue. It's a gain structure issue. My Crown XLS 402D is absolutely silent. Just blackness. It's SNR unweighted 97dB. I dumped my Parasounds (both HCA 1000A) because they were too noisy. Now mind you not from the listening spot but bothered me none the less.

 

[Matt34]

Here's a look at what some Emotiva enthusiasts think about this thread over on the Emotiva forum...


Personally I've always thought that free speech is a good thing.

It's too bad they didn't really read the thread because they would know that both Adam and AcuDefTechGuy have owned multiple Emotiva products.

Heaven forbid if someone doesn't care for a piece of equipment and voices their opinion.

Here's to hoping rabid fanboi-ism died in the AV123 era.






Bring on the XPR-2.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Just let it go. Cross forum spats are never productive and it seems to bring out the trolls.

Agreed. It usually ends up as only 2-3 people in each forum calling names and then everyone else in both forums become "a bunch of jerks" without merit.

To the Emotiva forum regulars - Please take into consideration that there are more "lovers" of Emotiva products than "haters" here in the AH forums, but there are both (just the same as every other manufacturer), and a healthy discussion is encouraged to increase the knowledge of all involved. It just needs to stay healthy. We have our Idiots and you have yours. If necessary let's draw attention to the individual and not a whole forum. Thanks.


FWIW, I do not or have ever owned any Emotiva products or dealt with them in any way.

 

[cfelliot]

I followed this post from the Emotiva forum.

Although I am not a candidate for this amp, it's way more power than I would ever need with a Klipsch Heritage based system, I can attest to my experience with the Emotiva amps that I do own.

I first bought a UPA-5 5 channel amp and then added a UPA-2 to fill out a 7.2 system.

I have been more than happy with both from a operational standpoint and a service standpoint.

I'm not a Emotiva fanboy making a post just to "cheer them on", but I may consider the XPR-2 for my subs when it comes out.

 

[GranteedEV]

Hmm ugly cosmetics, power ratings only at 1kHz. Many Class D amps have issues powering 4 ohm speakers fullbandwidth. High distortion, Terrible SNR figures which are claimed at full rated power. Where do I sign up?

This may be great for portable PA as they are claiming its purpose is just for that, but I wouldn't call these audiophile nor would they likely be suited for critical two channel listening in a home environment where the noisefloor and resolution of upstream equipment would hear the limitations of these amps.

Seriously lets keep this thread on track and STOP with the posts about other DJ amps that would yield more power per dollar. Emotiva isn't a DJ amp company. Their core business is consumer audio. Different market with different design goals.

Gene, that post came off really snobbish. It would be valid if you had actual experience with the amp in question but it's based on a spec sheet targeting an entirely different market.

Maybe its SNR ratio improves with a different gain dial setting.

Maybe its 20hz-20khz performance is worse than 1khz - yet still outstanding.

Maybe its distortion is much lower a few watts away from clipping. And is dominated by benign 2nd order products.

Measure it through you own advanced setup so we can compare apples to apples. As it is I just see pure snobbery without any useful basis aside from different unrelated experiences with unrelated class D designs and entirely different 'DJ' amps. Which is ridiculous to say the least. all Class D amps struggle full bandwidth driving 4 ohm loads? Measure and prove it then. Because class D is a VERY broad category with hundreds of ways to approach a problem - 80 of which lead to explosions.

It's essentially NO different from all the stuff I seem to often read about Emotiva amps online - that they are are harsh sounding amps with lots of grainy crossover distortion and ugly cosmetics, made for the mid fi high power HT crowd rather than real audiophiles who want nuance etc and buy their [Insert $5000 100wpc amp]. Very familiar. Very irrationally biased.

As far as the crowns go, all I really know is that it seems to be good a module enough for Lexicon to use in their amps. And we all know just about how much midification they give it.

 

[Gordonj]

As far as hiss: From my understanding it's not a noise floor issue. It's a gain structure issue. My Crown XLS 402D is absolutely silent. Just blackness. It's SNR unweighted 97dB.

You are indeed correct. A large part of the hiss some are experiencing from the EMO amps would probably be credited to a higher gain input stage (since the SNR is relatively equal to others). In systems when a speaker is hissing it is normally due to the gain-stage being set up wrong, in some form.

Also, while i am not an EMO owner (yet) the "bang-for -the-buck" of their products is great, and yes i wish they had VU's.....

Gordon

 

[cpp]

It sure looks like by the obvious reference to the first time posters on this thread that the Emotiva boys have come to rescue their product. Like any product, there are goods and bad's with all products, it's just audio, not a miracle cure for cancer. But I can say my Emotiva DAC and pre-amp and UPA-200 are still working at my daughters college dorm. But this is the second DAC Emotiva has replaced and I can say they have demonstrates good customer service. Any way carry on.. The darn XPR is sure heavy.

 

[j_garcia]

It's too bad that they didn't include the selective brightness control on your model. I have that on both of mine and like that feature. It looks like the XPR-5 has it, too.

My RPA-1 has the VU meters, and my IPS-1 has LEDs (they don't bounce - just show if a channel is on or not). The VU meters were my preference at first, but after using them both for years, they're pretty even in my book because I don't tend to look at them much. Besides, I've only seen the VU meters move once...when I first got it and wanted to see if I could make it move. I'm such a lightweight.

