Emotiva's amp line up

[PENG]

T

Thanks fot the correction. You are right, I was thinking ACD specs. With something like a denon avr-3808 or better, it looks like adding amplification like upa 500 for the surrounds, and letting the denon handle the mains would make better sense than an xpa-200.

It would seem like a viable option but i must repeat, only if you can believe those lab measurements. I did some voltage and current measurements a few years ago, my 4308 matched my 4Bsst and the gfa555 amp for amp and volt for volt at virtually identical spl >100db with no sign of clipping playing two channel cd music. I always thought D&M, as well as Yamaha and Onkyo over design the amp section but not so with the power supply, i.e., optimized for real life material whereas NAD and HK tend to do the opposite. That's just my educated guess.

 

[j_garcia]

Thanks fot the correction. You are right, I was thinking ACD specs. With something like a denon avr-3808 or better, it looks like adding amplification like upa 500 for the surrounds, and letting the denon handle the mains would make better sense than an xpa-200.

I'd actually have to say the opposite. If you are going to give dedicated power to something, I'd lean toward the mains vs the surrounds, unless you have a pretty good amp section in your AVR. I went with Marantz MA500s for my front 3, rated at 125W compared to 120W on the receiver, and there was still a noticeable improvement because they each had their own dedicated power supply and didn't have to "argue" with each other for voltage. Even with a 2ch amp of the same power, that power would not be shared with anything else in the receiver. I got tired of having that many plugs so I switched a few times and now have the XPA-3.

 

[PENG]

because they each had their own dedicated power supply and didn't have to "argue" with each other for voltage. Even with a 2ch amp of the same power, that power would not be shared with anything else in the receiver.

Well then aren't we actually saying almost the same thing. I assume KEW meant if you use a 3808 to feed the mains (he might have meant including the C as well), that roughly 750 to 1 kVA transformer and 20 to 32K microfarads of caps will only have to feed 2 or 3 channel. That power supply will likely be stronger than the one in the UPA's but you can check that out just to be sure. Denon's 3808 and up typically specifies a power consumption of 7 to 8A so I thought it is reasonably to assume the transformer size is at least 750 VA but could be up to 850 to 1000 VA, again just my educated guess becasue no one knows for sure how they rate/specify power consumption, it seems to be one of the biggest 'secrets' that is hard to figure out due to so much inconsistencies in how each brand specify theirs. Looking at the available lab measurements (ask ADTG) though, I think my guess won't be far off the reality.

Of course it is only theory we can perhaps agree on. In practice I would also go with the opposite but then I won't be pairing a little UPA with a big AVR, it needs to be at least the XPA3 or 5 to realize any noticeable difference IMHO.

 

[KEW]

What Peng is saying is what I had in mind - only using the receiver for the front speakers (it would be 2 if I was doing it). This is in reference to the XPA-200-700 series.
I'm with you on this being theoretical. I already have amplification well beyond these, but as a 2 channel guy, still don't understand why Emo doesn't package the XPA-3 minus one channel and drop the price $100 (aside from not having competition to worry about it).
The UPA-X00 series is pretty lame as an upgrade though it does offload from the receiver. The XPA-X00 is better, but still nothing to get too excited about. To me, the XPA-3 provides the level I would want for an upgrade, but the idea of paying for an unnecessary channel is offensive for anyone on a budget. Part of the problem is having worked in manufacturing and knowing that the added cost of producing an XPA-3 less one board is negligible - no new design, no new parts, only minor marketing, labeling, and tracking cost. Basically, the savings from the board could be realized by the customer and Emo would make a higher percent profit than they do on the XPA-3.
Of course at this point, that product would undermine sales of the XPA-200.

 

[Gord Gee]

I thought about buying an XPA-3 for myself, but I decided to up-grade my sub to the new SVS SB13-Ultra. The XPA will have to wait....