Which Emotiva amp for my Pioneer elite 94 ?

[jcPanny]

Emotiva amps.

I would get the Emotiva XPA-5. It is currently shipping and has plenty of power for your speakers in regular (not bi-amping) mode. Also, it will deliver more than its rated 200 Watts/ch power when you are using just 3 channels vs. all 5.

The Emo will deliver more clean power than your receiver in bi-amp mode.

 

[TheFactor]

At loud volume he will benefit from the added amp. My little Studio 40's love the extra power.

Thats good to know , Thankyou......... now I have another reason

 

[TheFactor]

I would get the Emotiva XPA-5. It is currently shipping and has plenty of power for your speakers in regular (not bi-amping) mode. Also, it will deliver more than its rated 200 Watts/ch power when you are using just 3 channels vs. all 5.

The Emo will deliver more clean power than your receiver in bi-amp mode.

Ya thats what I want to use for is strictly bi-amp you know running the xpa to the bottom or top speakers plugs and the pioneer to the other two and thats a good point because the xpa-3 puts out 200 watts/ch and with 2 channels 250. but Im a little worried about to much power because if im bi-amping using my Pioneer with 140 wpc doesnt that put me at 340 using the XPA-3 also or is the pioneer watts not accurate or do you not get the total of both channels xpa/pioneer when bi-amping, just curious ? or are you recommending just running the amp to the bottom banana plugs on the speakers and thats it ? Just want to make sure were on the same wavelength. IM guessing thats what bi-amping is running both amps receiver and separates

 

[TheFactor]

Understood. I agree that I'm not 100% sold on the benefits of bi/tri wiring, but it sure does look cool! Sometimes that's all the reason you need.

Yes You must consider heavily the cool Factor

 

[TheFactor]

You may want to call or write them and ask if the 19" is the total depth. I have this recollection that the depth quoted on their site for one or both of the amps that I bought didn't include the binding posts - I could be misremembering, but that's what I recall. Plus (and sorry for stating the obvious, but that's how I am), if you're using banana plugs, those will add to the required depth of your shelf.

I emailed them and they said thats correct 19 inches including the speaker connection on the back but not after inserting banana plugs im sure and it has a 5 year warranty

 

[TheFactor]

agreed, i just didnt see the listening room as that large, i could be wrong. The 94 has good power and if i was going to go for seperates i would be looking in the 250-300w range for the mains

Its not that large as far as your pretty close but length wise it is because the living room and kitchen/dining room are connected. The amps im considering now are between 200 and 250 wpc plus my pioneers 140 wpc shouldnt that be enough, im a little afraid of blowing my paradigms I think there only rated at 200 or 250 wpc .

 

[Davemcc]

Ya thats what I want to use for is strictly bi-amp you know running the xpa to the bottom or top speakers plugs and the pioneer to the other two and thats a good point because the xpa-3 puts out 200 watts/ch and with 2 channels 250. but Im a little worried about to much power because if im bi-amping using my Pioneer with 140 wpc doesnt that put me at 340 using the XPA-3 also or is the pioneer watts not accurate or do you not get the total of both channels xpa/pioneer when bi-amping, just curious ? or are you recommending just running the amp to the bottom banana plugs on the speakers and thats it ? Just want to make sure were on the same wavelength. IM guessing thats what bi-amping is running both amps receiver and separates

You have to watch out when mixing amps that they have similar output curves. For instance, if you run the tweeters off the Pioneer and the woofers off the Emo, you may run into a situation where at low volume, the bass drowns out the highs but as you turn the volume up, one amp will gain volume faster than the other so that the highs are too harsh at high volume (or vice-versa). If you are going to bi-amp, you should try to use relatively closely matched amps so they increase volume at a matched rate, like two channels of an XPA-5 per speaker.

I appreciate that Greg's experience adding power to the Studios was positive, but IIRC on two points, 1) Greg has a very large room, and 2) Greg listens to music VERY loud when drinking Scotch Whiskey, to the point of blowing speakers, neither of which condition applies here (I hope). Coolness factor aside, I think you should research this whole thing more before jumping in.

 

[fmw]

I keep asking the question why? In order to get a modest increase of 3 db in volume you would need to provide 300 watts per channel. The Pioneer amplifiers are strong, accurate and reliable. What a waste. Why not put the money into your retirement account? Sorry.

 

[TheFactor]

I keep asking the question why? In order to get a modest increase of 3 db in volume you would need to provide 300 watts per channel. The Pioneer amplifiers are strong, accurate and reliable. What a waste. Why not put the money into your retirement account? Sorry.

Like I said im happy with the performance and sound quality of my system, I just wanted more and thought a seperate amp would help especially since I prefer to bi-wire and figured a seperate amp might be the way to go and that way I can got back to 7.1 vs 5.1 and not use my srb channel to passive bi-amp.

 

[TheFactor]

You have to watch out when mixing amps that they have similar output curves. For instance, if you run the tweeters off the Pioneer and the woofers off the Emo, you may run into a situation where at low volume, the bass drowns out the highs but as you turn the volume up, one amp will gain volume faster than the other so that the highs are too harsh at high volume (or vice-versa). If you are going to bi-amp, you should try to use relatively closely matched amps so they increase volume at a matched rate, like two channels of an XPA-5 per speaker.

I appreciate that Greg's experience adding power to the Studios was positive, but IIRC on two points, 1) Greg has a very large room, and 2) Greg listens to music VERY loud when drinking Scotch Whiskey, to the point of blowing speakers, neither of which condition applies here (I hope). Coolness factor aside, I think you should research this whole thing more before jumping in.

I never thought of that and if I would prosper if I dont bi-wire the XPA and just benifit from the extra 60 to 80 wpc.

