I can't directly compare the XPA-5 vs. the Cinema Grand 200 Five, but I did just recently grab a UPA-7 to see how it would do in my dedicated theater room.
From my experience over the last week and a half, there's little difference (if any) in the sonic signature, which is what I would expect between two well made amplifiers that are working correctly. The Sunfire may be ever so slightly cleaner, but it's negligible. I assume the XPA-5 should be identical in this dept. with the UPA-7.
As for headroom, there's noticeably more available with the Sunfire, but I would expect a difference with one being 125W x 7 and the other being 200W x 5, though I didn't expect the difference to be as noticable as it is. That's not to say the UPA-7 isn't capable, it very much is, even in my decent sized room (just shy of 3,000 cu. ft.), it just seems the Sunfire is a few steps ahead in the power department. The XPA-5 would obviously be a better direct comparison, but after 100w of clean power, the margin of audible difference becomes much smaller. Obviously other factors like room size and speaker dB sensitivity can alter the results.
They both seem to run pretty cool, though the Sunfire doesn't even get warm when pushed, it's defintely a beast in the power department.
I'd say you'd need a really good-sized room to push the Cinema Grand, I'm sure the XPA-5 wouldn't be much different.
The value of the Emotiva amps (as well as most of their other products) is quite impressive, the only negatives I've seen is regarding the first run of the MPS 200W x 7 amps whereas their seems to have been some problems related to how it was engineered resulting in quality control issues. Time will tell regarding the rest of their amps as all their offerings are only a few years old at best, but so far, so good.
The Sunfire amps have been around for some time (as has Bob 'Carver') and while they aren't as standard as some other manufacturers products (e.g. old school style backlit Joule Meter, body design, both current and voltage inputs, etc.), the differences can also make them more unique and appealing. They've definitely stood the test of time, as most well engineered amps should.
There's my 2½ cents
, let me know if you have any questions... -TD
