Adding Amp to my Marantz PM8004

[ematthews]

I am looking to add more power to my Marantz PM8004 by adding an external amp. Would the Emotiva XPA-200 give me a lot more power than the stock Marantz? It's rated at 150 @8 ohms. I know Emotiva makes good on their specs too. Would I be helping the Marantz a lot or not? I know the Marantz integrated unit does rate good in the current specs... Any help?

 

[PENG]

I am looking to add more power to my Marantz PM8004 by adding an external amp. Would the Emotiva XPA-200 give me a lot more power than the stock Marantz? It's rated at 150 @8 ohms. I know Emotiva makes good on their specs too. Would I be helping the Marantz a lot or not? I know the Marantz integrated unit does rate good in the current specs... Any help?

The specs of the XPA-200 is interesting. It's transformer is rated 360 VA, assuming an average power factor of 0.8, 360 VA will approximate to 288W vs the Marantz spec of 200W power consumption that usually tells nothing much but would likely indicate it's transformer would be rated for at least 250 VA. The XPA-200 weighs 31 lbs vs the PM8004's 26.4 lbs, but weight does not tell the whole story, it is just one indicator.

So the XPA-200's transformer seems too small for their claimed power rating of 150WX2 into 8 ohms, but it has 90,000 uF of capacitance, that's 50% more than that of the XPA-5 and 2X that of it's bigger brother the heavy weight XPA-2. I suspect this unit relies heavily on the generous capacitance to give the user a lot of short burst power, i.e. dynamic vs continuous, and I think that is a wise and effective move for a $499 power amp.

Base on their power ratings, the EMO should give you about 3 dB more power than the Marantz, IMHO not worth it and in real world application I doubt you would notice the gain. You maybe better off saving up for the XPA-2, that will give you at least 6 dB more power/spl and is a real power amplifier.

 

[ematthews]

Great info. Thanks. I actually have a full Emotiva set up in the other room. Including the XPA-2 that is going back again for repairs. It's huge, heavy and a pain to move around.. Would like to find the power of the XPA-2 but in a smaller footprint.. That's one reason I was looking into the little brother.

 

[PENG]

Great info. Thanks. I actually have a full Emotiva set up in the other room. Including the XPA-2 that is going back again for repairs. It's huge, heavy and a pain to move around.. Would like to find the power of the XPA-2 but in a smaller footprint.. That's one reason I was looking into the little brother.

I agree the XPA-2 is way too big an heavy but at its price point I cannot think of anything else that can offer 300/500W (credible watts) into 8/4 ohms. If you are willing to spend twice that much then there are more sensible options. Contrary to popular belief, it could be easier/cheaper to build a heavy class A/B amp than a smaller and lighter class A/B that offers comparable power/current capability assuming we preclude the use of cooling fans.

 

[j_garcia]

A pair of these will give you 200W and independent power supplies for each speaker, and will be slightly less than the XPA-2 (but less power too), though I doubt it won't be enough:

Model 2200 Monoblock Power Amplifier

 

[ematthews]

That would work. Thanks

 

[PENG]

I considered those monoblocks in the past but hesitated due to its class A/B/G design. From what I read before, it is class A/B for the first 80W, above that it takes 2 microseconds to switch to class G.

 

[j_garcia]

I considered those monoblocks in the past but hesitated due to its class A/B/G design. From what I read before, it is class A/B for the first 80W, above that it takes 2 microseconds to switch to class G.

What's that going to mean in terms of output? I've always heard good things about those monos, but have only heard some of their multichannel amps, not those.

 

[PENG]

What's that going to mean in terms of output? I've always heard good things about those monos, but have only heard some of their multichannel amps, not those.

Probably nothing, and I am sure that 2 microseconds of delay won't be audible to me; and I do think in most HT applications it will never even have to transition to class G. 99.99% of the time I only need fractional watts with peaks to less than 50W. My only concern is that the hybrid design means another electronic circuit that could failed down the road. I considered it once for my center channel speaker but then while still hesitating, my GFA-555 lost one of its channel so it suddenly became available to take care of the center speaker. If and when the remaining channel of my old Adcom fails, I would likely be considering the Outlaw monoblock again.