 

[fmw]

Like I said im happy with the performance and sound quality of my system, I just wanted more and thought a seperate amp would help especially since I prefer to bi-wire and figured a seperate amp might be the way to go and that way I can got back to 7.1 vs 5.1 and not use my srb channel to passive bi-amp.

I can't explain it but A/V enthusiasts have a feeling that separate amps are better than amps that are not separate for some reason. The only reason I can suggest for doing what you want to do is to drive low impedance speakers. The Pioneer will handle 4 ohms with aplomb. I know that because I've heard it do it in a room that is larger than my room. If you have lower impedance speaker than that, then you may need a separate amplifier.

Passive biamplification won't produce anything for you at all. The reason is that tweeters require so little power that channeling power away from them to drive woofers simply doesn't make a difference. The amplifiers in your 94 are more than capable of handling any home theater application in a normally sized room. When you start having to fill auditoriums or large hotel meeting rooms, then the rules change. Save your money.

 

[jcPanny]

Emo Amp.

I never thought of that and if I would prosper if I dont bi-wire the XPA and just benifit from the extra 60 to 80 wpc.

Factor,
I would recomend adding an Emo amp with more power and headroom than your current receiver (200 Watts/channel) for an audible improvement. Don't mess around with biwiring or biamping. If you want to bi-amp, you need to use 2 channels from the same amp, you can't use the receiver for highs and a seperate amp for lows. You can however use an amp from some channels (fronts only) and use the receiver for the remaining channels. If you want to satisfy your curiosity, you could experiment with a Behringer A500 to drive the mains for $180 shipped.

P.S. What is with the cubes? Surround backs? There is no way these can keep up with your paradigms and they are likely adding distortion. Ditch those and get the XPA-5 to power your 5 paradigms.

 

[TheFactor]

Factor,
I would recomend adding an Emo amp with more power and headroom than your current receiver (200 Watts/channel) for an audible improvement. Don't mess around with biwiring or biamping. If you want to bi-amp, you need to use 2 channels from the same amp, you can't use the receiver for highs and a seperate amp for lows. You can however use an amp from some channels (fronts only) and use the receiver for the remaining channels. If you want to satisfy your curiosity, you could experiment with a Behringer A500 to drive the mains for $180 shipped.

P.S. What is with the cubes? Surround backs? There is no way these can keep up with your paradigms and they are likely adding distortion. Ditch those and get the XPA-5 to power your 5 paradigms.

Ya the Bose cubes are just for surround backs there actualy sounding pretty clear in HT though they add great highs and I actually miss not having them from when I passive bi-amped my pioneer and now I just have the bose 301's and they actually seem more flat but have better punch then the cubes.But wright now i've got the studio 60's fronts and cc 690 center and I love the those speakers there so crystal clear sometimes when watching a movie the sounds sound like there in my house, I had to mute it one time because I though my faucet in the kitchen was dripping on to a pan actualy it was in the movie lol and dogs barking thought it was my neighbor and it was in the movie : )eventually I want to get the Paradigm ADP 590's for the rears and i'll be set but there like another 1200 bucks.About the amp Wow thats cheap for the Behringer. So your recommending not bi-wiring with my receiver and another amp and just use my reciever as a prosesser and just run a seprate amp ?

 

[TheFactor]

I can't explain it but A/V enthusiasts have a feeling that separate amps are better than amps that are not separate for some reason. The only reason I can suggest for doing what you want to do is to drive low impedance speakers. The Pioneer will handle 4 ohms with aplomb. I know that because I've heard it do it in a room that is larger than my room. If you have lower impedance speaker than that, then you may need a separate amplifier.

Passive biamplification won't produce anything for you at all. The reason is that tweeters require so little power that channeling power away from them to drive woofers simply doesn't make a difference. The amplifiers in your 94 are more than capable of handling any home theater application in a normally sized room. When you start having to fill auditoriums or large hotel meeting rooms, then the rules change. Save your money.

I understand what your saying but now im so confused and dont know what to do lol

 

[Davemcc]

I understand what your saying but now im so confused and dont know what to do lol

I think what he's saying is forget about the amp and instead, get the ADP 590's to replace those Bose.

 

[fmw]

I understand what your saying but now im so confused and dont know what to do lol

Sorry, I didn't mean to confuse. Don't spend your money on an outboard amplifier. It will gain you nothing. zero. nil. zilch. Spend it on speakers where you will gain something.

Do not biamplify your system in the manner you describe. It will gain you nothing. zero, nil. zilch. Best of luck to you.

 

[bandphan]

+1 in that the difference between your current avr and the emo your looking at is not alot of justification, more of a parallel move. To increase your output/headroom your gonna need more.

 

[itschris]

I agree. You're not talking about a whole lot of difference here... this coming from the guy who has the 94 and use a Sunfire Cinema Grand. I've had it hooked up both ways and it's not like using the Pio's internal amps are gonna clip your speakers or anything. If I didn't already have the Sunfire, I'd be using the internal amps. Speakers would be a much better investment in my opinion.

 

[TheFactor]

I think what he's saying is forget about the amp and instead, get the ADP 590's to replace those Bose.

Ya its another option im thinking about for sure in this order, Ultra PB13 To replace my velodyne DPS 10, adp 590's rear speakers and then anything left over amp. Well thats the game plan anyway.

 

[TheFactor]

Sorry, I didn't mean to confuse. Don't spend your money on an outboard amplifier. It will gain you nothing. zero. nil. zilch. Spend it on speakers where you will gain something.

Do not biamplify your system in the manner you describe. It will gain you nothing. zero, nil. zilch. Best of luck to you.

I understood what you were saying I guess what I meant was trying to make a desicion is going to be difficult and thanks again for your help .