It actually isn't the LEDs for the channels, those are fine because they are relatively dim. It is the actual power button that is a really bright backlit LED.

I actually had a problem with my XPA-3 initially too. Emotiva's customer service took care of the issue, no questions asked. No issues since then and no complaints (besides the LED which is personal preference). Are they the holy grail of amps? Maybe not, but I wasn't looking for the grail, I was looking for good bang for the buck and they definitely deliver in that category. A company with great customer service certainly also earns my respect.

 

[avliner]

Totally agree with you John

When I first got my UPA-7, couple months later one channel board went kaput and they send me another one for free, no questions asked and up to now I'm pretty much happy though, so if you ask me about Emo's CS, I'd just say: paramount, but YMMV

 

[Adam]

It actually isn't the LEDs for the channels, those are fine because they are relatively dim. It is the actual power button that is a really bright backlit LED.

I understood...my power buttons dim, too.

 

[Cruise Missile]

I dig my Emotiva amps. XPA-2/XPA-5

Well, I think I do anyways.

I haven't thought about them since I put them in. I haven't had to, no problems or hiccups to warrant thought.

I guess that makes them unremarkable.

If only they had analogue VU meters, then I'd have something to think about.


*removes tongue from cheek*




If the XPR-2 has analogue VU meters, my wife is going to be pissed at me.....





Again....

 

[PENG]

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.

I have no experience with either one and I would not say Emotiva amps are bad. In fact I think they are good buys for the money. Assuming the specs you quoted are accurate, I find Outlaw's power output numbers more believable. I am biased, as I like Outlaw's name better, not as nice as ATI but sounds better than Emotiva that sounds strange to me.

So I would go with the Outlaw for sure.

 

[gene]

Gene, that post came off really snobbish. It would be valid if you had actual experience with the amp in question but it's based on a spec sheet targeting an entirely different market.

Maybe its SNR ratio improves with a different gain dial setting.

Maybe its 20hz-20khz performance is worse than 1khz - yet still outstanding.

Maybe its distortion is much lower a few watts away from clipping. And is dominated by benign 2nd order products.

Measure it through you own advanced setup so we can compare apples to apples. As it is I just see pure snobbery without any useful basis aside from different unrelated experiences with unrelated class D designs and entirely different 'DJ' amps. Which is ridiculous to say the least. all Class D amps struggle full bandwidth driving 4 ohm loads? Measure and prove it then. Because class D is a VERY broad category with hundreds of ways to approach a problem - 80 of which lead to explosions.

It's essentially NO different from all the stuff I seem to often read about Emotiva amps online - that they are are harsh sounding amps with lots of grainy crossover distortion and ugly cosmetics, made for the mid fi high power HT crowd rather than real audiophiles who want nuance etc and buy their [Insert $5000 100wpc amp]. Very familiar. Very irrationally biased.

As far as the crowns go, all I really know is that it seems to be good a module enough for Lexicon to use in their amps. And we all know just about how much midification they give it.

It's not snobbery, its understanding and using equipment what its meant for. Designing an amp for sound reinforcement is much different than consumer audio. I have listened to and measured many pro amps in the past including those from Crown. They are fine amps for pro audio, they are light weight, efficient, high power, but they are at a disadvantage to well engineered consumer amps that are designed to play high resolution audio in an acoustically controlled listening space. That being said, most consumer amps, especially pure Class A ones, are unsuited for pro audio.

If designing an amp using a SMPS power supply and Class D topology was "similarly good" to designing an amp with a linear power supply and less efficient but more linear conventional power amp, then all other more expensive and inefficient topologies would quickly go away.

It's important to understand what type of an environment a product is designed for and realize that there usually limitations outside of that environment.

The same goes with speakers, what is appropriate for small room acoustics is usually NOT for large listening venues.

In the future, I may do formal reviews of pro-amps with bench testing but its really not our market and I'd rather stay more focused on consumer gear that is more appropriate for the home theater environment.

 

[PENG]

The problem is that your speakers suck.

J/K!

So we should avoid Linkwitz, Philharmonic 3, KEF ref 201/2 and of course the Salon2 as well, very funny, but thanks again for pointing it out..

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I find Outlaw's power output numbers more believable. I am biased, as I like Outlaw's name better, not as nice as ATI but sounds better than Emotiva that sounds strange to me.

So I would go with the Outlaw for sure.

Not fair.

That's pretty much what I said in a nutshell.

For some reasons people call me an "a$$", but no one calls you any names!

It's the name, isn't it?

KEF, B&W, PSB, ATI, NAD - gotta have the name!

Maybe if Emotiva changes their name to 3 letter acronym and put 2 large metal handles on the front plate like Bryston and ATI, get rid of all the other decorations and lighting, then they would have some respect.

BTW, I have never once said Emotiva amps don't sound great. Never ever. Ever. Just for the record.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So we should avoid Linkwitz, Philharmonic 3, KEF ref 201/2 and of course the Salon2 as well, very funny, but thanks again for pointing it out..

He better not be making fun of the B&W 802N or 802D speakers I'm trying to buy!