Hey everyone I have an Onkyo 805 which I love. Anyways I was looking to upgrade my system and was thinking about buying a Emotiva UPA-7. Would this be a wise investment? The Onkyo is rated at 130 WPC but I'm guessing its probably overblown. Also why is the UPA-7 less than the XPA-5?
Hi,
I own the 805 too, and it does not need external amplification, unless you want to make the walls falling down.
And the Emotiva UPA-7 will not gain you anything at all. So, no it is not a wise investment.
The UPA-7 cost less than the XPA-5 because it has less power (125 watts versus 200 watts) and also because the XPA-5 uses better parts and circuitry. Also the XPA-5 uses also XLR connectors (the UPA-7 don't).
And the XPA-5 uses better binding posts for the speakers. It has a bigger power supply, of course.
Why? You don't feel that you have enough power with your 805?
The 805 is a monster of an amp. Beats me man!
If you want to buy an Emotiva amp because it will look cool in your living room, be my guess, but that's about it, looks gorgeous.
Me, I think that the XPA-2 looks much better, that will be the one that I will get for looks, with the moving metering in all a glorious blue color!
If your main front speakers are below 4 ohms and a sensitivity of 83db or so, perhaps you should get the XPA-2 to drive them, and let your 805 take care of the rest.
* Check Emotiva web site for the differences between their models; weight, size of the toroidal transformer, total capacitance, total power into 4-ohm loads, design topology of the amp section, power consumption, total area of heat sinks, speaker connectors, RCA & XLR connectors, etc.
Cheers,
Bob
